Statute of Limitations for Sexual Assault in California

The statute of limitations for sexual assault in California depends mainly on two things: how old you were when the assault happened, and when it happened.

If you were 18 or older, you generally have 10 years from the last assault, or 3 years from the date you discovered an injury it caused, whichever is later. If you were under 18, you generally have until your 40th birthday, or 5 years from discovering a related injury. For childhood abuse that occurred on or after January 1, 2024, there is no civil deadline at all.

Those are the general rules, and they are not the end of the story. California has reopened the courts twice in recent years for adults whose deadlines had already passed. One of those windows closes on December 31, 2026. The other stays open through December 31, 2027. If you assumed it was too late to file, that assumption may be wrong.

Your situation	General filing deadline
Sexual assault at age 18 or older	10 years after the last assault, or 3 years after discovering a resulting injury, whichever is later
Childhood sexual abuse before January 1, 2024	Until age 40, or 5 years after discovering a related psychological injury, whichever is later
Childhood sexual abuse on or after January 1, 2024	No civil statute of limitations
Adult assault on or after January 1, 2009, with an expired deadline	Revived under AB 2777; file by December 31, 2026
Adult assault with a deadline that expired before January 1, 2026	May be revived under AB 250; file by December 31, 2027

The sections below explain each of these deadlines and the exceptions that can change them.

How Long Do Adults Have to File a Sexual Assault Lawsuit in California?

If you were 18 or older when the assault happened, California Code of Civil Procedure section 340.16 gives you two possible deadlines, and you get whichever one ends later. The statute also says that no criminal case needs to have been filed, and no conviction is required, before you bring a civil claim.

The 10-Year Filing Deadline

The first deadline is 10 years from the last act of sexual assault, attempted assault, or assault with intent to commit a sexual assault. If the abuse happened more than once, the clock runs from the most recent act, not the first one.

The Three-Year Discovery Rule

The second deadline is 3 years from the date you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that an injury or illness was caused by the assault. Many survivors do not connect anxiety, depression, substance use, or physical health problems to what happened until years later, often in therapy.

Example: Consider a woman assaulted in 2012 who starts treatment in 2025 and understands for the first time that her panic attacks trace back to the assault. The 10-year deadline passed in 2022. The discovery rule may give her until 2028 to file. Whether a court agrees depends on the facts, which is why the timeline deserves careful attention from the start.

Is There a Statute of Limitations for Childhood Sexual Abuse?

For abuse that happened before you turned 18, the answer depends on when it happened. California Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1 now treats abuse on either side of January 1, 2024 differently.

Childhood Sexual Abuse Occurring in 2024 or Later

If the abuse occurred on or after January 1, 2024, there is no civil statute of limitations. A survivor can file at any age, whether the claim is against the abuser or against a school, church, youth program, or other organization that allowed the abuse to happen.

Childhood Sexual Abuse Occurring Before 2024

For earlier abuse, you generally have until your 40th birthday, or 5 years from the date you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that a psychological injury or illness in adulthood was caused by the abuse. You get whichever deadline is later.

That second deadline is why survivors over 40 should not assume their case is closed. Many people do not link depression, relationship difficulties, or other struggles to childhood abuse until decades later. A claim filed after age 40 under the discovery rule requires certificates of merit from an attorney and a licensed mental health professional. That is a procedural step, not a barrier.

A separate revival window for older childhood claims closed at the end of 2022, and the 2026 and 2027 windows discussed below apply only to adult assault. Even so, the discovery rule leaves a real path open for many survivors who are now past 40.

Can You Still Sue for Sexual Assault After the Statute of Limitations Expires?

Sometimes, yes. California has twice revived expired adult sexual assault claims for a limited time, and both of those windows are open right now. The first closes at the end of 2026. [Internal link: revival window page.]

AB 2777: Filing Deadline of December 31, 2026

AB 2777 amended section 340.16 to revive claims for adult sexual assault that occurred on or after January 1, 2009, where the only problem with the claim is that the deadline ran out. Those claims can be filed until December 31, 2026.

This is the more straightforward of the two windows. You do not have to show that anyone covered anything up. It does not reach claims that were litigated to a final judgment or settled in writing before 2023. It also left in place the separate government claim rules that apply when the defendant is a public entity, which makes claims against a city, county, or public school district much harder to revive.

