Texas Claim Deadline Checker
Three questions to work out which filing deadline applies to your situation.
Most Texas injury claims run out after two years. Several situations change that date, and one of them cuts it to a matter of months. Answer three questions to see which rule applies to you. Nothing is sent anywhere and no email is required.
Your result
Two years, from the date of the injury
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) gives two years from the day the claim accrues, which for most injuries is the date it happened. That is the deadline to file suit, not the deadline to start, and the evidence that proves a claim degrades long before the two years are up. Treat the real working deadline as the point at which video, vehicle data, and witness memory are still available, which is usually measured in weeks.
Talk through your datesYour result
Two years, running from the date of death
A wrongful death claim runs two years from the date of death rather than from the date of the injury that caused it. When a person survives for a period before dying, those are different dates and the difference has ended otherwise valid claims. There is also a second claim to consider: a survival action under § 71.021 belongs to the estate rather than to the family, and it usually requires opening an estate and having a representative appointed.
Understand both claimsYour result
Far shorter. Treat this as urgent.
Claims against a governmental unit are the exception that catches people out. Beyond the ordinary two-year limitations period, the Texas Tort Claims Act requires formal written notice of the claim, and many cities and other entities set that notice period by charter at six months or less. Some are shorter still. Miss the notice and the claim can be barred long before the two years have run, no matter how strong it is. If a public entity, public hospital, transit authority, or government vehicle is involved, the notice deadline is the thing to nail down first.
Get the notice deadline confirmedYour result
The clock generally does not start until 18
For a person injured as a minor, Texas law generally treats the limitations period as tolled during minority, so the two years typically begin running at the eighteenth birthday rather than at the date of injury. That does not make it safe to wait. Evidence still disappears on the ordinary schedule, a parent may have their own separate claim for medical expenses that is not tolled, and a claim against a governmental unit still carries its own short notice deadline regardless of the injured person's age.
Check the specifics
The Honest Version
A calculator gets you close. Someone on site gets you the number.
If You Want a Real Answer
No cost to start.
A case review is free whether or not you hire anyone, and that includes being told plainly that you do not have a claim worth bringing.
- 01
Tell us what happened
A conversation, not an intake form. What happened, what hurts, and what the insurer has already said to you.
- 02
Evidence gets locked down
Preservation demands go out for video, truck data, and records while they still exist. This is the step that cannot wait.
- 03
Treatment and documentation
You get care. The claim gets built around the medical record, because that record is what the injury is worth on paper.
- 04
Demand, negotiation, or suit
A documented demand goes to the carrier. If the number is not serious, the case gets filed before the deadline, not after.
Next Step
Get the real number.
A calculator gives you a ballpark. A free on-site visit gives you the actual price.
Waterloo Injury Law PLLC (512) 555-0142 · intake@