A statute of limitations refers to a legal limit on the amount of time someone can be held legally liable for a specific circumstance. Civil and criminal offenses have statutes of limitations imposed on them by both federal and state law, as do debts of various types. Debts are largely regulated by state law and thus every state has different statutes of limitations applying to various types of debt.
Reasons for Statutes of Limitations
The idea behind a statute of limitations for a crime or a debt is two-fold. First, it is in the general public interest not to have legal liability extend indefinitely since that prevents people from moving on and starting over, and it also does not further social interests to incarcerate someone for a single criminal offense in the distant past if they have led an upright and productive life since (self-rehabilitated). Second, memories fade and evidence degrades; it is often simply not fair to have a legal proceeding on the basis of old unreliable evidence.
Types of Debt
There are many different types of debt, and thus the the various statutes of limitations are rather complex, particularly given that each state has its own set of these statutes. That said, many states do have very similar statutes, but there are some significant differences to keep in mind. Some of the typical types of debt that are referred to in statutes of limitations include open accounts, judgments, oral contracts, written contracts, debts from sale of goods, debts from unpaid wages, medical debts, and so forth.
Typical Statutes of Limitations
Typical statutes of limitations for debts range from two to 10 years, with a few states having statutes of limitation of up to 20 years for legal judgments. The general trend is shorter statutes of limitations for consumer or personal debts and longer statutes of limitations for highly-documented (witnessed written contracts, notarized, and the like) debts and debts from legal judgments.
Exceptional Statutes of Limitations
Rhode Island has an exceptionally short one-year statute of limitations on hospital liens. Wyoming has a very long 21-year statute of limitations of legal judgments. Also note that many states have exceptions to statutes of limitations for special circumstances like an injury not manifesting until much later for medical malpractice or minors having the right to sue for circumstances occurring during their minority, and similar issues.
0 comments:
Post a Comment