asset: judgment-renewal-deadlines-by-state

asset_type: jurisdictional-variation

body: A civil money judgment does not stay enforceable forever. Every state sets a clock on it, and when the clock runs out the creditor's own state statute — not the underlying debt's statute of limitations, which is a different clock that stopped the moment the judgment was entered — decides whether the judgment can be renewed and how. This is a distinct fact from the existing state-civil-statute-of-limitations asset (which covers filing the original suit) and from time-barred-debt-revival-rules-by-state (which covers a debt that never reached judgment). The clock and the mechanism both vary sharply, and the mechanism varies more than the clock does. Ohio judgments go dormant after 5 years, California, Texas, Minnesota and Florida's recorded lien after 10, New York after 20 — but the six states built first produced five different ways of extending one. California is a true renewal: the creditor files an application before expiry and gets a fresh 10 years from the filing date. Ohio and Texas use dormancy-and-revivor: the judgment lapses automatically and can only be brought back by a separate court action, itself time-limited, and Texas gives just 2 years to revive a judgment that went dormant at 10. Florida extends by re-recording a certified copy in the county records, not by any court application. Minnesota has no renewal step: the creditor's route is to sue on the judgment within the 10 years and win a new one. New York runs two clocks at once — the judgment is conclusively presumed paid after 20 years and nothing the creditor files extends that, but the lien on the debtor's real property lasts only 10 years from the filing of the judgment-roll and is renewed by an action on the judgment under CPLR 5014, which can only be commenced in the one-year window before those 10 years expire. Florida is the same shape: a 20-year outer limit over a 10-year recorded lien. A reader who learns the number but not the shape can still miss the deadline, and on these two states the headline number is twice the number that actually matters. A creditor, a collection attorney or a judgment-purchasing firm pricing an aged judgment needs to know both numbers: how much life is left, and what has to be filed to extend it, because missing the window is one of the most common ways a fully valid judgment becomes worthless. One record per state, quoted verbatim from that state's own code. Answers 'how long is a judgment good for in [state]', 'can I renew a judgment after it expires', 'judgment dormancy period by state'. This is a deadline lookup, not legal advice: whether a specific judgment has already been renewed, revived, or satisfied is a case-specific question the statute alone doesn't answer.

key_field: state

licence: Facts taken from US state statutes, each with a verbatim attributed quote and a link back to the publishing legislature, revisor or statute host. The text of a state statute is an edict of government and carries no copyright (Wheaton v. Peters; restated in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). No whole chapter is reproduced. No source used here carries a restrictive notice. Four of the eleven pages are on codes.findlaw.com, a commercial host, and are used only because the official ones are unreachable: nysenate.gov returns 403, and statutes.capitol.texas.gov serves a JavaScript shell that returns the same 250,874 bytes for every chapter and for the PDF path (checked again 2026-09-01, with node as well as fetch.py). What is quoted from FindLaw is the unmodified statute, cited to the state's own section number, and each Texas section was cross-checked cell-for-cell against texas.public.law, an independent mirror; they agree exactly. FindLaw's own commentary is not used.

title: How long a money judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed, by state

type: dataset


body:
**State:** California

> California Code, CCP 683.020

**How long the judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed or revived:** 10 years from the date the judgment was entered. At the end of it the judgment may not be enforced at all: enforcement procedures must cease, and any lien created by an enforcement procedure is extinguished.

**What has to happen to extend it:** Renewal by application, filed before the 10 years run out. The creditor files an application for renewal with the court that entered the judgment, and the filing itself extends enforceability for a further 10 years from the date the application is filed - no hearing and no new judgment. A narrow class of judgments identified in section 683.110(c) may be renewed only once, and for five years rather than ten.

> 683.120. (a) The judgment creditor may renew a judgment by filing an application for renewal of the judgment with the court in which the judgment was entered. (b) Except as otherwise provided in this article, the filing of the application renews the judgment in the amount determined under Section 683.150 and extends the period of enforceability of the judgment as renewed for a period of 10 years from the date the application is filed.

**How the statute states the period:** upon the expiration of 10 years after the date of entry of a money judgment or a judgment for possession or sale of property: (a) The judgment may not be enforced.

**Section:** 683.020

> 683.020. Except as otherwise provided by statute, upon the expiration of 10 years after the date of entry of a money judgment or a judgment for possession or sale of property: (a) The judgment may not be enforced. (b) All enforcement procedures pursuant to the judgment or to a writ or order issued pursuant to the judgment shall cease. (c) Any lien created by an enforcement procedure pursuant to the judgment is extinguished.

Source: <https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=683.020>

Also cited: <https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=683.120>

quote_state: California Code, CCP 683.020

state: California

title: California — How long a money judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed, by state

type: jurisdictional-variation


body:
**State:** Florida

> 2025 Florida Statutes Title VI CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE Chapter 55 JUDGMENTS

**How long the judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed or revived:** 20 years from the date of entry. After that, no judgment, order, or decree of any court is a lien upon real or personal property anywhere in the state. A recorded lien reaches that outer limit only if it is re-recorded on the way there.

