Civil Statute of Limitations (Brazil)

Two periods that extinguish rights in different ways

Prescription and decadence are close but not identical institutes. Prescription extinguishes the claim, the power to demand performance of an obligation in court, when the holder stays inert for the statutory period (art. 189 of the Civil Code). Decadence, in turn, extinguishes the underlying potestative right itself, such as the right to annul a legal transaction. The distinction matters because prescription can be interrupted or suspended and, as a rule, decadence admits neither (art. 207).

In the Civil Code of 2002, the general prescription period is 10 years (art. 205) and applies to claims that have no period of their own. Alongside it, art. 206 sets special periods of 1 to 5 years for specific situations: 1 year for lodging debts and for the insured against the insurer, 2 years for alimony, 3 years for civil liability and unjust enrichment, 4 years for guardianship accounts, and 5 years for debts documented in a public or private instrument. The calculator includes a catalog of these claims, with the period and legal basis of each.

• Prescription: extinguishes the claim (art. 189).
• Decadence: extinguishes the right itself; neither interrupted nor suspended (art. 207).
• General period: 10 years (art. 205).
• Special periods: 1 to 5 years (art. 206, §§1-5).

Counting the period and the interruption

Counting starts from the initial term, the moment the claim arises (the so-called actio nata), such as the date of the harmful event, the due date of the obligation, or unequivocal knowledge of the fact. On that marker the calculator adds the period of the chosen claim. In extracontractual civil liability, for instance, whose period is 3 years (art. 206 §3 V), harm occurring on a given date would prescribe three years later, if nothing interrupted the count, whereas contractual liability, per settled STJ case law, follows the general 10-year period (art. 205), not the 3-year period of art. 206 §3 V.

If there is an interruption marker, such as the order for service of process (art. 202 I) or the debtor's acknowledgment of the debt (art. 202 VI), the period is reset and restarts from that act. The tool redoes the calculation with this new count and states whether the claim is already time-barred (expired) or still running, with the days remaining.

Suspension, ex officio recognition, and cases outside the catalog

Besides interruption, prescription can be suspended or impeded by causes in arts. 197 to 201 of the Civil Code (for example, between spouses during marriage, or against fully incapacitated persons). Suspension merely pauses the counter, without resetting it, unlike interruption, and it can happen more than once. Enter the start and end of the suspension cause in the calculator: that period is added to the expiry date, without affecting the time that had already elapsed before it.

Since Law 11.280/2006, the court may recognize prescription ex officio (art. 487, II, of the Code of Civil Procedure). There are also periods outside the Civil Code, such as claims against the Public Treasury (5 years, Decree 20.910/1932) and checks (6 months from the expiry of the presentation period, art. 59 of Law 7.357/1985). For all these reasons, the result is an educational estimate: confirm the period, the start date, and any suspension causes with an attorney.

• Suspension/impediment: arts. 197-201 (pauses the period, can repeat).
• Ex officio recognition since Law 11.280/2006 (CPC art. 487 II).
• Public Treasury: 5 years (Decree 20.910/1932).
• Check: 6 months from the expiry of the presentation period (art. 59 of Law 7.357/1985).