Florida: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Florida's contract-debt deadlines live in Chapter 95 ("Limitations of
Actions"): § 95.11 sets the core time periods, § 95.04 governs reviving an
already-barred debt, § 95.051 lists what tolls (pauses) a running clock, and
§ 95.10 is Florida's borrowing statute for debts that arose elsewhere.

How long you have on a written debt

Five years, running from the date of breach. Section 95.11(2)(b) covers "a
legal or equitable action on a contract, obligation, or liability founded on
a written instrument." Signed personal loans, promissory notes, mortgages,
and most cardholder agreements backed by a signed application fall here.

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Four years. Section 95.11(3)(j) covers "a contract, obligation, or liability
not founded on a written instrument, including an action for the sale and
delivery of goods, wares, and merchandise, and on store accounts." A
handshake loan, or a credit card or open account where the creditor can't
produce a signed agreement, generally falls into this shorter bucket
instead. Because this classification genuinely matters, five years versus
four can be the difference between a live claim and a dead one, whether a
debt buyer can actually produce the original signed cardholder agreement is
frequently the whole fight in a Florida collection case.

When the clock starts

The date of breach. Under § 95.031(1), "a cause of action accrues when the
last element constituting the cause of action occurs", for an ordinary
contract or debt claim, that's the date of the missed payment or other
default, not the date the creditor discovers the problem. Florida courts do
not apply a delayed-discovery rule to ordinary breach-of-contract claims.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

Florida splits this into two separate rules depending on whether the debt is
still within its limitations period or has already expired. While the clock
is still running, § 95.051(1)(f) tolls (pauses, rather than restarts) it
for "the payment of any part of the principal or interest of any obligation
or liability founded on a written instrument", a partial payment on a
written debt buys the creditor more time by pausing the countdown, without
requiring any separate writing. Once a debt has already become time-barred,
though, a payment alone under § 95.051 isn't enough, reviving it requires
§ 95.04's separate rule: "an acknowledgment of, or promise to pay, a debt
barred by a statute of limitations must be in writing and signed by the
person sought to be charged."

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

No. The same written/oral split and the same tolling and revival rules apply
whether the debt is a business contract or a personal credit card balance.
The Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (§ 559.72) separately
regulates HOW a collector may act, harassment, threats, disclosure rules, but it doesn't set its own, different filing deadline.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Section 95.10 is a straightforward borrowing statute with no exception for
Florida residents: "when the cause of action arose in another state ... and
its laws forbid the maintenance of the action because of lapse of time, no
action shall be maintained in this state." If a debt is already time-barred
under the law of the state where it arose, Florida courts simply won't hear
it, regardless of whether the person suing is a longtime Florida resident,
unlike states that carve out an exception for their own residents.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

The ordinary default: expiration is an affirmative defense the debtor has to
raise, not an automatic bar. Nothing in § 95.11 stops a creditor from filing
suit on an already time-barred debt, and if the debtor doesn't show up or
doesn't raise the defense, a Florida court can and does enter a default
judgment regardless of the debt's age.

What trips people up

Whether a credit card debt gets 5 years or 4 often comes down to paperwork
a debt buyer may not have: without the original signed cardholder agreement,
the account risks being treated as an unwritten open account under the
shorter 4-year rule instead of the 5-year written-contract rule, which can
be the deciding factor in a case filed between four and five years after
default. Also easy to miss: § 95.051(1)(f)'s tolling-by-payment rule only
applies to a debt "founded on a written instrument", a partial payment on
a purely oral debt doesn't get the same automatic pause. And negotiating or
exchanging demand letters with a creditor does nothing to the clock on its
own; only one of the specific grounds listed in § 95.051 (or a signed
acknowledgment under § 95.04, if the debt has already expired) has any
legal effect.

Common questions

Is my credit card debt on the 5-year or 4-year clock?
It depends on whether the creditor or debt buyer can produce a signed
cardholder agreement. With one, § 95.11(2)(b)'s 5-year written-contract
period applies; without one, courts have applied the shorter 4-year
open-account period under § 95.11(3)(j) instead.

I made a small payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock?
If the debt was still within its limitations period and is founded on a
written instrument, that payment tolled (paused) the clock under §
95.051(1)(f), effectively extending your deadline. If the debt had already
expired, a bare payment alone doesn't revive it, only a signed written
acknowledgment or promise under § 95.04 does that.

Can a debt collector still sue me after the statute of limitations runs?
Nothing in Florida's own statute stops them from filing, and a court won't
dismiss it automatically, you have to raise the expired-deadline defense
yourself, or risk a default judgment. A time-barred lawsuit can separately
violate the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a question outside
this survey's scope.

Does the debt just disappear once the time limit passes?
No. Florida follows the majority rule that the debt itself survives; what
expires is only the creditor's ability to force payment through a lawsuit,
unless the debtor fails to raise the defense.

Statutes and sources

• Fla. Stat. § 95.11, "(2) WITHIN FIVE YEARS.— ... (b) A legal or
  equitable action on a contract, obligation, or liability founded on a
  written instrument... (3) WITHIN FOUR YEARS.— ... (j) A legal or equitable
  action on a contract, obligation, or liability not founded on a written
  instrument, including an action for the sale and delivery of goods, wares,
  and merchandise, and on store accounts.", https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0095/Sections/0095.11.html
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Fla. Stat. § 95.04, "An acknowledgment of, or promise to pay, a debt
  barred by a statute of limitations must be in writing and signed by the
  person sought to be charged.", https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0095/Sections/0095.04.html
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Fla. Stat. § 95.051, "The running of the time under any statute of
  limitations ... is tolled by: ... (f) The payment of any part of the
  principal or interest of any obligation or liability founded on a written
  instrument.", https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0095/Sections/0095.051.html
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Fla. Stat. § 95.10, "When the cause of action arose in another state or
  territory of the United States, or in a foreign country, and its laws
  forbid the maintenance of the action because of lapse of time, no action
  shall be maintained in this state.", https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0095/Sections/0095.10.html
  (accessed 2026-07-09)