In New Hampshire, most civil personal actions must be filed within 3 years under RSA 508:4, and criminal prosecutions follow the tiered limits in RSA 625:8: no limit for murder, 6 years for class A and B felonies, 1 year for misdemeanors, and 3 months for violations. Those numbers are the starting point, not the whole story.
Key exceptions to know right away:
- Discovery rule (civil): The 3-year civil clock can start from the date you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury and its cause, not necessarily the date of the incident itself.
- Offenses against minors (criminal): Certain offenses permit prosecution up to an extended limitation period that applies to certain offenses against minors under RSA 625:8 III(d).
- Tolling for absence or evasion: If a defendant leaves New Hampshire or actively conceals the offense, the clock stops running for that period.
- Fraud-based discovery: When fraud delays a victim’s discovery of a civil claim, the limitations period may not begin until the fraud is uncovered.
Verify every deadline against the current statutory text. Legislative amendments happen, and a number that was accurate last year may have changed.
Table of Contents
- What are the civil statutes of limitations in New Hampshire?
- When does the clock start, and what can pause it?
- How does New Hampshire’s criminal statute of limitations work?
- What happens when a deadline passes?
- Where can you verify New Hampshire’s statutes?
- Attorney-level notes from Granitecriminaldefense on real tolling red flags
- Key Takeaways
- Why the deadline question is almost never simple
- Granitecriminaldefense can help you act before the deadline closes
- Useful sources
- FAQ
What are the civil statutes of limitations in New Hampshire?
The default rule under RSA 508:4 is straightforward: most personal actions must be brought within 3 years. “Personal actions” covers a wide range, including personal injury claims, property damage, economic loss, and many contract disputes. If you were hurt in a car accident, had property damaged by a contractor, or suffered financial harm through someone’s negligence, 3 years is typically your window.
Not every claim type fits that default, though. Several categories carry their own periods:
| Claim Type | Limitation Period | Governing Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Personal injury | 3 years | RSA 508:4 |
| Property damage | 3 years | RSA 508:4 |
| Wrongful death | 3 years from discovery of cause | RSA 556:11 |
| Libel / slander | 3 years | RSA 508:4 |
| Construction / latent defects | 8 years from substantial completion | RSA 508:4-b |
| Written contract | 3 years (general rule) | RSA 508:4 |
Construction defect claims deserve special attention. Under RSA 508:4-b, a claim for latent defects in construction must be filed within 8 years of substantial completion of the project. That is a longer window than the standard 3-year rule, but it is also a hard outer limit. Once 8 years pass from substantial completion, the claim is generally gone regardless of when you discovered the defect.
Medical malpractice follows the general 3-year rule in most circumstances, but the discovery rule often shifts when the clock actually starts. If a surgical error was not reasonably discoverable at the time of the procedure, the period runs from when you discovered, or should have discovered, the harm and its connection to the medical care.
Pro Tip: Always read the underlying contract before assuming the statutory period applies. Some commercial agreements include shorter notice or claim-filing windows, and courts generally enforce them. A contract that requires written notice of a defect within 30 days can effectively shorten your window far below the statutory limit.
FindLaw’s New Hampshire civil statute overview provides a useful secondary summary for readers who want plain-language context alongside the statutory text.
When does the clock start, and what can pause it?
Accrual: the default trigger
Under New Hampshire law, the limitations period begins the day after all elements of the claim or offense have occurred. For a simple personal injury case, that is typically the date of the accident. For a breach of contract, it is usually the date of the breach. The clock does not wait for you to hire a lawyer or file paperwork.
The discovery rule
The discovery rule changes the accrual date when the injury or its cause was not reasonably apparent at the time it occurred. Under RSA 508:4, the 3-year period runs from the date the plaintiff discovers, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have discovered, both the injury and its causal relationship to the defendant’s conduct.
A practical example: a homeowner notices structural cracking five years after a renovation. If the defect was genuinely latent and not visible on reasonable inspection, the discovery rule may push the accrual date to when the damage became apparent, not when the contractor finished the job. Whether that argument succeeds depends on the specific facts and which statute governs the claim.
