Statute of Limitations » Debt Collection

Debt Collection Statute of Limitations by State

Select your state to see how long you have to file a debt collection claim — or scroll down for the full table, every deadline linked to its official statute.

Not legal advice — and missing this deadline can end your case. These are general filing deadlines under each state's statute. Your actual deadline can be shorter or longer: many states toll the clock for minors, apply a "discovery rule" when an injury isn't immediately obvious, or give you far less time to sue a government agency. Confirm your specific deadline with a licensed attorney in your state before relying on any date here.

All 50 states

State Deadline Citation
Alabama 6 years Ala. Code § 6-2-34(9)
Alaska 3 years Alaska Stat. § 09.10.053
Arizona 3 years A.R.S. § 12-543
Arkansas 3 years Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-105(1)
California 2 years Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 339(1)
Colorado 3 years C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(a)
Connecticut 3 years Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-581
Delaware 3 years 10 Del. C. § 8106
District of Columbia 3 years D.C. Code § 12-301(7)
Florida 4 years Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)(j)
Georgia 4 years Ga. Code Ann. § 9-3-25
Hawaii 6 years Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-1
Idaho 4 years Idaho Code § 5-217
Illinois 5 years 735 ILCS 5/13-205
Indiana 6 years Ind. Code § 34-11-2-7(1)
Kansas 3 years K.S.A. § 60-512(1)
Kentucky 5 years KRS § 413.120(1)
Louisiana 3 years La. Civ. Code art. 3494
Maine 6 years 14 M.R.S. § 752
Maryland 3 years Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101
Massachusetts 6 years Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 2
Michigan 6 years Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5807
Minnesota 6 years Minn. Stat. § 541.05(1)
Mississippi 3 years Miss. Code Ann. § 15-1-49
Missouri 5 years Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120(1)
Montana 3 years Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-204(1)
Nebraska 4 years Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-206
Nevada 4 years Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.190(2)(c)
New Hampshire 3 years N.H. Rev. Stat. § 508:4
New Jersey 6 years N.J. Stat. § 2A:14-1
New Mexico 4 years N.M. Stat. § 37-1-4
New York 6 years N.Y. CPLR § 213
North Carolina 3 years N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52(1)
North Dakota 6 years N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-16(1)
Ohio 4 years Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07(A)
Oklahoma 3 years Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95(2)
Oregon 6 years Or. Rev. Stat. § 12.080(1)
Pennsylvania 4 years 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5525
Rhode Island 10 years R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-13(a)
South Carolina 3 years S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530(1)
South Dakota 6 years S.D. Codified Laws § 15-2-13
Tennessee 6 years Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-109(a)(3)
Texas 4 years Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004(a)(3)
Utah 4 years Utah Code § 78B-2-307(1)(a)
Vermont 6 years 12 V.S.A. § 511
Virginia 3 years Va. Code Ann. § 8.01-246(4)
Washington 6 years RCW § 4.16.040
West Virginia 5 years W. Va. Code § 55-2-6
Wisconsin 6 years Wis. Stat. § 893.43(1)
Wyoming 8 years Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105(a)(ii)
About this data: Each period and citation above was extracted by hand from the actual statute text in our statutes database (sourced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset, Vaquill AI, CC BY 4.0) and cross-checked against that text, rather than copied from another site's chart — where we found a state's citation didn't match what's commonly cited elsewhere (a recent law change, for example), we used the current statute. Where a state's source text isn't in our database yet, we say so instead of linking to something we haven't verified.