# North Carolina — How long a money judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed, by state

For North Carolina, section is 1-47, verified against its source on 2026-09-02.

- **State:** North Carolina _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **How long the judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed or revived:** Ten years from the date the judgment is entered. That is how long the docketed judgment is a lien on the real property the debtor owns, or later acquires, in the county where it is docketed, measured from entry in the county where the judgment was originally entered. Time during which the creditor was restrained from proceeding on the judgment by an injunction, another order, an appeal or a statutory prohibition does not count as part of those ten years. _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **What has to happen to extend it:** An action on the judgment itself, brought within the ten years — that is the route this section gives, and it limits it twice over. Such an action may be brought only once, and it does not have the effect of continuing the lien of the original judgment. So a creditor who sues in time and wins holds a second judgment with its own ten years, but its lien dates from that new judgment rather than from the first, and the section allows the action once only. _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **How the statute states the period:** Within ten years an action - (1) Upon a judgment or decree of any court of the United States, or of any state or territory thereof, from the date of its entry. No such action may be brought more than once, or have the effect to continue the lien of the original judgment. _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Section:** 1-47 _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_

## What the source says

> Within ten years an action - (1) Upon a judgment or decree of any court of the United States, or of any state or territory thereof, from the date of its entry. No such action may be brought more than once, or have the effect to continue the lien of the original judgment.

## Where each value comes from

This source states these in separate places, so each value is shown with the passage that states it.

### How long the judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed or revived

> The judgment is a lien on the real property in the county where the same is docketed of every person against whom any such judgment is rendered, and which he has at the time of the docketing thereof in the county in which such real property is situated, or which he acquires at any time thereafter, for 10 years from the date of the entry of the judgment under G.S. 1A-1, Rule 58, in the county where the judgment was originally entered. But the time during which the party recovering or owning such judgment shall be, or shall have been, restrained from proceeding thereon by an order of injunction, or other order, or by the operation of any appeal, or by a statutory prohibition, does not constitute any part of the 10 years aforesaid, as against the defendant in such judgment, or the party obtaining such orders or making such appeal, or any other person who is not a purchaser, creditor or mortgagee in good faith.

### Section

> § 1-47. Ten years.

## Source

- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_1/GS_1-47.html
- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_1/GS_1-234.html

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Review by: 2027-09-02.
Part of [How long a money judgment stays enforceable before it must be renewed, by state](https://referencesource.org/judgment-renewal-deadlines-by-state/).