Common tolling triggers in New Hampshire
Tolling suspends the running of the limitations period. The clock pauses, then resumes when the tolling condition ends. Common triggers include:
- Minority: The period does not run against a plaintiff who is under 18. The clock typically starts when the person turns 18.
- Defendant’s absence from the state: Under RSA 625:8 VI(a), continuous absence from New Hampshire suspends the criminal limitations period. Similar principles apply in civil contexts.
- Active evasion or fraudulent concealment: When a defendant deliberately hides conduct or conceals the existence of a claim, the period may not begin until the concealment is discovered.
- Pending prosecution based on the same conduct: A criminal prosecution already underway can toll the period for related charges.
Here is how absence tolling works in practice. Suppose a defendant commits a class B felony in New Hampshire, then moves to Florida for four years before returning. The 6-year felony limitations period does not run during those four years of absence. The state effectively has 6 years of “active” time, not counting the period the defendant spent outside New Hampshire.
How does New Hampshire’s criminal statute of limitations work?
RSA 625:8 governs criminal limitations periods in New Hampshire. The structure is tiered by offense class, with several important exceptions built into the statute itself.
| Offense Category | Limitation Period |
|---|---|
| Murder | No limit — may be prosecuted at any time |
| Class A felony | 6 years |
| Class B felony | 6 years |
| Misdemeanor | 1 year |
| Violation | 3 months |
| — | 6 years |
| — | 2 years |
The Justia reproduction of RSA 625:8 presents the same text with subsection-level detail, which is useful when you need to read the exact statutory language rather than a summary.
Statutory exceptions that extend or remove limits
RSA 625:8 III contains several exceptions that override the standard periods:
- Offenses against minors: Certain offenses may be prosecuted within 22 years of the victim’s eighteenth birthday. For a victim who was 10 at the time of the offense, that can mean prosecution remains possible well into the victim’s adult life.
- Fraud and fiduciary duty: When the offense involves fraud or a breach of fiduciary duty, the period may run from the date the offense was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered.
- Destruction of evidence or witness tampering: Evidentiary acts, including witness tampering or destruction of evidence, can create a new 1-year window after discovery under RSA 625:8 exceptions.
- Misconduct in office: Certain public-official offenses carry extended periods.
- Motor vehicle accidents causing death or serious injury: Specific shorter periods may apply depending on the offense charged.
How prosecution commences under NH law
A prosecution is “commenced” for limitations purposes when a warrant is issued, an indictment is returned, or a criminal information is filed. The indictment process in New Hampshire requires a grand jury to find probable cause for felony charges, and the date the grand jury returns the indictment is the operative date for limitations purposes, not the date of arrest. Understanding misdemeanor vs. felony distinctions matters here because the two tracks carry very different limitation windows.
What happens when a deadline passes?
Missing a filing deadline has a hard consequence: courts will dismiss a time-barred civil claim or criminal prosecution. There is no grace period built into the statute, and a judge has no discretion to overlook the expiration unless a statutory exception or valid tolling argument applies. In civil cases, the defendant raises the expired statute as an affirmative defense, and the case ends there. In criminal cases, a defendant can move to dismiss charges on statute-of-limitations grounds, and the prosecution must demonstrate that the period has not run or that an exception applies.
There are limited remedies. If a tolling argument is available, a skilled attorney can argue that the clock was suspended and the deadline has not actually passed. Fraudulent concealment, absence from the state, and minority are the most commonly litigated tolling grounds. But these arguments require facts, documentation, and prompt action.
Pro Tip: Do not rely on informal assurances from the other party that they will “work something out.” Promises to settle or cooperate do not toll the statute. Only a formal written tolling agreement, signed by both parties, can extend the deadline by agreement, and even those carry risks.
Immediate steps to take if you think a deadline is close
- Write down every relevant date you can recall: the date of the incident, the date you first noticed harm, and the date you first connected the harm to a specific cause.
- Preserve all documentation: medical records, contracts, correspondence, photos, and any written communications with the other party.
- Do not destroy or alter any records, even ones that seem unfavorable.
- Contact a New Hampshire attorney immediately. Do not wait to see if the other side responds to informal outreach.
