Georgia statute of limitations

This table is the fast answer. Each period is followed by the statute it comes from, and every one was verified against the primary Georgia source on July 21, 2026. Where two periods could apply, the shorter usually controls — and the government-claim notice deadline (see § 6) is the shortest of all.

Georgia injury claims run two years from when the right of action accrues, under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 — the same period for car wrecks, falls, and most negligence. Georgia uses an occurrence rule, not a general discovery rule: the clock usually starts on the date of injury. The narrow discovery exception is reserved mainly for continuing or latent bodily injury and disease; it does not rescue an ordinary claim filed late.

Two years from the negligent act, with a hard five-year cap. Medical malpractice runs two years under § 9-3-71(a), generally measured from the injury rather than from discovery, and a five-year statute of repose (§ 9-3-71(b)) bars claims after five years regardless of when the harm surfaces. A narrow exception: a foreign object left in the body is one year from discovery (§ 9-3-72), and the repose does not bar it.

A written contract in Georgia is six years; an oral one is four. Written contracts run six years from when the debt becomes due (§ 9-3-24), while oral contracts and open accounts are four years (§ 9-3-25). Damage to real or personal property is also four years (§ 9-3-30, § 9-3-31). A payment or written acknowledgment can restart the clock.

Georgia’s ante litem notice can be as short as six months — before you ever file suit. To sue a city, you must give written ante litem notice within six months of the injury, stating the time, place, extent of injury, and a specific dollar amount (§ 36-33-5). Claims against a county require presentation within 12 months (§ 36-11-1), and claims against the State require 12-month written notice to the Department of Administrative Services (§ 50-21-26). Miss the notice and the claim is barred even though the two-year period has not run.

A statute of limitations is an affirmative defense. If you file even one day late, the defendant raises the expired deadline and the court must dismiss the case — no matter how clear the liability or how serious the harm. Insurers and their lawyers track these dates precisely. Narrow exceptions can pause the clock — the plaintiff was a minor or legally incapacitated, the defendant left Georgia, or a statutory discovery rule applies — but none are safe to rely on without legal advice.

Each period above is cited to the controlling statute and was verified against the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.) on July 21, 2026. Personal-injury periods are additionally cross-checked and stamped Exact in the calculator.