Delaware: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Delaware's contract-debt deadline lives in Title 10, Chapter 81 ("Personal
Actions"). Section 8106(a) sets the general 3-year catch-all that covers
an ordinary debt not evidenced by a record or an instrument under seal, and its 2014-added subsection (c) lets a large written contract set its
own period instead. Section 8107 supplies a special accrual rule for a
mutual, running account. Section 8108 pulls a promissory note, bill of
exchange, or a signed acknowledgment of a still-valid debt out to its own
6-year period. Section 8119 is Delaware's borrowing statute for a debt
connected to another state. And a contract for the sale of goods follows
its own separate Uniform Commercial Code period, 6 Del. C. § 2-725.

How long you have on a written debt

3 years for an ordinary written debt, the same period as an oral one.
Section 8106(a)'s catch-all excludes only "a debt not evidenced by a
record or by an instrument under seal," and an ordinary signed promise
doesn't move a debt out of that 3-year bucket. Three real exceptions run
longer: a promissory note or bill of exchange gets 6 years (section 8108);
a written contract, agreement, or undertaking worth at least $100,000 can
specify its own limitations period in the writing itself, up to 20 years
(section 8106(c)), a targeted 2014 addition that overrides even the
UCC's ordinary 4-year period for a sale of goods; and a debt secured by an
instrument under seal follows the common law's 20-year period, since
Delaware has never enacted a statute assigning sealed debts a specific
number, Delaware courts have confirmed the common-law period fills that
gap.

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Also 3 years, the identical period section 8106(a) applies to an
ordinary written, non-sealed debt. Delaware simply doesn't draw a
written-versus-oral line for ordinary contract debt.

When the clock starts

Section 8106(a) starts the 3-year period from "the accruing of the cause
of such action," without itself defining when that happens for an
ordinary contract or debt claim. There's one specific exception: for a
mutual and running account between parties, an ongoing back-and-forth
tab, rather than a single fixed debt, section 8107 says the clock
doesn't start running at all while the account stays open and current.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

Yes, but only through a signed acknowledgment, Delaware's statute
doesn't separately list a bare payment as sufficient on its own. Under
section 8108, a debtor's signed acknowledgment of a debt that's still
subsisting (not yet expired) gives the creditor a fresh 6-year period,
measured from the date of that acknowledgment. Because the statute
requires the underlying demand to be "subsisting" at the time of the
acknowledgment, its text doesn't authorize reviving a debt whose clock has
already fully run, only extending one that's still active.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

No. The same 3-year general period applies to consumer and commercial
debt alike; Delaware has no statute setting a different, shorter or
longer, limitations period specifically for consumer-credit-transaction
debt.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Delaware's borrowing statute applies the shorter of the two periods:
Delaware's own limitations period, or the period of the state or country
where the debt arose, whichever is shorter controls. The one exception
runs in the creditor's favor: if the person bringing the claim was a
Delaware resident at the time the debt accrued, Delaware's own period
applies instead, even if it's longer than the period where the debt
arose.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

The ordinary default. Expiration of the limitations period is an
affirmative defense the debtor has to raise; Chapter 81 doesn't stop a
creditor from filing suit on a time-barred claim outright.

What trips people up

Delaware's large-contract exception is a real trap for the unwary on both
sides: a $100,000-plus written contract can carry its own, much longer
limitations period, up to 20 years, if the parties wrote one into the
agreement, which is a genuine departure from Delaware's usual rule that
parties generally CANNOT extend a statute of limitations by contract
(they can shorten one, but not lengthen it, outside this specific
carve-out). And the sealed-instrument rule is easy to miss entirely
because it isn't written down as a number anywhere in the statute, Delaware's 3-year catch-all simply excludes sealed debts from its own
coverage, leaving the length (20 years) to be found only in case law
applying the older common-law rule.

Common questions

Does Delaware give more time to sue on a written contract than an oral
one?
Not for an ordinary debt, both get the same 3-year period. A promissory
note (6 years), a large written contract that sets its own period (up to
20 years), and a debt under seal (20 years under the common law) are the
real exceptions.

I made a payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock?
Delaware's statute only names a signed acknowledgment of a still-valid
debt, not a bare payment, as sufficient to restart the clock. A verbal
promise or an unsigned communication doesn't satisfy the statute's
"under the hand of the party" requirement.

Can a debt collector still sue me after the statute of limitations
runs?
Chapter 81 doesn't stop the filing itself, you have to raise the expired
deadline as a defense in court.

My contract is worth $150,000 and sets its own 10-year deadline to
sue, is that enforceable?
Yes, as long as it doesn't exceed 20 years from accrual, section
8106(c) specifically allows a written contract worth at least $100,000 to
set its own limitations period in the contract itself, within that
20-year ceiling.

Statutes and sources

• 10 Del. C. § 8106, "(a) No action... to recover a debt not evidenced
  by a record or by an instrument under seal... shall be brought after the
  expiration of 3 years from the accruing of the cause of such action...
  (c) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this chapter... or in
  § 2-725 of Title 6, an action based on a written contract, agreement or
  undertaking involving at least $100,000 may be brought within a period
  specified in such written contract... provided it is brought prior to
  the expiration of 20 years from the accruing of the cause of such
  action.", https://delcode.delaware.gov/title10/c081/index.html
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• 10 Del. C. § 8107, "In the case of a mutual and running account
  between parties, the limitation, specified in § 8106 of this title,
  shall not begin to run while such account continues open and current.", https://delcode.delaware.gov/title10/c081/index.html (accessed
  2026-07-09)
• 10 Del. C. § 8108, "When a cause of action arises from a promissory
  note, bill of exchange, or an acknowledgment under the hand of the party
  of a subsisting demand, the action may be commenced at any time within 6
  years from the accruing of such cause of action.", https://delcode.delaware.gov/title10/c081/index.html (accessed
  2026-07-09)
• 10 Del. C. § 8119, "Where a cause of action arises outside of this
  State, an action cannot be brought in a court of this State to enforce
  such cause of action after the expiration of whichever is shorter, the
  time limited by the law of this State, or the time limited by the law of
  the state or country where the cause of action arose... Where the cause
  of action originally accrued in favor of a person who at the time of
  such accrual was a resident of this State, the time limited by the law
  of this State shall apply.", https://delcode.delaware.gov/title10/c081/index.html (accessed
  2026-07-09)
• 6 Del. C. § 2-725, "An action for breach of any contract for sale must
  be commenced within 4 years after the cause of action has accrued.", https://delcode.delaware.gov/title6/c002/sc07/index.html (accessed
  2026-07-09)