- Ask your attorney to verify the exact statutory period and whether any tolling arguments apply to your specific facts.
- If you are the subject of a criminal investigation, consult counsel before speaking with law enforcement.
Where can you verify New Hampshire’s statutes?
Primary sources are always the most reliable. Secondary summaries, including this article, can contain errors or reflect outdated law. Before acting on any deadline, confirm the current statutory text directly.
- New Hampshire General Court RSA pages: The official state legislature site hosts the full text of every RSA section. Check the effective date and look for any amendment notes at the bottom of the page. RSA 625:8 and RSA 508:4 are both available there.
- Justia — New Hampshire Revised Statutes: Justia reproduces the RSA text with subsection-level navigation. Useful for reading the statute alongside annotations and for cross-referencing related sections.
- FindLaw — New Hampshire civil statute of limitations: A reliable secondary summary that explains common civil periods and tolling concepts in plain language. Good for orientation, but always confirm against the primary source.
- NH Law Library (courts.nh.gov): The New Hampshire Judicial Branch’s law library offers research guides, annotations, and legislative history that can help you understand how courts have interpreted specific statutory language.
When you pull up a statute page, note the “effective date” or “amended” notation. A section that was amended in the past two years may carry different language than what older secondary sources describe. Save or print the page with the date you accessed it, and record the date of any incident or discovery separately so you can calculate the period accurately.
Attorney-level notes from Granitecriminaldefense on real tolling red flags
Certain fact patterns consistently change the deadline calculation in ways that catch people off guard. Three come up repeatedly in criminal defense intake.
First, defendants who left New Hampshire after an alleged offense often assume the clock ran normally during their absence. It did not. Under RSA 625:8 VI(a), continuous absence from the state suspends the criminal limitations period. A defendant who spent three years living in another state after an alleged class B felony may find that the state still has most of its 6-year window intact when they return.
Second, fraud-based discovery in civil cases is frequently underestimated. When a contractor, financial advisor, or business partner actively conceals wrongdoing, the 3-year civil period may not start until the victim uncovers the concealment, not when the underlying act occurred. Courts look at whether a reasonably diligent person would have discovered the fraud earlier, so the facts of what was hidden and how matter enormously.
Third, evidentiary misconduct creates its own window. Destruction of evidence or witness tampering can trigger a separate 1-year prosecution window after discovery under RSA 625:8 exceptions, meaning a case that appeared time-barred on the underlying offense may still be prosecutable on the evidentiary conduct.
When a client comes to us with a potential statute-of-limitations issue, the first question is never “is the deadline past?” It’s “what facts could move that deadline?” Tolling arguments, discovery rules, and statutory exceptions mean the answer is rarely as simple as counting years on a calendar. Prompt consultation preserves options that waiting will eliminate.
Situations that warrant an immediate call to a New Hampshire criminal defense attorney include: a pending arrest warrant for an offense that may be old, any indication that evidence has been destroyed or witnesses contacted, a criminal investigation involving conduct that occurred years ago, and any civil claim where the discovery of harm was delayed by another party’s concealment.
Key Takeaways
New Hampshire’s statute of limitations rules turn on offense class, claim type, and when the clock actually started, making early legal consultation the single most important step for anyone facing a potential deadline.
| Point | Details |
|---|---|
| Civil default: 3 years | Most personal injury, property damage, and contract claims must be filed within 3 years under RSA 508:4. |
| Criminal limits by class | Murder has no limit; class A and B felonies carry 6 years; misdemeanors 1 year; violations 3 months under RSA 625:8. |
| Discovery rule shifts accrual | The civil clock can start from the date you discovered the injury and its cause, not necessarily the incident date. |
| Tolling can extend any deadline | Defendant absence, minority, fraud, and evasion all suspend the running of the period under New Hampshire law. |
| Granitecriminaldefense evaluates tolling at intake | The firm reviews statute and tolling issues early in every case to identify whether deadlines have actually run or can be challenged. |
Why the deadline question is almost never simple
The conventional wisdom is that statutes of limitations are just calendar math. Count back from today, find the incident date, see if you are inside the window. That framing misses the harder question, which is whether the clock you are counting is the right one.
