Texas Injury Statute of Limitations Calculator

In Texas, most personal injury claims die on a single date: the statute of limitations deadline. Miss it — usually two years from the injury — and even a rock-solid case is typically barred forever. And if a government entity is involved, the real deadline can arrive much sooner: formal written notice within six months under the Texas Tort Claims Act, or just 45 days for claims against the City of Austin.

Enter your accident date below to see your estimated filing deadline, a live countdown, and any short-fuse notice deadlines that may apply to your case.

Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.003 gives injury victims two years to file suit for most negligence claims — car, truck, and motorcycle accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, and general premises liability. The clock usually starts on the date of the injury. For wrongful death claims, the two years run from the date of death, which can be later than the accident. Vehicle and other property damage claims also carry a two-year deadline.

Important exceptions cut both ways. For injured children, the statute is generally paused (tolled) until their 18th birthday — but the parents’ own claim for medical expenses still runs on the standard two-year clock. The discovery rule can delay the start when an injury was inherently undiscoverable. And medical malpractice claims have their own maze: a two-year statute measured from the negligence or the end of treatment, a 60-day pre-suit notice requirement, and an absolute ten-year statute of repose.

If your crash involved a city vehicle, a CapMetro bus, a dangerous road condition, or any other government defendant, the two-year statute is not your real deadline. The Texas Tort Claims Act (§ 101.101) requires formal written notice of the claim within six months of the incident — and it allows cities to shorten that by charter. The City of Austin’s charter requires notice within 45 days. Miss the notice window and the claim can be barred long before the statute of limitations ever comes into play.

The notice must describe the injury, the time and place of the incident, and the facts — and a police report does not automatically count. This is the single most common way otherwise-valid Austin injury claims are lost, and it is why talking to a lawyer in the first weeks matters. If your crash happened at a known trouble spot, see our map of Austin’s 25 most dangerous intersections — several sit on state-maintained frontage roads where TxDOT could be in the picture.

The statute of limitations is the legal cliff, but cases weaken long before they fall off it. Skid marks fade, intersection cameras overwrite footage in days or weeks, witnesses move, and treatment gaps give insurers an argument that the crash did not cause your injuries. The strongest cases are built in the first month, not the last one.

While you are here: our free Car Accident Settlement Calculator shows what your claim might be worth, and our Austin car accident lawyer page walks through the full claim process step by step.

Deadline getting close — or already worried it passed? SMB Law, PC offers free consultations and can tell you exactly which deadlines apply to your case. Request a free case review or call (512) 561-5003 today. You pay nothing unless we win.