Track

Status

Governing provision

No limitation for the most serious felonies — § 35-41-4-2(c): “Except as provided in subsection (e), a prosecution for a Class A felony (for a crime committed before July 1, 2014) or a Level 1 felony or Level 2 felony (for a crime committed after June 30, 2014) may be commenced at any time.” § 35-41-4-2(d): murder, at any time. 

A hard cap at thirty-one for the named child sex offenses — § 35-41-4-2(e): “Except as provided in subsection (p), a prosecution for the following offenses is barred unless commenced before the date that the alleged victim of the offense reaches thirty-one (31) years of age”, and the list is: child molesting (IC 35-42-4-3), vicarious sexual gratification (IC 35-42-4-5), child solicitation (IC 35-42-4-6), child seduction (IC 35-42-4-7), sexual misconduct with a minor (IC 35-42-4-9) and incest (IC 35-46-1-3). 

Ten years, or four from leaving dependency, for the rest — § 35-41-4-2(m): except as provided in subsection (p), a prosecution for a sex offense listed in IC 11-8-8-4.5 committed against a child, which is neither a Class A / Level 1 / Level 2 felony nor listed in subsection (e), “is barred unless commenced within ten (10) years after the commission of the offense, or within four (4) years after the person ceases to be a dependent of the person alleged to have committed the offense, whichever occurs later.” 

A short reopening on new evidence — § 35-41-4-2(p): a prosecution for an offense described in subsection (e) or (m) that would otherwise be barred may be commenced not later than five years after the earliest of the date on which the state first discovers evidence sufficient to charge through DNA analysis; the state first becomes aware of a recording providing sufficient evidence; or a person confesses to the offense. 

The general periods — § 35-41-4-2(a): five years for a Class B, C or D felony (pre-July 2014) or a Level 3, 4, 5 or 6 felony (post-June 2014); two years for a misdemeanor. 

Tolling — § 35-41-4-2(h): the period does not include any time in which the accused is not usually and publicly resident in Indiana or so conceals himself or herself that process cannot be served, or conceals evidence of the offense where sufficient evidence is unknown to the prosecuting authority and could not have been discovered by due diligence. 

Why “partly removed”: Indiana has removed the deadline only by felony level, not by offense type. Child molesting is a Level 1, 3 or 4 felonies depending on the facts — so the same conduct may be unlimited or capped at the victim’s thirty-first birthday according to how it was charged and aggravated. Every offense in the subsection (e) list expires at thirty-one however serious the survivor’s injury, and the subsection (m) offenses expire ten years after the act. The classification is correct.

Ind. Code § 35-41–4-2 — Justia (2025 Indiana Code)

The general tort period — § 34-11-2-4(a): an action for injury to person or character, for injury to personal property, or for a forfeiture of penalty given by statute “must be commenced within two (2) years after the cause of action accrues.” 

The child sexual abuse period — § 34-11-2-4(b): “Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d), an action for injury to a person that results from the sexual abuse of a child must be commenced within the later of: (1) seven (7) years after the cause of action accrues; or (2) four (4) years after the person ceases to be a dependent of the person alleged to have performed the sexual abuse.” 

What the second limb is for — the “ceases to be a dependent” trigger recognizes that a survivor still living in the abuser’s household, or still financially dependent on them, is not realistically free to sue. It is a narrower device than a discovery rule: it turns on the survivor’s dependency on the abuser, not on when they understood the injury. 

Indiana runs a seven-year period from accrual with no discovery rule on the face of the section and no age-based floor beyond the ordinary tolling for minority. Compared with the states in this review that measure from the survivor’s thirtieth or fortieth birthday, or from discovery of the causal link, Indiana’s civil deadline is among the tightest, and the tracker’s “Deadline applies” understates how tight.

Ind. Code § 34–11-2-4 — Justia (2025 Indiana Code)

Who could sue — § 34-11-2-4(c): an action for injury resulting from the sexual abuse of a child, “barred due to the expiration of the statute of limitations period described in subsection (b)”, and “brought against a congressionally chartered organization that was incorporated before June 16, 1916”, may be commenced in accordance with subsection (d). 

By when, and on what condition — § 34-11-2-4(d): such an action “may be commenced before July 1, 2025, by a person who, before January 1, 2024, participated in a bankruptcy proceeding or bankruptcy settlement that: (1) was initiated on February 18, 2020; and (2) involved the organization described in subsection (c)(3).” 

The window reaches one organization, and the statute proves it without naming anyone. It identifies the defendant by federal charter and incorporation date and identifies the claimants by their participation in a bankruptcy “initiated on February 18, 2020”. Those two facts together describe a single organization and a single bankruptcy. 

This is a revival window in form only. A survivor who had not already taken part in that bankruptcy by 1 January 2024 could not use it, no matter how strong the claim; a survivor abused anywhere else in Indiana could not use it at all. It is better described as a legislative accommodation to one bankruptcy settlement than as a revival window and comparing it with the general windows opened in New York, Louisiana or the District of Columbia would mislead anyone reading the tracker.

Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4 — Justia (2025 Indiana Code)

no Indiana row.