Virginia statute of limitations

This table is the fast answer. Each period is followed by the statute it comes from, and every one was verified against the primary Virginia source on July 21, 2026. Where two periods could apply, the shorter usually controls — and a claim against a government body can carry a much shorter notice deadline (see § 6).

Virginia gives injury claims two years from the date the cause of action accrues, under Va. Code § 8.01-243(A) — the deadline for most car accidents, slip-and-falls, medical malpractice, and general negligence. Crucially, Virginia generally does not apply a discovery rule: under § 8.01-230 a personal-injury claim accrues when the injury is sustained, not when it is discovered, even if the harm was not yet apparent. Narrow exceptions exist — fraud accrues on discovery (§ 8.01-249) — but do not assume a late-discovered injury buys more time. Defamation is the short outlier: libel and slander are only one year (§ 8.01-247.1).

Two years from the date of injury — with limited exceptions. A medical-malpractice claim runs two years under Va. Code § 8.01-243(A), and because Virginia ties accrual to the injury rather than discovery (§ 8.01-230), the clock often starts before a patient realizes anything went wrong. Narrow extensions apply for a fraudulently concealed injury, a foreign object left in the body, or a negligent failure to diagnose a malignancy — each giving up to one year from discovery, subject to an outer limit (§ 8.01-243(C)). For a minor, § 8.01-243.1 sets special timing. These exceptions are technical; do not rely on one without legal advice.

Five years on a written contract, three on an oral one. A written contract runs five years under Va. Code § 8.01-246(2); an oral or otherwise unwritten contract runs three years under § 8.01-246(4). Credit-card debt backed by a signed cardholder agreement is generally treated as a written contract, so the five-year period often applies — measured from your last payment or the date of default. A partial payment or a new written promise can restart the clock (§ 8.01-229(G)), so check the dates before paying on an old debt. Time-barred debt can still be reported and pursued informally — the statute bars the lawsuit, not the debt.

Notice comes long before the lawsuit — and the notice deadline is the one people miss. To sue the Commonwealth under the Virginia Tort Claims Act you must file a written notice of claim within one year of the date the claim accrues (Va. Code § 8.01-195.6), stating the time, place, and nature of the claim. Claims against a city or town require written notice within six months for many personal-injury and property claims (§ 15.2-209). These notice rules are separate from — and shorter than — the two-year personal-injury deadline, and a defective or late notice can bar an otherwise timely case.

A statute of limitations is an affirmative defense. If you file even one day late, the defendant raises the expired deadline and the court must dismiss the case — no matter how clear the liability or how serious the harm. Narrow exceptions can pause the clock — the plaintiff was a minor or incapacitated (Va. Code § 8.01-229), the defendant obstructed the filing, or a specific statute delays accrual — but Virginia's lack of a general discovery rule (§ 8.01-230) makes these harder to invoke than in many states. None are safe to rely on without legal advice.

Each period above is cited to the controlling statute and was verified against the Code of Virginia (law.lis.virginia.gov) on July 21, 2026. Personal-injury periods are additionally cross-checked and stamped Exact in the calculator.