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It depends on the conduct involved. Section 16.0045 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code gives thirty years for claims based on the offenses against children and disabled individuals listed in Section 16.0045(a). It gives five years for the offenses listed in Section 16.0045(b). A claim against a business for its own negligence is usually two years.
Most people are told they have two years, and for claims arising from sexual abuse that is usually wrong. Which period applies turns on the specific conduct involved, not on how the case is labeled. If you assumed it was too late, you may be mistaken. What cannot wait is a possible two-year negligence claim against a business. Call 713-521-0059.
Section 16.0045(a) gives thirty years from the day the cause of action accrues. It applies where the injury arises from conduct that violates one of these Penal Code provisions:
Section 16.0045(b) gives five years where the injury arises from conduct that violates:
Read the two lists together and a general pattern appears. Most of the child sexual offenses carry thirty years, and the adult versions generally carry five. Section 16.0045(b) also reaches other trafficking conduct, which can involve a child. What decides your period is the specific Penal Code provision the conduct violated, not the general subject of the case.
People often say that some claims have no deadline at all, but the statute does not say that. Section 16.0045 has exactly two periods, thirty years and five years, and nothing in it is unlimited.
The statute does not say, and courts decide whether Section 16.0045 reaches an institution sued for its own negligence. Section 16.0045 does not distinguish between the person who committed the abuse and a school, church, employer, apartment complex or other institution sued for its own negligence. It is written entirely in terms of the conduct that caused the injury. Whether the longer period reaches an institutional defendant is a question courts answer, not a question the text answers.
A negligence claim against a business or property owner is usually a two-year claim under Section 16.003, the period that applies to ordinary injury claims. Both periods in Section 16.0045 are longer than that. Federal Title IX and Section 1983 claims borrow that two-year period as well. The Fifth Circuit so held in King-White v. Humble Independent School District, 803 F.3d 754 (5th Cir. 2015), and declined to apply Section 16.0045 to those claims. If your case includes claims against both the abuser and an institution, each claim may have its own deadline.
Section 16.0045 is written in terms of the conduct that caused the injury, and the facts of your case decide how it applies. Where an organization had your child in its care, its duty to supervise is the same when the abuser was another child. The age of the child who committed the abuse can affect the claim against that child’s family, but it does not change what the organization owed your child. Our page on when a child sexually assaults another child covers the claim against the family.
Section 16.0045(d) addresses the situation where the perpetrator is unidentified. Filing a petition against an unknown defendant tolls the limitations period, provided you proceed with due diligence to discover the defendant’s identity. You must also amend the petition not later than the thirtieth day after the defendant is identified, and the period begins running again on the date the petition is amended.
Section 16.0045(c) provides that in an action for injury resulting in death arising from conduct described in either list, the cause of action accrues on the death of the injured person.
If your claim is brought under Chapter 98B, which covers intimate images and may reach AI-generated images, its limitations period is in Section 98B.009, not Section 16.0045. Section 98B.009, added effective 1 September 2025, gives ten years from the later of the date the depicted person reasonably discovers the material or the date that person turns 18.
If your claim is a trafficking claim under Chapter 98, that chapter does not appear to set a limitations period of its own. In most cases Section 16.0045 supplies it. Which of the two periods applies depends on the specific Penal Code subsection involved, which is why a trafficking case cannot be given a single number.
Section 16.0045 has been amended repeatedly, most recently in 2019, 2021 and 2023. Amendments like these usually carry an applicability clause that appears in the bill rather than in the code. Those clauses determine which cases the change reaches. Whether any amendment revived a claim that had already expired depends on those clauses and on the dates involved.
That is the kind of question worth one phone call rather than an assumption in either direction. If you have been assuming your case is too old, check. If someone has told you it is fine, that is worth checking too.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
The specific Penal Code provision decides the period, and your dates decide how much of it remains. Write down when the abuse happened, how old you were at the time and when you learned who was responsible. Those dates are what we need to answer your question.
Limitations questions are fact-specific, and the consequence of getting one wrong usually cannot be undone. We start with your dates and the specific conduct involved, because those decide which period applies. Then we identify every party that may be responsible and the deadline that applies to each one.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people and survivors across Texas.
If you are a parent, an advocate or a counselor asking on someone’s behalf, you are welcome to call with a general question. We will not ask you for their name.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
Call 713-521-0059.
No. Thirty years applies to the offenses against children and disabled individuals listed in Section 16.0045(a). Five years applies to the offenses listed in Section 16.0045(b), and an ordinary negligence claim against a business is usually two years.
The specific Penal Code provision the conduct violated, not the general subject of the case. Your dates then decide how much of that period remains.
Usually not. A negligence claim against a hotel or apartment complex is usually a two-year claim under Section 16.003, and courts decide whether Section 16.0045 reaches a business sued for its own negligence.
Section 16.0045(d) tolls the period on filing against a John or Jane Doe, with a duty to substitute the real name within 30 days of identifying them. You also have to look for the person with due diligence.
An organization's duty to supervise your child is the same. The abuser's age can affect the claim against that child's family, but it does not change what the organization owed your child.
For a suit under Chapter 98B, yes. Section 98B.009 gives ten years from the later of the date the depicted person reasonably discovers the material or the date that person turns 18.