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SOL: The Statute Of Limitations
From CreditMagic Wiki
Statute of Limitation or SOL
Statute of limitation is a time limit within which a creditor is lawfully permitted to take any legal action on the debtor. There are other complications as well. SOL is different for different states and of course different for different contracts. Find the table below containing the SOL for type of contracts and for various states.
Table of SOL for different states
| State (in years) | Oral Agreements | Written Contracts | Promissory Notes | Open Accounts |
| Alabama | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
| Alaska | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Arizona | 3 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| Arkansas | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| California | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Colorado | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Connecticut | 3 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Delaware | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| D.C. | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Florida | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Georgia | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Hawaii | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Idaho | 4 | 5 | 10 | 4 |
| Illinois | 5 | 10 | 6 | 5 |
| Indiana | 6 | 10 | 10 | 6 |
| Iowa | 5 | 10 | 5 | 5 |
| Kansas | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Kentucky | 5 | 15 | 15 | 5 |
| Louisiana | 10 | 10 | 10 | 3 |
| Maine | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Maryland | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Massachusetts | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Michigan | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Minnesota | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Mississippi | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Missouri | 5 | 10 | 10 | 5 |
| Montana | 5 | 8 | 8 | 5 |
| Nebraska | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Nevada | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| New Hampshire | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| New Jersey | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| New Mexico | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| New York | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| North Carolina | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| North Dakota | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Ohio | 6 | 15 | 15 | |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Oregon | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Rhode Island | 15 | 15 | 10 | 10 |
| South Carolina | 10 | 10 | 3 | 3 |
| South Dakota | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Tennessee | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Texas | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Utah | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Vermont | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Virginia | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| Washington | 3 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
| West Virginia | 5 | 10 | 6 | 5 |
| Wisconsin | 6 | 6 | 10 | 6 |
| Wyoming | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 |
About SOL
SOL initiates from the time the debtor goes delinquent on a payment. The best way to check is your credit report which tells you the last activity on you account. Running out of the SOL does not delete your debt though. You still remain indebted and must be paying off. However in case you are sued you can use it as a defense to foreclose any further litigation. SOL cannot stop anyone to sue you but you can always use it as a defense. But be rest assured that the failure to show a proof of the SOL expiry in the court can result in a lost lawsuit and a consequent judgment against you.
It has been seen that many consumers use the SOL as a tool to escape the debt. You can dodge because once the SOL expires, the debt does not remain legally collectible anymore. Termination of SOL does not stop any collection attempt or reporting to bureaus. You can definitely stop the letters and phone calls by writing a "cease and desist" letter as per the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act). The collection attempts for an SOL expired debt can exist till a particular time frame as mentioned in the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act). However disregarding the debt does not make it non-existent. SOL is there for your benefit and its use completely depends on you.