AB 250: New Filing Window Through December 31, 2027

AB 250, the Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act, took effect on January 1, 2026. It revives adult sexual assault claims that had expired before that date, no matter how long ago the assault happened, and allows them to be filed through December 31, 2027. Related claims arising from the same assault, such as sexual harassment or wrongful termination, are revived along with it.

What you have to allege depends on who you are suing. To revive a claim against a private company, employer, church, school, or other organization, you must allege that the organization, or its officers, employees, or agents, covered up or tried to cover up an earlier instance or allegation of sexual assault by the same perpetrator. A cover-up means a concerted effort to hide evidence or keep people silent, and confidentiality agreements are the example the statute gives.

A claim against the individual who assaulted you is not written with that same cover-up requirement, and the statute says that failing to show a cover-up by one organization does not affect your claims against anyone else, including the perpetrator. How courts will apply that distinction is still developing, which is one more reason to ask rather than assume.

AB 250 does not revive claims that were litigated to finality or settled in writing before January 1, 2026, and it expressly excludes claims against public entities.

If your assault happened on or after January 1, 2009, AB 2777 may be the easier path, and it closes a full year sooner. Under either law, the passage of time is no longer a reason to stay silent without first finding out whether a window applies to you.

What Factors Can Affect the Statute of Limitations for Sexual Assault?

Two survivors with similar stories can have very different deadlines. The details that usually decide which rules apply include:

• Your age at the time: Abuse before 18 and assault at 18 or older fall under different statutes, with different deadlines and different revival rules.
• The date of the assault: Whether it happened before or after January 1, 2009, or before or after January 1, 2024, can determine which window, if any, is open to you.
• When you connected an injury to the assault: The discovery rules turn on when you understood, or reasonably should have understood, that a psychological or physical injury came from the abuse.
• Who the defendant is: Claims against an individual, a private organization, and a public entity each follow different rules, and claims against public entities carry a separate short deadline to file a government claim.
• What the conduct was: The adult statute covers specific serious sexual offenses. Other misconduct, such as workplace sexual harassment, falls under different laws with their own deadlines.
• Prior settlements or lawsuits: A claim that was already settled in writing or decided by a court is generally not revived.

Consider two people assaulted in 2015. One was 16 at the time and has until at least age 40 to file. The other was 25. That person’s ordinary deadline passed in 2025, but a revival window may reopen it. Same year, same kind of harm, two different answers.

Do You Have to Report Sexual Assault to the Police Before Filing a Lawsuit?

No. A civil lawsuit is separate from the criminal process. You do not need a police report, a criminal charge, or a conviction to file, and section 340.16 says so directly. Many survivors never reported what happened, for reasons that make complete sense, and they can still bring a civil claim.

The two systems also measure things differently. A prosecutor must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil case, you need to show it is more likely than not that the assault happened and caused you harm. Survivors have won civil cases where no criminal charges were ever filed.

A civil claim can also reach beyond the person who assaulted you. An employer, school, church, landlord, or other organization that ignored warnings, failed to supervise, or buried earlier complaints may be responsible for the harm as well. Those claims often matter most, because the institution is usually the party able to pay a judgment.

What Should You Do If Your Filing Deadline Is Approaching?

If you think your deadline is close, or has already passed, the most useful step is to talk with an attorney before the end of 2026, while both revival windows are still open. Three things help in the meantime:

1. Write down an approximate timeline: The year, your age, where it happened, and roughly when you first connected any health or emotional problems to it. Exact dates are not required.
2. Preserve what you have: Texts, emails, journals, photos, therapy records, HR complaints, and the names of anyone you told at the time. Do not delete anything, even if it feels unimportant.
3. Ask which deadlines and exceptions apply to you: The answer often turns on facts that are not obvious from the outside, such as who the defendant is or whether an organization handled earlier complaints about the same person.

You do not need every detail, or any documents at all, before you reach out. Much of the evidence in these cases sits with the institution and comes out after a case is filed.

Find Out Whether You Can Still File a Sexual Assault Lawsuit in California

Whether you can still file depends on your age at the time, when it happened, who was responsible, and what you have learned since. The 2026 and 2027 revival windows mean the answer has changed for many survivors, even those who were once told it was too late.

Wear Trial Law represents survivors of sexual assault and abuse throughout Marin County and the Bay Area. Before founding the firm, Michael Wear spent more than 15 years as a Marin County prosecutor, including on the Special Victims Unit felony trial team, so he knows how these cases are built and how they are defended.

Contact us today for a confidential conversation about your situation. There is no obligation, and you do not have to have everything figured out before you reach out.