Virginia at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
20 years after the claim accrues, so at least until age 38. Accrual can be later, such as when a licensed clinician first links the injury to the abuse. The rule is in Va. Code § 8.01-243(D); § 8.01-249(6).
That is the deadline for a civil lawsuit, a claim for money damages. A criminal prosecution runs on a separate clock set by the state’s criminal code, and a report to police can be made whether or not a civil claim is still open. How the two differ.
Adult sexual assault: the civil deadline
10 years for claims accruing on or after July 1, 2020; 15 years if the abuser held a position of authority. Earlier claims: 2 years. The rule is in Va. Code § 8.01-243(D1), (D2), (A).
Revival and lookback windows
Virginia has not enacted a window that revives sexual abuse claims whose deadline had already passed.
A revival window, sometimes called a lookback window, lets survivors file claims that had already expired, for a set period. Closed windows stay listed here with their dates, because a claim filed while one was open may still be moving through the courts. Every state’s window, side by side.
Claims against public entities
Written notice within 6 months for counties, cities and towns, and within 1 year for the Commonwealth. Disability tolling applies; no sexual abuse exemption. See Va. Code § 15.2-209; § 8.01-195.6.
A claim against a public body often needs a written notice filed with that body first, and the notice period can be far shorter than the deadline for the lawsuit itself.
Active lawsuits and institutions in Virginia
We do not track a lawsuit filed in Virginia on this site as of October 7, 2026. Several of the cases we track are national proceedings rather than state ones; see every lawsuit we track and abuse by type of institution.
The deadlines described here are general rules, and most of them have exceptions. The date that governs a particular claim turns on the state, the person’s age when the abuse happened, when they connected it to the harm it caused, and who the defendant is. A claim against a public agency or a public school can carry a written notice requirement that runs out long before the ordinary deadline.
Nothing on this page can tell you your own date. A lawyer who looks at your facts can, and there is no charge to ask.
- Va. Code § 8.01-243(D); § 8.01-249(6) (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Va. Code § 8.01-243(D1), (D2), (A) (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Va. Code § 15.2-209; § 8.01-195.6 (notice to public entities). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- CHILD USA, statute of limitations research (used as a cross-check, not as the source of any rule above).
