Summary
Track |
Status |
Governing provision |
| Criminal | Partly removed | Ala. Code §§ 15-3-5, 15-3-1, 15-3-2 |
| Civil | Deadline applies | Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l), with § 6-2-8 |
| Civil Revival | Window open — narrow | 2024 Ala. S.B. 18 (“Scouts’ Honor”) |
Criminal - prosecuting
| Status | Partly removed |
| Citation | Ala. Code § 15-3-5 (offenses having no limitation), effective 1 September 2019 — read with § 15-3-1 (felonies generally) and § 15-3-2 (misdemeanors) |
| The rule |
No limitation — § 15-3-5(a): any capital offense; any felony involving the use, attempted use or threat of violence to a person; any felony involving serious physical injury or death; any sex offense under § 15-20A-5 involving a victim under 16 years of age, regardless of whether it involves force, serious physical injury or death; any felony involving arson, forgery, counterfeiting or drug trafficking. Five years — all other felonies, § 15-3-1, except those specified in §§ 15-3-3 and 15-3-5 or any felony with its own limitation period. Twelve months — misdemeanors prosecuted before a circuit or district court, § 15-3-2. Application — § 15-3-5(b): to all crimes committed after 7 January 1985, and to crimes committed before that date for which no limitation under pre-existing law had run as of 7 January 1985. Why “partly removed”: § 15-3-5(a)(4) turns on the victim being under 16. A sex offense against a 16- or 17-year-old falls outside that paragraph and is governed by the five-year period in § 15-3-1, unless it independently qualifies under § 15-3-5(a)(2) or (a)(3) as a felony involving violence or serious physical injury. |
| Sources |
Ala. Code § 15-3-5 — Justia (2025 Code of Alabama) |
Civil - suing
| Status | Window open — but narrow, and closing |
| Citation | Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l), with the disability toll in § 6-2-8 |
| The rule |
No limitation — § 15-3-5(a): any capital offense; any felony involving the use, attempted use or threat of violence to a person; any felony involving serious physical injury or death; any sex offense under § 15-20A-5 involving a victim under 16 years of age, regardless of whether it involves force, serious physical injury or death; any felony involving arson, forgery, counterfeiting or drug trafficking. Five years — all other felonies, § 15-3-1, except those specified in §§ 15-3-3 and 15-3-5 or any felony with its own limitation period. Twelve months — misdemeanors prosecuted before a circuit or district court, § 15-3-2. Application — § 15-3-5(b): to all crimes committed after 7 January 1985, and to crimes committed before that date for which no limitation under pre-existing law had run as of 7 January 1985. Why “partly removed”: § 15-3-5(a)(4) turns on the victim being under 16. A sex offense against a 16- or 17-year-old falls outside that paragraph and is governed by the five-year period in § 15-3-1, unless it independently qualifies under § 15-3-5(a)(2) or (a)(3) as a felony involving violence or serious physical injury. |
| Sources |
Ala. Code § 15-3-5 — Justia (2025 Code of Alabama) |
Civil revival window
| Status | Window open — but narrow, and closing |
| Citation | 2024 Ala. S.B. 18 (“Scouts’ Honor Bill”), enrolled 2 April 2024, enacted 4 April 2024, effective immediately |
| The rule |
An action for injury may be commenced at any time, notwithstanding any then applicable statute of limitation, only if all four of the following are true — § 1(a): (1) the injury arises from a sex offense as described in Ala. Code § 15-20A-5; (2) the action is barred by the expiration of the limitation period described in Ala. Code § 6-2-8; (3) the action is for the purpose of making a claim in a bankruptcy proceeding that was initiated on 18 February 2020; and (4) the claim is against the bankruptcy estate of a congressionally chartered organization. The claimant must also have been below 19 years of age when the right accrued. Section 1(b): the action may be commenced only against the entity seeking that bankruptcy protection, and not against any other person or entity. Section 1(c): the section applies retroactively to sex offenses occurring before the effective date, irrespective of any limitation in effect at the time. This is not a general revival window. It reaches one bankruptcy estate and no other defendant. |
| Sources | Alabama S.B. 18 (2024 Regular Session) — LegiScan (introduced, engrossed and enrolled texts) |
Reforms, court decisions and bills to track
| Recent reforms | S.B. 18 (2024), “Scouts’ Honor”: limited revival for claims against the Boy Scouts bankruptcy estate, retroactive. Track: revival. |
| Court decisions | Travis v. Ziter, 681 So. 2d 1348 (1996): Alabama applies no judicial discovery rule for child sexual abuse unless the Legislature prescribes one. |
| Bills to track | the S.B. 18 revival window closes by auto-repeal on 31 December 2026 (§ 1(d)). When it does, Alabama’s revival status moves to none. |
Notes
| Act number unconfirmed | The national tracker records S.B. 18 as “Act 2024-36”. That act number appears neither in the enrolled bill text held in the source folder nor on the LegiScan bill page. It is therefore not asserted here. Confirm before publishing the act number. |
| Filing age not stated | § 6-2-38(l) sets two years and § 6-2-8 tolls for minority, but neither section states the resulting age by which a survivor must file. Computing it requires reading the two together, which is an interpretation rather than a statement of either statute. It is deliberately left for CHILD USA to state. |
Legal information, not legal advice.