United States · Illinois statutory procedure

When does Illinois’s five-year residual limitation period expire?

Section 13-205 generally requires covered unwritten-contract, arbitration-award, property and otherwise unprovided-for civil actions within five years after accrual. Its UCC and Public Aid exceptions and more specific limitation provisions require separate classification.

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Period: Five calendar years after independently established accrual
Trigger: Independently established accrual of the covered Section 13-205 cause of action
Rule: 735 ILCS 5/13-205

735 ILCS 5/13-205

Section 13-205 source note P.A. 82-280. The retained current official full-section extract includes both the UCC and Public Aid exceptions.

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Independently established accrual of the covered Section 13-205 cause of action

Use the ordinary five-year count for an independently classified Section 13-205 claim. It does not establish that the residual statute governs or override a more specific statute.

Entry rules and timing exceptions

5 years from Accrual of the cause of action

735 ILCS 5/13-205Binding

Rule notes

The residual Illinois limitation period. Also covers actions to recover damages for an injury done to property, real or personal, and actions to recover possession of personal property or damages for its detention or conversion. Sales of goods are carved out to UCC section 2-725. Corrected on verification: the quoted wording previously omitted the second carve-out for Section 11-13 of the Illinois Public Aid Code. The Uniform Commercial Code carve-out is now carried as its own entry, il-810-2-725-ucc-sale-of-goods-4-years: a contract for the sale of goods is subject to a 4-year period running from breach, not the 5-year or 10-year periods in sections 13-205 and 13-206.

Calculation software, not legal advice. Check the current rule, orders and facts.

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Does the residual statute govern this accrued claim?

Classify the claim as a covered unwritten contract, arbitration award, property injury, personal-property recovery, detention, conversion or civil action not otherwise provided for.

Check whether a more specific limitation period governs.

Independently establish accrual before entering the date.

735 ILCS 5/13-205

How is the Section 13-205 five-year period counted?

Classify the claim as a covered unwritten contract, arbitration award, property injury, personal-property recovery, detention, conversion or civil action not otherwise provided for.
Count five calendar years from the established accrual date to the corresponding anniversary. Apply Section 1.11 to a final excluded day. No disability stay or concealment period is added automatically.
Check the final weekend, statutory holiday and the proper court’s actual calendar.
Commence the correctly classified action within the applicable period. Preserve the classification, accrual record and filing evidence. The five-year calculation alone does not prove timely commencement of a different claim.

Section 1.11 excludes a final Saturday, Sunday or statutory holiday and consecutive excluded days. Section 17(a) of the Promissory Note and Bank Holiday Act includes Pulaski Day, Good Friday and the general election for members of the House of Representatives. Check proclamations, the proper court’s actual calendar and clerk access separately. The bundled Illinois calendar covers 2026 and 2027.

5 ILCS 70/1.11

What does an independently derived example show?

Fictitious example

Use the ordinary five-year count for an independently classified Section 13-205 claim. It does not establish that the residual statute governs or override a more specific statute. Fictitious established event. No extension, tolling, competing deadline or special order is assumed.

Example counting steps
Step	What is counted	Date
Established statutory event	Independently established accrual of the covered Section 13-205 cause of action	August 2, 2022
Applicable statutory period	Five calendar years after independently established accrual	August 2, 2027

Example resultAugust 2, 2027

Fictitious facts. The event and statutory classification are independently established. The calculator does not determine accrual, legal disability, fraudulent concealment, effective agency service or an actual court extension.

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Which qualifications change this statutory calculation?

Two express statutory exceptions appear in the section: Section 13-205 excepts UCC Section 2-725 and Illinois Public Aid Code Section 11-13. Do not apply the residual five years to an expressly excepted claim.
A specific limitation can displace the residual category: The final category covers civil actions not otherwise provided for. A matching five-year number does not replace analysis of the statute governing the actual claim.
Written obligations require a different classification: Section 13-206 addresses specified written obligations and the Wage Payment and Collection Act. A written claim is not converted into an unwritten-contract claim by selecting this preset.
Disability at accrual differs from later disability: Section 13-211(a) addresses disability or minority at accrual. Subsection (b) addresses later legal disability and caps a Section 13-205 stay at ten years from disability adjudication.
Concealment is not an automatic extra five years: Section 13-215 requires the liable person’s fraudulent concealment and the entitled person’s discovery. The ordinary residual count does not decide those facts.

735 ILCS 5/13-205

This calculation does not determine whether relief is available or whether the facts satisfy the statute.
A current statutory edition does not establish the law for every historical claim. Preserve the applicable edition and actual orders.

What must be completed and preserved?

Classify the claim as a covered unwritten contract, arbitration award, property injury, personal-property recovery, detention, conversion or civil action not otherwise provided for.
Check whether a more specific limitation period governs.
Independently establish accrual before entering the date.
Section 13-205 excepts UCC Section 2-725 and Illinois Public Aid Code Section 11-13. Do not apply the residual five years to an expressly excepted claim.
The final category covers civil actions not otherwise provided for. A matching five-year number does not replace analysis of the statute governing the actual claim.
Section 13-206 addresses specified written obligations and the Wage Payment and Collection Act. A written claim is not converted into an unwritten-contract claim by selecting this preset.
Section 13-211(a) addresses disability or minority at accrual. Subsection (b) addresses later legal disability and caps a Section 13-205 stay at ten years from disability adjudication.
Section 13-215 requires the liable person’s fraudulent concealment and the entitled person’s discovery. The ordinary residual count does not decide those facts.
Commence the correctly classified action within the applicable period. Preserve the classification, accrual record and filing evidence. The five-year calculation alone does not prove timely commencement of a different claim. File with the proper clerk in the required format. Rule 9 ordinarily requires civil electronic filing, subject to its exceptions and exemptions. Rule 9(f) ordinarily requires submission before midnight in the court time zone unless a statute, rule or actual order specifies a different time. A submission on a closed clerk day ordinarily receives the next open-day stamp. Preserve the actual electronic file mark, receipt and any filing-relief order. Filing and service are distinct acts.

Questions about 735 ILCS 5/13-205