**What has to happen to extend it:** Re-recording, not a court application. The lien on real property lasts 10 years from recording, and is extended for one further 10-year period by re-recording a certified copy of the judgment before the existing lien expires, together with an affidavit giving the creditor's current address - the extension fails if that affidavit is not recorded at the same time. The extension cannot push the lien past the 20 years allowed by s. 55.081.

> If the certified copy is first recorded in accordance with this subsection on or after July 1, 1994, then the judgment, order, or decree shall be a lien in that county for an initial period of 10 years from the date of the recording. (2) The lien provided for in subsection (1) or an extension of that lien as provided by this subsection may be extended for an additional period of 10 years, subject to the limitation in subsection (3), by rerecording a certified copy of the judgment, order, or decree prior to the expiration of the lien or the expiration of the extended lien and by simultaneously recording an affidavit with the current address of the person who has a lien as a result of the judgment, order, or decree.

**How the statute states the period:** no judgment, order, or decree of any court shall be a lien upon real or personal property within the state after the expiration of 20 years from the date of the entry of such judgment, order, or decree

**Section:** 55.081

> 55.081 Statute of limitations, lien of judgment.

> no judgment, order, or decree of any court shall be a lien upon real or personal property within the state after the expiration of 20 years from the date of the entry of such judgment, order, or decree.

Source: <https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0055.081>

Also cited: <https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0055.10>

Also cited: <https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0095.11>

state: Florida

title: Florida — How long a money judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed, by state


body:
**State:** Minnesota

> 2025 Minnesota Statutes CIVIL PROCEDURE Chapter 548 Section 548.09

**How long the judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed or revived:** Ten years from entry. The judgment survives, and its lien on the debtor's real property in the county continues, for that period and no longer.

**What has to happen to extend it:** No renewal application. Minnesota's route is to sue on the judgment: an action upon a judgment must be begun within ten years after entry, and a creditor who brings that action in time and wins it holds a new judgment with its own ten years. Child support judgments are the exception - those are renewable under section 548.091.

> 541.04 JUDGMENTS, TEN YEARS. No action shall be maintained upon a judgment or decree of a court of the United States, or of any state or territory thereof, unless begun within ten years after the entry of such judgment.

**How the statute states the period:** The judgment survives, and the lien continues, for ten years after its entry.

**Section:** 548.09

> 548.09 LIEN OF JUDGMENT.

> The judgment survives, and the lien continues, for ten years after its entry. Child support judgments may be renewed pursuant to section 548.091

Source: <https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/548.09>

Also cited: <https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/541.04>

quote_citation: 548.09 LIEN OF JUDGMENT.

state: Minnesota

title: Minnesota — How long a money judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed, by state


body:
**State:** New York

> New York Consolidated Laws, Civil Practice Law and Rules - CVP § 211. Actions to be commenced within twenty years

**How long the judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed or revived:** 20 years, running from the time the creditor was first entitled to enforce the judgment rather than from entry. At the end of it the judgment is conclusively presumed to have been paid and satisfied, and that presumption is displaced only by the debtor's own conduct - a written acknowledgment of the debt signed by the person to be charged, or a payment on it, which starts a fresh 20 years. Property taken by an enforcement order or by levy on an execution counts as a payment. The lien the judgment holds on the debtor's real property runs a shorter clock of its own.

**What has to happen to extend it:** New York gives the creditor nothing to file that extends the 20 years. What can be renewed is the lien. An action upon the judgment may be brought under CPLR 5014 once ten years have elapsed since the judgment was first docketed, and it may be commenced during the year before that ten years runs out - a one-year window. The judgment in that action is designated a renewal judgment and is docketed as one by the clerk, and its lien takes effect upon the expiration of ten years from the first docketing of the original judgment. CPLR 5203(a) is the section that gives the original lien its ten years, measured from the filing of the judgment-roll.

> An action may be commenced under subdivision one of this section during the year prior to the expiration of ten years since the first docketing of the judgment. The judgment in such action shall be designated a renewal judgment and shall be so docketed by the clerk. The lien of a renewal judgment shall take effect upon the expiration of ten years from the first docketing of the original judgment.

**How the statute states the period:** A money judgment is presumed to be paid and satisfied after the expiration of twenty years from the time when the party recovering it was first entitled to enforce it.

**Section:** CVP § 211

> New York Consolidated Laws, Civil Practice Law and Rules - CVP § 211. Actions to be commenced within twenty years Current as of January 01, 2026

> (b) On a money judgment. A money judgment is presumed to be paid and satisfied after the expiration of twenty years from the time when the party recovering it was first entitled to enforce it. This presumption is conclusive, except as against a person who within the twenty years acknowledges an indebtedness, or makes a payment, of all or part of the amount recovered by the judgment, or his heir or personal representative, or a person whom he otherwise represents. Such an acknowledgment must be in writing and signed by the person to be charged.

