United States · Texas statutory limitations
When must a Texas debt, fraud or listed four-year action be brought?
Section 16.004(a) requires its listed specific-performance, real-property penal-bond, debt, fraud and fiduciary-duty actions within four years after accrual. Establish the actual cause and its accrual before counting. Contract formation, a demand or discovery is not automatically the correct event for every listed claim.
- Period
- 4 calendar years after the independently established statutory event
- Trigger
- The independently established accrual of the actual section 16.004(a) cause of action
- Rule
- Texas CPRC 16.004(a)
Current official consolidated Chapter 16 text retrieved October 5, 2026
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Which event starts this limitation?
Identify specific performance of a real-property conveyance contract, its penal-bond clause, debt, fraud or breach of fiduciary duty.
Establish the cause’s accrual using actual facts and governing law. A shared four-year period does not establish a shared event.
Check the estate-bond and account provisions separately, together with any suspension or protected governmental right.
Texas CPRC 16.004(a)How is the ordinary year period counted?
- Identify specific performance of a real-property conveyance contract, its penal-bond clause, debt, fraud or breach of fiduciary duty.
- Establish that the scoped statutory branch governs and that no suspension or different limitation applies.
- Add 4 calendar years to the verified event.
- Check the final day, actual county opening and applicable filing boundary.
A statutory year is twelve consecutive months under Government Code 311.005(12). Section 311.014(c) uses the corresponding numerical day in the concluding month, or that month’s last day if no corresponding day exists. Count calendar years, not 365 days per year. Establish the statutory event before using its anniversary.
CPRC 16.072 extends its statutory suit-filing period when the final day is a Saturday, Sunday or holiday to the next day county offices are open for business. Rule 4 and Government Code 311.014 also address final weekends and legal holidays. The calculator applies the encoded Texas calendar for 2026 through 2028. Establish the actual county calendar, governing holiday treatment and any additional closure separately. A state employee’s optional day off does not itself establish a court closure.
Texas Government Code 311.014What does an independently checked example show?
Fictitious example
Fictitious facts. The independently established accrual of the actual section 16.004(a) cause of action is independently established as July 6, 2023. This ordinary branch governs. No suspension, extension, competing limitation or protected governmental right applies.
| Step | What is counted | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Event | The independently established accrual of the actual section 16.004(a) cause of action | July 6, 2023 |
| Anniversary | 4 calendar years | July 6, 2027 |
Fictitious dates. The event and statutory branch are independently established. No suspension, competing limitation or additional closure applies. For the separate weekend fixture, county offices are expressly assumed open July 12, 2027. This is not a verified calendar for every county.
Try these dates in the calculatorWhich facts change the ordinary calculation?
- Exact specific-performance and bond scope
- Subsection (a)(1) and (2) concern a contract or penal bond for conveyance of real property. They do not name every specific-performance claim or every bond.
- Estate-representative bond
- Subsection (b) uses death, resignation, removal or discharge of the executor, administrator or guardian. It is a separate statutory event.
- Listed account actions
- Subsection (c) uses cessation of the dealings in which the parties were interested together for its listed accounts and partnership settlement.
- Disability when the cause accrues
- Section 16.001 excludes the time of a qualifying minority or unsound-mind disability existing at accrual. A later disability does not suspend the clock, and disabilities cannot be tacked. This calculator assumes no qualifying disability and does not classify the facts.
- Death during an existing clock
- Section 16.062 can suspend an existing limitation for up to twelve months, with an earlier restart when an executor or administrator qualifies. A death date alone does not supply the claim’s remaining time.
- Absence from Texas
- Section 16.063 states a suspension during the absence of the person against whom the cause may be maintained. This calculator assumes no applicable suspension. The statutory text alone does not settle judicial restrictions or constitutional application to a particular defendant.
- Prior action dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
- Section 16.064 conditionally suspends limitations between filings when the same action is commenced in a proper court within sixty days after final disposition. Intentional disregard of jurisdiction is excluded. The calculator does not determine that suspension.
- Specified governmental rights
- Section 16.061 protects its listed state and political-subdivision rights against the provisions it names. Do not apply this ordinary claimant calculation to such a protected right.
- The calculator does not decide accrual, constructive discovery, claim classification or a disputed suspension.
- A request for more time is not a statutory extension. Rule 5 concerns its stated rule, notice or order periods; it does not establish general relief from a statute of limitations.
- Rule 21(f)(6) permits seeking appropriate relief after a technical failure. Its required reasonable extension concerns deadlines imposed by the rules. Do not assume it automatically revives this statutory limitation.
What should be checked before filing?
Common questions
This action and its statutory event
Do all five actions start when the contract was signed?
No. Section 16.004(a) uses accrual of the actual cause. The calculator does not decide that event.
Texas CPRC 16.004(a)Is an executor’s bond treated as ordinary debt accrual?
Subsection (b) provides its own representative-event trigger. Establish that actual branch.
Texas CPRC 16.004(b)Does four years make the residual period interchangeable?
No. Section 16.051 applies only when no express limitation exists and excludes real-property recovery.
Texas CPRC 16.051Official sources and review
Provisions used (17)
| Provision | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Texas CPRC 16.004(a) | The covered action, actor, event and fixed ordinary period |
| Texas CPRC 16.004(a)(1)–(2) | Exact specific-performance and bond scope |
| Texas CPRC 16.004(b) | Estate-representative bond |
| Texas CPRC 16.004(c) | Listed account actions |
| Texas CPRC 16.001 | Disability when the cause accrues |
| Texas CPRC 16.062 | Death during an existing clock |
| Texas CPRC 16.063 | Absence from Texas |
| Texas CPRC 16.064 | Prior action dismissed for lack of jurisdiction |
| Texas CPRC 16.061 | Specified governmental rights |
| Texas Government Code 311.005(12) and 311.014 | Calendar units and statutory computation |
| Texas Government Code 311.005(12) | The statutory year is twelve consecutive months |
| Texas CPRC 16.072 | Statutory suit-filing period on a closed final day |
| Texas Government Code 662.003 and 662.021 | Distinguish the statutory holiday definitions from optional employee holidays |
| Texas Civil Rule 4 | Event exclusion, inclusion of the final day and legal holidays |
| Texas Civil Rule 5 | Scope of court enlargement, distinguished from statutory limitation relief |
| Texas Civil Rule 21(f)(5) and (6) | Electronic filing boundary and technical failure provisions |
| Texas Civil Rule 22 | Commencing district or county court suit by filing the petition |