## How the limitation period applies

The controlling primary authority for collections-debt is **T.C.A. § 28-3-109(3)**.

> **T.C.A. § 28-3-109(3).** The following actions shall be commenced within six years after the cause of action accrued: (3) Actions on contracts not otherwise expressly provided for.

## Related statutes

### T.C.A. § 28-3-109(3) — undefined

> The following actions shall be commenced within six years after the cause of action accrued: (3) Actions on contracts not otherwise expressly provided for.

## Use the calculator

DocketMath's statute-of-limitations tool can model these timelines once you identify the controlling claim type and accrual date. Use the source panel for the verified primary-source citations.

[Open the Statute of Limitations calculator](/tools/statute-of-limitations)

## Sources

- [T.C.A. § 28-3-109(3) — undefined](https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-28/chapter-3/section-28-3-109/)
- [T.C.A. § 28-3-109(3) — undefined](https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-28-limitations-of-actions/tn-code-sect-28-3-109.html)

Verified across multiple secondary sources cross-referenced for agreement: `law.justia.com`, `codes.findlaw.com`.

**Corroboration method:** spa_subagent_dual_fetch.


How long do collections last in Tennessee — backed by real statute citations.

How long do collections last in Tennessee

ANO-831 deepen pass 2026-04-29: per-claim citations refined (legal_mal → § 28-3-104(a)(2) per Carvell v. Bottoms; product_liability → § 29-28-103 TPLA; trespass and property_damage → § 28-3-105(1) subdivision; PI/premises → § 28-3-104(a)(1)(A) subdivision). All claim-type periods unchanged. raw_statute_text intentionally null on every claim — primary fetch failed across publications.tnsosfiles.com (403), capitol.tn.gov (404 shell), advance.lexis.com (tracking pixel only), and web.archive.org (blocked). Per anti-fabrication / no-verified-secondary-fallback policy, raw_statute_text is left null rather than filled from prior knowledge.

The following actions shall be commenced within six (6) years after the cause of action accrued: (1) Actions for the use and occupation of land and for rent; (2) Actions against the sureties of guardians, executors and administrators, sheriffs, clerks, and other public officers, for nonfeasance, misfeasance, and malfeasance in office; and (3) Actions on contracts not otherwise expressly provided for.

The following actions shall be commenced within three (3) years from the accruing of the cause of action: (1) Actions for injuries to personal or real property; (2) Actions for the detention or conversion of personal property; (3) Civil actions based upon the alleged violation of any federal or state statute creating monetary liability for personal services rendered, or liquidated damages or other recovery therefor, when no other time of limitation is fixed by the statute creating such liability; and (4) Actions for unpaid wages for hours worked, overtime, minimum wage, salary, bonuses, commissions, or other compensation owed to an employee or independent contractor, including, but not limited to, any causes of action for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, or quantum merit for unpaid wages for hours worked, overtime, minimum wage, salary, bonuses, commissions, or other compensation.

(a)(1) Except as provided in subdivision (a)(2), the following actions shall be commenced within one (1) year after the cause of action accrued: (A) Actions for libel, injuries to the person, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, or breach of marriage promise; (B) Civil actions for compensatory or punitive damages, or both, brought under the federal civil rights statutes; and (C) Actions for statutory penalties.

The following actions shall be commenced within three (3) years from the accruing of the cause of action: (1) Actions for injuries to personal or real property

The statute of limitations in health care liability actions shall be one (1) year as set forth in § 28-3-104.

28-3-105. Property tort actions — Statutory liabilities. The following actions shall be commenced within three (3) years from the accruing of the cause of action: Actions for injuries to personal or real property; Actions for the detention or conversion of personal property;

Actions for slanderous words spoken shall be commenced within six (6) months after the words are uttered.

A civil cause of action under this section shall be filed in chancery court or circuit court within one (1) year after the alleged discriminatory practice ceases

The following actions shall be commenced within three (3) years from the accruing of the cause of action: (1) Actions for injuries to personal or real property;

An action for breach of any contract for sale must be commenced within four (4) years after the cause of action has accrued.

