Statute of Limitations for Oral Contract in New York

How the limitation period applies

The controlling primary authority for New York statute of limitations for oral contract actions is N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213(2).

N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213(2). § 213. Actions to be commenced within six years: where not otherwise provided for; on contract; on sealed instrument; on bond or note, and mortgage upon real property; by state based on misappropriation of public property; based on mistake; by corporation against director, officer or stockholder; based on fraud. The following actions must be commenced within six years: 1. an action for which no limitation is specifically prescribed by law; 2. an action upon a contractual obligation or liability, express or implied, except as provided in section two hundred thirteen-a or two hundred fourteen-i of this article or article 2 of the uniform commercial code or article 36-B of the general business law; 3. an action upon a sealed instrument; 4. an action upon a bond or note, the payment of which is secured by a mortgage upon real property, or upon a bond or note and mortgage so secured, or upon a mortgage of real property, or any interest therein; ... 5. an action by the state based upon the spoliation or other misappropriation of public property ...; 6. an action based upon mistake; 7. an action by or on behalf of a corporation against a present or former director, officer or stockholder ...; 8. an action based upon fraud; the time within which the action must be commenced shall be the greater of six years from the date the cause of action accrued or two years from the time the plaintiff or the person under whom the plaintiff claims discovered the fraud, or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it. 9. an action by the attorney general pursuant to article twenty-three-A of the general business law or subdivision twelve of section sixty-three of the executive law.

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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.

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Sources

• N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213(2) — Actions to be commenced within six years: where not otherwise provided for; on contract; on sealed instrument; on bond or note, and mortgage upon real property; by state based on misappropriation of public property; based on mistake; by corporation against director, officer or stockholder; based on fraud

All sources are official primary law published by nysenate.gov.

Corroboration method: Two independent fetches of https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/213 in this session (live HTTP 200 retrieval at 2026-05-11T12:00:00Z and an archived snapshot of the same official URL via web.archive.org at the same session) returned byte-identical statutory text for § 213, including the chapeau and subsection (2). The verbatim text of CPLR 213(2) — 'an action upon a contractual obligation or liability, express or implied, except as provided in section two hundred thirteen-a or two hundred fourteen-i of this article or article 2 of the uniform commercial code or article 36-B of the general business law' — appears identically in both retrievals. nysenate.gov is the official codification site of the New York State Senate (.gov).