The New Jersey statute of limitations sets the deadline for filing a civil lawsuit or bringing criminal charges, and the window depends entirely on what kind of case it is. Most personal injury claims must be filed within two years. Contract disputes get six years. Most felonies must be prosecuted within five years. Claims against a New Jersey government entity require a formal notice within just 90 days, and serious crimes like murder and sexual assault carry no time limit at all.
When the Clock Starts
A statute of limitations begins running when the cause of action “accrues.” For most cases, that is the date the injury or wrongful act happened. If you were rear-ended on March 5, 2026, your clock starts March 5, 2026.
New Jersey also recognizes a discovery rule that shifts the start date when the harm was not immediately obvious. The clock begins when you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that you were injured and that someone else’s conduct caused it. The New Jersey Supreme Court described the doctrine as “essentially a rule of equity.”1Justia. Lopez v. Swyer :: 1973 :: Supreme Court of New Jersey The rule matters most in medical malpractice, toxic exposure, and fraud cases, where the injury or its cause may not surface for years.
Civil Deadlines by Type of Claim
New Jersey’s civil filing deadlines range from two years to twenty. Filing under the wrong category can end a case before the merits are ever considered.
Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice
You have two years from the date of injury to file for most personal injury claims, including car accidents, slip-and-falls, and other negligence cases.2Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2A:14-2 – Actions for Injury Caused by Wrongful Act, Appointment of Guardian Ad Litem Medical malpractice also runs on a two-year clock, but the discovery rule applies, so the clock starts when you knew or should have known about the malpractice rather than when the procedure occurred.
Birth injury malpractice has its own deadline: the claim must be filed before the child’s 13th birthday.2Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2A:14-2 – Actions for Injury Caused by Wrongful Act, Appointment of Guardian Ad Litem For other injuries to minors, New Jersey pauses the clock until the child turns 18, effectively giving an injured minor until age 20 to sue.
Wrongful Death
Surviving family members have two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death suit.3Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2A:31-3 – Limitation of Actions; Exceptions The trigger is the date of death, not the date of the underlying injury. If someone was hurt in January and died from complications in October, the two years run from October.
One exception: when the death resulted from murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter and the defendant was convicted or found not guilty by reason of insanity, the wrongful death action can be filed at any time.3Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2A:31-3 – Limitation of Actions; Exceptions
Contracts and Property Damage
Written and oral contract disputes carry a six-year deadline in New Jersey, and property damage claims fall in the same window.4Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2A:14-1 – 6 Years Contracts for the sale of goods get a shorter four-year deadline under the state’s version of the Uniform Commercial Code, and the parties can shorten that period to as little as one year by agreement but cannot extend it.5Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 12A:2-725 – Statute of Limitations in Contracts for Sale
Claims arising from defective design or construction of improvements to real property are cut off by a ten-year statute of repose, measured from the date the work was substantially completed rather than from when the defect was discovered.6Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2A:14-1.1 – Damages for Injury From Unsafe Condition of Improvement to Real Property; Statute of Limitations; Exceptions; Terms Defined Unlike an ordinary statute of limitations, a statute of repose cannot be extended by the discovery rule.
Fraud and Debt
Fraud claims run for six years, with the discovery rule determining when the clock starts.4Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2A:14-1 – 6 Years If someone concealed the fraud, you get six years from when you reasonably should have discovered it.
Most consumer debts, including credit card balances, also have a six-year statute of limitations.4Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2A:14-1 – 6 Years Debts from the sale of goods, such as a financed car purchase, may fall under the four-year UCC deadline instead.5Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 12A:2-725 – Statute of Limitations in Contracts for Sale Once a creditor gets a court judgment, the enforcement window jumps to twenty years.7Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2A:14-5 – 20 Years; Judgments
One caution about old debts. In New Jersey, a partial payment or a written acknowledgment of a time-barred debt can restart the six-year clock. Collectors sometimes push for a small “good faith” payment for exactly that reason. If a debt is close to or past six years old, any payment could expose you to a fresh lawsuit.
The 90-Day Rule for Government Claims
Suing a New Jersey government body, whether a municipality, county, school district, or state agency, requires a separate and much shorter timeline. You must file a formal notice of claim within 90 days of the incident.8Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 59:8-8 – Time for Presentation of Claims Miss the 90-day window and you are permanently barred from recovering, with very limited exceptions.
After filing the notice, you have to wait at least six months before actually filing suit. The overall filing deadline is two years from when the claim accrued.8Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 59:8-8 – Time for Presentation of Claims This trips up more people than any other deadline in the state: they assume the standard two-year personal injury rule applies and never learn about the notice requirement until months after their window has closed.
For claims against a federal agency or employee, the Federal Tort Claims Act sets a two-year administrative claim deadline. Once the agency denies the claim, you have six months to file suit in federal court.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 2401 – Time for Commencing Action Against United States
Criminal Deadlines
Criminal statutes of limitations determine how long prosecutors have to bring charges. Once the period runs out, the accused cannot be prosecuted no matter how strong the evidence.
Crimes With No Time Limit
Some offenses can be prosecuted at any time in New Jersey: murder, manslaughter, sexual assault, and terrorism. Certain environmental crimes, including causing widespread injury or unlawful release of hazardous materials, also carry no time limit.10Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2C:1-6 – Time Limitations
Indictable Offenses and Disorderly Persons Offenses
Most indictable offenses, New Jersey’s equivalent of felonies, must be prosecuted within five years. Bribery and official misconduct get a seven-year window. Disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons offenses, the state’s equivalent of misdemeanors, must be prosecuted within one year.10Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2C:1-6 – Time Limitations
Offenses Against Minors
For sexual contact with a minor or endangering the welfare of a child, the clock runs from whichever comes later: five years after the victim turns 18, or two years after the victim discovers the offense.10Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2C:1-6 – Time Limitations
Motor Vehicle Charges
Traffic offenses have much tighter windows. Driving while intoxicated must be prosecuted within 90 days of the offense under N.J.R.S. 39:5-3. Leaving the scene of an accident carries a one-year deadline. If police do not move quickly, the case dies.
When the Clock Pauses
“Tolling” means the statute of limitations temporarily stops running. A few situations trigger it in New Jersey.
Minors generally cannot sue on their own behalf, so the clock pauses until a child turns 18. For a standard personal injury claim, that gives an injured minor until age 20 to file. The birth injury malpractice rule above is a separate exception with its own earlier cutoff.
Active-duty service members are protected by the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which excludes time on active duty from any state statute of limitations.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 U.S. Code 3936 – Statute of Limitations Eighteen months of deployment during a two-year deadline are simply not counted.
A defendant’s absence from New Jersey can also toll the clock. Time a potential defendant spends outside the state may not count against your filing deadline, which prevents someone from running out the clock by relocating.
Federal Claims Arising in New Jersey
Not every dispute in New Jersey runs on state deadlines. Most federal crimes carry a default five-year statute of limitations.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3282: Offenses Not Capital Federal civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. ยง 1983 borrow the state’s personal injury deadline, which means two years in New Jersey, though federal law controls when the claim accrues and can produce a different start date than state law would.