We adopt as the rule of this jurisdiction the principle that in those classes of cases where medical malpractice is asserted to have occurred through the negligent performance of surgical procedures, the cause of action accrues and the statute of limitations commences to run when the patient discovers, or in the exercise of reasonable care and diligence for his own health and welfare, should have discovered the resulting injury.

Under Tennessee law, the continuing-violation doctrine applies primarily in employment discrimination (THRA) and harassment contexts. The underlying statute of limitations for these personal injury/employment claims is 1 year under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1). Where a plaintiff alleges a continuing course of discriminatory or harassing conduct, the 1-year period runs from the last act in the unlawful series, not the first, allowing otherwise time-barred acts to be reached as part of the con

Tennessee's SOL for personal injury is 1 year under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104.

Tennessee applies the 1-year personal-injury SOL of Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104 to wrongful-death actions.

Tennessee's SOL for medical malpractice (health care liability) is 1 year under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-116.

Tennessee's SOL for legal malpractice is 1 year under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104.

Tennessee applies the 1-year personal-injury SOL of Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104 to premises-liability claims.

Tennessee's SOL for breach of a written contract is 6 years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-109.

Tennessee's SOL for breach of an oral contract is 6 years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-109.

Tennessee's SOL for breach of a UCC contract for the sale of goods is 4 years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-2-725.

Tennessee's SOL for fraud (injuries to property) is 3 years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105.

Tennessee's SOL for libel is 1 year under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104.

Tennessee's SOL for slander is 6 months under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-103.

Tennessee's SOL for damage to property is 3 years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105.

Tennessee applies the 3-year property-injury SOL of Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105 to trespass claims.

Tennessee applies the 1-year personal-injury SOL of Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104 to product-liability claims for personal injury.

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105, actions for injuries to personal or real property and for the detention or conversion of personal property must be commenced within three years from the accruing of the cause of action.

42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights claims borrow Tennessee's personal injury SOL; Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(1) provides 1 year.

Tennessee common-law wrongful termination claims are governed by Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105, which provides a 3-year SOL for personal injury actions (injuries to the person or rights of another).

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105(1), actions for injuries to personal or real property — including trespass to real property — must be commenced within three years from the accruing of the cause of action.

A debt on a promissory note in Tennessee is an action on a contract not otherwise expressly provided for and must be commenced within six years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-109(a)(3).

The following actions shall be commenced within three (3) years from the accruing of the cause of action: (1) Actions for injuries to personal or real property; (2) Actions for the detention or conversion of personal property; and (3) Civil actions based upon the alleged violation of any federal or state statute creating monetary liability for personal services rendered, or liquidated damages or other recovery therefor, when no other time of limitation is fixed by the statute creating such liability.

Actions to recover money or goods lost at any kind of gambling or betting, and paid or delivered: (1) If brought by the loser, shall be commenced within ninety (90) days next after such payment or delivery; (2) If brought for the use of the spouse, child or children, or next of kin, within twelve (12) months from the expiration of the ninety (90) days; (3) If by a creditor of the loser, within twenty-four (24) months from the end of the ninety (90) days.

If at any time any cause of action shall accrue against any person who shall be out of this state, the action may be commenced within the time limited therefor, after such person shall have come into the state; and, after any cause of action shall have accrued, if the person against whom it has accrued shall be absent from or reside out of the state, the time of absence or residence out of the state shall not be taken as any part of the time limited for the commencement of the action.

Tennessee law has long recognized that the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the plaintiff, exercising reasonable diligence, discovers the fraud which the defendant wrongfully concealed. See, e.g., Vance v. Schulder, 547 S.W.2d 927, 930 (Tenn. 1977) (collecting cases).

If the person entitled to commence an action is, at the time the cause of action accrued, either under eighteen (18) years of age, or adjudicated incompetent, such person, or such person's representatives and privies, as the case may be, may commence the action, after legal rights are restored, within the time of limitation for the particular cause of action, unless it exceeds three (3) years, and in that case within three (3) years from restoration of legal rights.

How long do collections last in Tennessee

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Authority and key facts

How the limitation period applies

Related statutes

T.C.A. § 28-3-109(3) — undefined

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