# North Carolina — Does paying old debt restart the statute of limitations, by state

For North Carolina, does payment or acknowledgment revive the clock is A signed writing restarts the clock; the statute expressly preserves the effect of a payment; how the statute states the rule is No acknowledgment or promise is evidence of a new or continuing contract, from which the statutes of limitations run, unless it is contained in some writing signed by the party to be charged thereby; but this section does not alter the effect of any payment of principal or interest; section is § 1-26, recorded from its source on 2026-09-01.

- **State:** North Carolina _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Does payment or acknowledgment revive the clock:** A signed writing restarts the clock; the statute expressly preserves the effect of a payment _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **How the statute states the rule:** No acknowledgment or promise is evidence of a new or continuing contract, from which the statutes of limitations run, unless it is contained in some writing signed by the party to be charged thereby; but this section does not alter the effect of any payment of principal or interest. _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Section:** § 1-26 _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_

## What the source says

> New promise must be in writing. No acknowledgment or promise is evidence of a new or continuing contract, from which the statutes of limitations run, unless it is contained in some writing signed by the party to be charged thereby; but this section does not alter the effect of any payment of principal or interest.

## Where each value comes from

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

### Section

> § 1-26. New promise must be in writing.

## Source

- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_1/GS_1-26.html

Last verified: 2026-09-01. Review by: 2027-09-01.
Part of [Does paying old debt restart the statute of limitations, by state](https://referencesource.org/time-barred-debt-revival-rules-by-state/).