Limitation Periods: How Long You Have to Bring a Claim

This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at Hukuki Zamanaşımı Süreleri: Hakkınızı Kaybetmeyin.

Limitation does not extinguish a debt; it only prevents it from being enforced through the courts, and it is taken into account only if the other side raises it. A forfeiture period, by contrast, extinguishes the right itself and the judge applies it of their own motion. That distinction can decide a case.

Many people realise far too late that their claim has become time-barred. The most painful way to lose a case is to be in the right and miss the deadline.

The periods are set by statute, but they vary considerably with the type of claim and the relationship between the parties. This article sets out the periods for the commonest claims, when time starts running, what interrupts or suspends it, and how limitation differs from a forfeiture period.

What Are the Periods?

The Code of Obligations and special statutes set different periods for different relationships:

• The general period for debts — 10 years (Article 146): unless a statute provides otherwise, every claim is subject to a ten-year period. This is the basic rule for contractual claims.
• Tort damages: two years from learning of the loss and of the person liable, and in any event ten years from the act. Where the act also constitutes an offence and the criminal limitation period is longer, that longer period applies.
• Employment claims (severance, notice pay, overtime): five years for wages, severance pay, notice pay and overtime under the Labour Act. Time runs from the date the employment contract ended.
• Workplace accident damages — 10 years: unlike ordinary tort claims, claims arising from a workplace accident are subject to a ten-year period.
• Maintenance — 10 years: maintenance based on a court order is subject to a ten-year period, but because each month's maintenance arises in that month, time is calculated separately for each.
• Damages arising from divorce — 1 year: where claimed as a separate action, within one year of the divorce judgment becoming final. Miss it and the right is lost.
• Traffic accident damages — 2 years: from learning of the accident and of the person liable, and in any event ten years from the accident. The same period applies to claims against the insurer.
• Criminal limitation: varies with the offence. There is no limitation for offences carrying aggravated life imprisonment; for others the period ranges from 8 to 30 years according to the gravity of the sentence.

When Does Time Start Running?

The general rule is that time runs from the date the claim becomes due and payable, but there are special cases:

• When the claim arises. In contractual claims, generally from the date the claim arose — that is, when the time for performance passed.
• The date of knowledge (tort). In tort claims, time runs from the date the injured party learned both of the loss and of the person liable. Not knowing either prevents time from running.
• The end of the employment contract. Severance and notice pay, and overtime accrued during the employment, are subject to a five-year period running from the date the contract ended.
• The opening of the succession. Some inheritance claims run from the opening of the succession, others from the date the heir learned that they were an heir.

“Unless a statute provides otherwise, every claim is subject to a limitation period of ten years.” — Code of Obligations, Article 146

What Interrupts and What Suspends Limitation?

Some acts interrupt limitation; some situations suspend it. The difference matters.

• What interrupts it:
  • Bringing an action or starting enforcement proceedings — after an interruption a fresh period begins to run.
  • Acknowledgement of the debt, written or oral.
  • Part payment — paying part of the debt also interrupts limitation.
• What suspends it:
  • Force majeure — where an unforeseeable and unavoidable event such as an earthquake or war prevents an action from being brought.
  • Military service during mobilisation or war.
  • Lack of capacity — protective provisions apply where a guardian has not brought an action on behalf of a person under guardianship.

The practical difference: an interruption resets the clock to zero, while a suspension merely pauses it and the remaining time resumes when the obstacle is removed.

Limitation and Forfeiture Distinguished

Two consequences follow from the distinction:

• Limitation does not extinguish the debt but leaves it as an unenforceable obligation. It must be raised as a defence; if it is not, the court will not apply it. Payment made on a time-barred debt cannot be reclaimed.
• A forfeiture period extinguishes the right itself. The judge applies it of their own motion at every stage, and it cannot be interrupted or suspended.

Examples of forfeiture periods: the seven days for objecting to a payment order, the one month for applying to a mediator for reinstatement, the sixty days for bringing an action to annul an administrative act, and the three months for disclaiming an inheritance.