Florida Statute of Limitations: Civil and Criminal Deadlines

The Florida statute of limitations sets how long you have to file a case before the courts will refuse to hear it, and the window depends entirely on what kind of case you’re bringing. Civil deadlines run from two years for most personal injury claims to five years for breach of a written contract. Criminal deadlines range from one year for minor misdemeanors up to no limit at all for capital and life felonies. Miss the deadline and the case is almost always gone for good, no matter how strong it would have been.

Civil Filing Deadlines at a Glance

Florida sorts civil deadlines by the type of claim. Picking the wrong category can cost you the case, because a two-year window and a four-year window are not interchangeable.

Two Years

Most negligence-based personal injury claims must be filed within two years. This is a recent change: a law effective March 24, 2023 cut the previous four-year window in half.¹ Car accidents, slip-and-fall injuries, and most other negligence lawsuits now fall under the two-year rule.

Wrongful death, defamation, and claims for unpaid wages or overtime also carry two-year deadlines. The wrongful death clock runs from the date of death rather than the date of the underlying injury. One exception matters: if the death resulted from an intentional act amounting to murder or manslaughter, there is no deadline on the wrongful death suit at all.¹

Four Years

Fraud, property damage, trespass, and breach of an oral contract all carry a four-year deadline.¹ Fraud is a special case because the discovery rule often applies: the clock can start when you actually learned about the deception rather than when it happened. Construction defect claims also sit in the four-year group, though they come with an outer cap discussed further down.

Five Years

Breach of a written contract gives you five years to file, the longest standard civil deadline Florida offers.¹

Medical Malpractice Has Its Own Rules

Medical malpractice claims operate under a stricter framework than most people expect. The baseline deadline is two years from the date of the malpractice.¹ If you didn’t realize you’d been injured at the time, the two years runs from when you discovered the injury or reasonably should have discovered it.

On top of that sits a four-year statute of repose. Even if you had no way of knowing about the injury, the claim is dead four years after the malpractice itself. The discovery rule can shift when the two-year clock starts, but it cannot push the filing past the four-year outer limit.

Two exceptions soften that cap. If a provider committed fraud or actively concealed the malpractice, you get an additional two years from when you uncovered the fraud, with an absolute outer boundary of seven years from the incident. For children, the four-year repose period does not begin until the child’s eighth birthday.

Suing a Government Entity

Claims against Florida state agencies, counties, and municipalities carry an extra step that routinely catches people off guard. Before you can file a lawsuit, you must present a written claim to the appropriate agency. For most negligence claims, that notice has to be submitted within three years after the claim arises, with a copy to the Department of Financial Services for most agencies.²

The lawsuit itself must then be filed within four years after the claim accrues. Wrongful death claims against a government entity face a tighter window: the written notice must be presented within two years.² Skipping the pre-suit notice is fatal, and courts enforce it strictly.

Criminal Deadlines by Offense Level

On the criminal side, the more serious the offense, the longer prosecutors have to file charges.

To meet the deadline, the state must file formal charges and issue a capias or summons within the applicable window. If prosecutors miss it, the court loses the authority to hear the case.

Exceptions That Extend or Eliminate Criminal Deadlines

Several categories of crime get longer windows, or no window at all.

Sex Offenses and Crimes Against Children

If the victim of any sexual battery was under 16 at the time, there is no deadline. The same applies to first-degree felony sexual battery when the victim was under 18.⁴ For adult victims, a first- or second-degree felony sexual battery reported to law enforcement within 72 hours has no deadline. For minor victims, the standard clock doesn’t start running until the victim turns 18 or reports the crime, whichever comes first.

DNA Identification

When a suspect is identified through DNA evidence, prosecution can begin at any point after that identification for a list of violent offenses that includes aggravated battery, kidnapping, sexual battery, robbery, carjacking, burglary, and aggravated child abuse. One condition: a sufficient portion of the original DNA evidence must still be preserved so the defendant can test it.⁴

Other Extended Windows

Destructive device felonies causing injury: ten years.⁴
Securities fraud, elder abuse, insurance fraud, and environmental crimes: five years. Environmental violations are measured from the date of discovery rather than the date of the offense.⁴
Public official misconduct: the longer of the standard felony deadline or two years after the official leaves office.⁴
Perjury in an official proceeding related to a capital felony prosecution: no deadline.⁴

Statutes of Repose Are Different

A statute of limitations starts running when you are injured or discover the harm. A statute of repose runs from the defendant’s last act, regardless of when you find out. Once the repose period expires, your right to sue is gone, even if the injury hasn’t happened yet. Florida applies repose in three areas that catch people out.

Construction Defects

Claims based on defective design, planning, or construction of a building or other improvement to real property must be filed within four years. For latent defects, the four years runs from discovery or when discovery should reasonably have occurred. The absolute cap is seven years after the certificate of occupancy or certificate of completion was issued.⁵ Find a foundation crack in year six and you have one year to file, not four.

Product Liability

Product liability repose depends on the product’s expected useful life. For products expected to last ten years or less, no suit can be filed if the harm occurred more than 12 years after the product was first delivered to a purchaser or lessee. Certain longer-lasting products get a 20-year repose period. If the manufacturer expressly warranted a longer useful life, the repose period matches that warranty.⁶

When the Clock Pauses

Florida law pauses the deadline in specific situations where a strict count would be unfair. The clock stops when the person you need to sue leaves Florida, uses a false name so you can’t serve them, or hides within the state to avoid service.⁷ Time spent evading service doesn’t count against you.

If a potential plaintiff was adjudicated incapacitated before the claim arose, the deadline is tolled until the incapacity is removed. For minors without a parent or guardian willing and able to sue on their behalf, the deadline is also tolled. In both cases, though, an absolute outer limit applies: the suit must be filed within seven years of the event that caused the injury, regardless of continued disability or minority. Medical malpractice claims are excluded from minority tolling entirely and follow their own repose rules.⁷

The Discovery Rule

Separate from tolling, Florida’s discovery rule shifts the start date for claims where the injury wasn’t immediately apparent. Medical malpractice and fraud are the two areas where it matters most. Instead of counting from the date of the wrongful act, the clock begins when you discovered the harm or reasonably should have discovered it.¹ The “should have discovered” language drives most disputes. Courts won’t protect a plaintiff who ignored the signs.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

Once the applicable period runs out, filing is essentially pointless. In a civil case, the defendant raises the expired deadline as an affirmative defense and carries the burden of proving the clock ran out. If the court agrees, the case is dismissed and cannot be refiled. The underlying merits don’t change that outcome.

Criminal cases work the same way: the state loses its authority to prosecute. Courts enforce these deadlines strictly and rarely accept arguments for exceptions beyond the tolling provisions written into the statute. If you’re close to a deadline on any potential claim, the question isn’t whether to act but how quickly you can get the paperwork filed.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 95.11 – Limitations Other Than for the Recovery of Real Property
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 768.28 – Waiver of Sovereign Immunity in Tort Actions
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.15 – Time Limitations, General Time Limitations, Exceptions
4
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 775.15 – Time Limitations, General Time Limitations, Exceptions
5
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 95.11 – Limitations Other Than for the Recovery of Real Property
6
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 95.031 – Computation of Limitations Periods
7
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 95.051 – When Limitations Tolled