Introduction
Statutes of limitations are laws that limit the amount of time after which a lawsuit can be filed. In the United States a government agency is required by Congress, under federal regulations, to create its own statute of limitations.
These statutes can govern various areas of law, from contracts (written and oral) to personal injury. Once the years set by the law have tolled, one cannot start a lawsuit for that injury.
Debts, because they are caused by a breach of a written contract, are governed by the statute of limitations for written contracts. In the U.S., statutes of limitations for written contracts vary from state to state, with the longest being ten years, the shortest being three years.
Learn for yourself how statutes of limitations differ by state by exploring the data in the charts.
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