I guess sometimes to a judgment debtor it can seem like a money judgment lasts for an eternity. Actually it only seems like eternity. The truth is that court judgments do eventually expire. Exactly when a judgment expires depends upon the judgment laws for the jurisdiction the judgment is from. From state to state there is a post judgement statute of limitations.

Did you ever own an unpaid money judgment and wonder how long it will last? A civil judgment in New Mexico may not have the same length of life as a similar judgment from New Hampshire. Within its judgment law every state has its own statute of limitations on the life of a judgment.

Anyone who owns an uncollected judgment needs to know how long the judgment will survive before it legally expires. Naturally a judgment creditor has a serious vested interest in knowing this information. It could be a big mess if a judgment creditor continued to pursue collection activities against his judgment debtor if the judgment was no longer alive and kicking.

No judgment owner ever needs to give the debtor a valid reason to file any kind of suit based upon an illegal collection practice for continuing to try enforcing an out of date judgment.

It only makes sense for a judgment holder to be sure of when his money judgment will expire.

If you own an old judgment that is still unsatisfied, you also will want to know whether your judgment can be renewed beyond the original statute of limitations. If you can renew your judgment and if you need to do so, it will be just as important for you to know what steps you have to take to successfully renew your judgment before it expires.

In some states it is possible to revive a dead judgment that didn’t get renewed prior to the expiration of the judgment statute of limitations. If you are in this sort of situation you will be interested in finding out if your state allows a revival of a judgment.

We will give you the judgement statute of limitations by state for the various states in the USA. Laws change and we can’t guarantee that this list will be 100% accurate for all of time, so go check your own state codes to confirm the current judgement statute of limitations for your own judgment. You should find it helpful to discover the post judgment statutes of limitation for your state.

STATE - TIME LIMIT

Alabama – 20 Years
Alaska – 10 Years
Arizona – 5 Years
Arkansas – 10 Years
California – 10 Years
Colorado – 20 Years
Connecticut – 20 Years
District of Columbia – 20 years
Delaware – Unlimited
Florida – 20 Years
Georgia – 7 Years
Hawaii – 100 Years
Idaho – 5 Years
Illinois – 20 Years
Indiana – 20 Years
Iowa – 10 Years
Kansas – 5 Years
Kentucky – 15 Years
Louisiana – 100 Years
Maine – 20 Years
Maryland – 12 Years
Massachusetts – 20 Years
Michigan – 10 Years
Minnesota – 10 Years
Mississippi – 7 Years
Missouri – 10 Years
Montana – 10 Years
Nebraska – 20 Years
Nevada – 6 Years
New Hampshire – 20 Years
New Jersey – 20 Years
New Mexico – 14 Years
New York – 20 Years
North Carolina – 10 Years
North Dakota – 10 Years
Ohio – 21 Years
Oklahoma – 5 Years
Oregon – 10 Years
Pennsylvania – 5 Years
Rhode Island – 20 Years
South Carolina – 10 Years
South Dakota – 20 Years
Tennessee – 100 Years
Texas – 10 Years
Utah – 8 Years
Vermont – 8 Years
Virginia – 10 Years
Washington – 10 Years
West Virginia – 10 Years
Wisconsin – 20 Years
Wyoming – 5 Years
Happy judgment collecting!