Source: <https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/civil-practice-law-and-rules/cvp-sect-211/>

Also cited: <https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/civil-practice-law-and-rules/cvp-sect-5014/>

Also cited: <https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/civil-practice-law-and-rules/cvp-sect-5203/>

citation: CVP § 211

state: New York

title: New York — How long a money judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed, by state


body:
**State:** Ohio

> Ohio Revised Code / Title 23 Courts-Common Pleas / Chapter 2329 Execution Against Property

**How long the judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed or revived:** Five years from the date of the judgment, or from the last renewal of it, whichever is later - for a judgment that is not in favour of the state. A judgment in favour of the state runs ten years from the judgment or any renewal, or fifteen years from the last execution on it, whichever is later.

> (2) Except as otherwise provided in division (D) of this section, a judgment in favor of the state, is dormant and shall not operate as a lien against the estate of the judgment debtor unless one of the following occurs within ten years from the date of the judgment, or any renewal of the judgment, or within fifteen years from the date of the issuance of the last execution thereon, whichever is later: (a) An execution on the judgment is issued.

**What has to happen to extend it:** Keeping it alive takes an enforcement step, not a filing. The five years reset each time the creditor issues an execution, issues and files a certificate of judgment, has an order of garnishment issued or continuing, or commences or continues a proceeding in aid of execution - the statute calls any of those a renewal of the judgment, and no application to the court is needed. If none of them happens in time the judgment is dormant, and it can then only be brought back by an action to revive it, which must be brought within ten years from the time it became dormant.

> (A) An action to revive a judgment can only be brought within ten years from the time it became dormant, unless the party entitled to bring that action, at the time the judgment became dormant, was within the age of minority, of unsound mind, or imprisoned, in which cases the action may be brought within ten years after the disability is removed.

**How the statute states the period:** A judgment that is not in favor of the state is dormant and shall not operate as a lien against the estate of the judgment debtor unless one of the following occurs within five years from the date of the judgment or any renewal of the judgment, whichever is later

**Section:** 2329.07

> Section 2329.07 | Judgment may become dormant.

> (B)(1) A judgment that is not in favor of the state is dormant and shall not operate as a lien against the estate of the judgment debtor unless one of the following occurs within five years from the date of the judgment or any renewal of the judgment, whichever is later: (a) An execution on a judgment is issued. (b) A certificate of judgment for obtaining a lien upon lands and tenements is issued and filed, as provided in sections 2329.02 and 2329.04 of the Revised Code. (c) An order of garnishment is issued or is continuing, or until the last garnishment payment is received by the clerk of courts or the final report is filed by the garnishee, whichever is later. (d) A proceeding in aid of execution is commenced or is continuing.

Source: <https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2329.07>

Also cited: <https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2325.18>

state: Ohio

title: Ohio — How long a money judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed, by state


body:
**State:** Texas

> Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code - CIV PRAC & REM § 34.001. No Execution on Dormant Judgment

**How long the judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed or revived:** 10 years from the date the judgment was rendered, if no writ of execution issues in that time - the judgment then becomes dormant automatically and execution may not issue on it. Issuing a writ inside the 10 years restarts the clock: a second writ may issue at any time within 10 years of the first, and the judgment only goes dormant if none does. Child support judgments are outside this section.

**What has to happen to extend it:** Nothing to file in advance, and a short window afterwards. Once the judgment is dormant it can be brought back only by a separate court proceeding - scire facias, or an action of debt - and that proceeding must be brought no later than the second anniversary of the date the judgment became dormant. Two years is the whole revival window, and missing it is final.

> A dormant judgment may be revived by scire facias or by an action of debt brought not later than the second anniversary of the date that the judgment becomes dormant.

**How the statute states the period:** If a writ of execution is not issued within 10 years after the rendition of a judgment of a court of record or a justice court, the judgment is dormant and execution may not be issued on the judgment unless it is revived.

**Section:** CIV PRAC & REM § 34.001

> Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code - CIV PRAC & REM § 34.001. No Execution on Dormant Judgment Current as of January 01, 2026

> (a) If a writ of execution is not issued within 10 years after the rendition of a judgment of a court of record or a justice court, the judgment is dormant and execution may not be issued on the judgment unless it is revived. (b) If a writ of execution is issued within 10 years after rendition of a judgment but a second writ is not issued within 10 years after issuance of the first writ, the judgment becomes dormant. A second writ may be issued at any time within 10 years after issuance of the first writ. (c) This section does not apply to a judgment for child support under the Family Code.

Source: <https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/civil-practice-and-remedies-code/civ-prac-rem-sect-34-001/>

Also cited: <https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/civil-practice-and-remedies-code/civ-prac-rem-sect-31-006/>

citation: CIV PRAC & REM § 34.001

state: Texas

title: Texas — How long a money judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed, by state