In practice, the most consequential deadline disputes are not about whether a period expired. They are about when it started. A latent injury, a concealed fraud, a defendant who spent years outside New Hampshire — each of those facts potentially resets the accrual date entirely. Attorneys who handle these cases spend far more time arguing about the trigger than about the length of the period itself.
There is also a tendency for people to treat a missed deadline as final. Courts do dismiss time-barred claims, but a well-argued tolling motion can survive a motion to dismiss when the facts support it. The problem is that building that argument requires documentation, and documentation disappears fast. Waiting six months to consult an attorney after discovering a potential claim is often the decision that makes the tolling argument impossible to prove, not the underlying facts.
The statute is the starting point. The facts are what determine whether it actually bars the claim.
Granitecriminaldefense can help you act before the deadline closes
When a statute-of-limitations question is real, the cost of waiting is options. Granitecriminaldefense brings over 30 years of New Hampshire courtroom experience to exactly these situations: evaluating whether a prosecution is time-barred, building tolling arguments when a defendant was absent or evidence was concealed, and defending clients against charges where the state’s window may have already closed.
The firm handles felony defense, misdemeanor defense, DUI and DWI charges, domestic violence cases, and criminal record annulment across New Hampshire. Bilingual English/Spanish representation is available. Whether you are facing a pending charge, a potential arrest, or a civil claim where the discovery timeline is disputed, an early consultation gives you the clearest picture of where the deadline actually stands.
Call Granitecriminaldefense or visit the practice areas page to schedule a consultation and get a direct assessment of your situation.
This article provides general legal information, not legal advice. Statutes change, and your specific facts may alter the analysis. Confirm current law with the primary sources cited here or consult a qualified New Hampshire attorney.
Useful sources
The sources below are primary-law pages and established legal references. Always check the effective date on any statute page before relying on the text.
- RSA 625:8 — New Hampshire General Court: The official text of New Hampshire’s criminal limitations statute, including all subsections on extended periods, exceptions, and tolling. This is the primary source for every criminal deadline in this article.
- RSA 625:8 — Justia: Justia’s reproduction of the same statute with subsection navigation, useful for reading the exceptions in RSA 625:8 III alongside the base periods.
- RSA 508:4 — New Hampshire General Court: The primary civil limitations statute, covering the 3-year default rule, the discovery exception, and construction-defect provisions.
- RSA 508:4 — Justia: Secondary presentation of the civil statute with supporting subsections and cross-references.
- FindLaw — New Hampshire civil statute of limitations: Plain-language summary of civil periods and common tolling scenarios; useful for orientation before reading the primary statute.
- NH Law Library — courts.nh.gov: The New Hampshire Judicial Branch’s research library, which provides annotations, legislative history, and case-law references for readers who need deeper statutory context.
Primary statute pages are updated when the legislature amends the law. Check the effective date on each page and note the date you accessed it.
FAQ
Does New Hampshire have a statute of limitations?
Yes. New Hampshire sets civil filing deadlines primarily under RSA 508:4 and criminal prosecution limits under RSA 625:8, with periods ranging from 3 months for violations to no limit at all for murder.
What is the 72-hour rule in New Hampshire?
The “72-hour rule” refers to several distinct procedural protections, not a single statute: a mandatory hold period in domestic violence situations, an emergency family-court response window for ex parte orders, and a DCYF prompt-hearing requirement. It is unrelated to the statute of limitations.
What offenses are not subject to a statute of limitations in NH?
Murder may be prosecuted at any time under RSA 625:8 II. Certain other offenses, including some crimes against minors, carry extended windows of up to 22 years from the victim’s eighteenth birthday rather than a fixed period.
What is the Romeo and Juliet law in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire does not have a single statute commonly labeled a “Romeo and Juliet” law. Age-of-consent and close-in-age issues are addressed through different statutes, and practitioners should not assume a uniform exemption applies. Consult a New Hampshire attorney for the specific statutory provisions that govern a particular situation.
How long does a misdemeanor prosecution have to be filed in NH?
Under RSA 625:8, a misdemeanor prosecution must commence within 1 year of the offense. Tolling for absence from the state or active evasion can extend that window beyond the calendar year.
