How long you have to sue over a broken contract, an unpaid debt, or property damage in Washington — and what happens if that window closes.
Washington gives you 6 years to sue over a broken written contract and 3 years for an oral agreement, measured from the date of breach. Every civil claim runs against a clock. Once the statute of limitations expires, the underlying facts don't matter anymore — the court will dismiss the case before it ever reaches a judge on the merits.
The clock typically starts on the date of the breach or last payment, not the date you discovered the problem, though some claims allow a delayed "discovery rule" start date. Oral contracts are enforceable, but courts generally give plaintiffs less time to sue on them — verbal agreements are harder to prove years after the fact, so the law compresses the window.
Property damage claims in Washington carry their own deadline of 3 years. This category covers everything from a contractor's damaged fence to a vehicle collision that only caused property loss rather than injury — personal injury claims from the same incident run on a separate clock.
Governing statute: Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 4.16.005 et seq.. This guide summarizes the general rule — specific contract types (debt collection, mortgages, government claims) can carry different deadlines within Washington, so confirm your exact claim category with a licensed attorney.
Written contract, oral contract, and property damage claims often carry different deadlines in the same state — confirm which category applies before assuming a filing date.
This is usually the date of breach, the date of last payment, or the date the damage occurred. Gather invoices, bank records, or correspondence that establish that date precisely.
Certain circumstances — the defendant leaving the state, a minor plaintiff, active bankruptcy proceedings, or a written acknowledgment of the debt — can pause or restart the clock in some states.
Courts apply statutes of limitations strictly. Filing with a comfortable margin protects against processing delays, service issues, or disputes about the exact start date.
Even a time-barred claim can sometimes be used defensively, or the statute may have tolled for a reason you didn't anticize — keep the file rather than assuming it's dead.
The defendant can raise the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense, and courts almost always grant dismissal once it's established — the case ends without a ruling on whether the debt or breach actually happened.
In many states, yes. A partial payment, a signed acknowledgment of the debt, or a new payment plan can reset the limitations period under that state's revival rules — which is why old debts sometimes become newly collectible.
Washington gives you 6 years from the breach to file a lawsuit over a written contract, under Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 4.16.005 et seq..
Oral contracts in Washington carry a shorter window of 3 years from the breach.