Debt limitation period in Lithuania: start, interruption, renewal

Yes, debts are subject to a limitation period. The general limitation period is ten years (Article 1.125(1) of the Civil Code (CK)), unless the law sets a shortened period for that claim (CK Article 1.125(2)). If a payment date was set, limitation begins when it passes (CK Article 1.127(2)); if not, it begins when payment is demanded (CK Article 1.127(3)). The period is interrupted by filing a statement of claim and by acts of the debtor showing that it acknowledges the debt (CK Article 1.130(1) and (2)). A court applies limitation only when a party to the dispute asks for it (CK Article 1.126(2)), and it may renew a period missed for an important reason (CK Article 1.131(2)).

Which periods apply to the principal debt, interest and default interest, and which documents the court will need, is covered in How long do you have to recover a debt in court, and what documents do you need?. Here: how the limitation period is counted and what changes it.

Is there a limitation period for debts?

Limitation is the period set by law within which a person may defend its infringed rights by bringing a claim (CK Article 1.124). Unless the law sets a different shortened period for that claim (CK Article 1.125(2)), these periods apply to a debt:

• the principal debt: the general ten-year period (CK Article 1.125(1));
• interest and other periodic payments: five years (CK Article 1.125(10));
• contractual penalties (fines, default interest): six months (CK Article 1.125(5)).

For some debts the law sets other periods, for example:

• claims arising from insurance relationships: one year (CK Article 1.125(7));
• claims arising from the carriage of goods, passengers and baggage: the periods set in the codes (laws) for each mode of transport (CK Article 1.125(12));
• claims arising from communications companies’ relations with clients: six months if the items were sent within Lithuania, or one year if sent abroad (CK Article 1.125(6)).

Three more rules:

• Changing limitation periods or the way they are counted by agreement of the parties is prohibited (CK Article 1.125(13)). A contract clause that lengthens or shortens the period does not change it.
• When the period for the principal claim ends, the periods for ancillary claims (penalties, pledge, suretyship, etc.) also end, even if their own period has not yet expired (CK Article 1.135).
• Limitation does not apply to some claims, for example depositors’ claims for repayment of deposits (CK Article 1.134(2)).

When the limitation period starts

General rule: the period starts on the day the right to bring a claim arises, that is, the day the person learned or should have learned that its right was infringed (CK Article 1.127(1)). Two rules are central for debts:

• A payment date was set in the contract or the invoice. Limitation begins when the time for performance expires (CK Article 1.127(2)). If the contract sets a separate payment date for each instalment, limitation for each instalment begins when its own date passes (CK Article 1.127(2)).
• No payment date was set. Limitation begins at the moment the demand for performance is made (CK Article 1.127(3)). The date of the demand for payment then becomes the start of limitation. Keep proof of its delivery.

Two more rules:

• Recourse. If you paid a debt for another person and claim it back, limitation begins when the main obligation was performed (CK Article 1.127(4)).
• A change of creditor or debtor. A change of the persons in the obligation does not change the limitation period or the way it is counted, unless the law provides otherwise (CK Article 1.128). If you acquired the claim from another creditor, the period continues; it does not start again.

When the limitation period is suspended

CK Article 1.129(1) lists the grounds for suspension. These may matter in debt cases:

• force majeure prevented the claim from being brought;
• the Government has deferred performance of obligations (moratorium);
• the claimant or the defendant serves in a national defence unit where martial law has been declared;
• the parties to the obligation are spouses, or parents and their minor children;
• the operation of the law or other legal act governing the relationship is suspended.

Suspension applies only if these circumstances arose or existed during the last six months of the limitation period, or, where the period is shorter than six months, during the whole period (CK Article 1.129(2)). Once the circumstance ends, the period continues, and the remaining part is extended to six months or, where the limitation period was shorter than six months, to the whole limitation period (CK Article 1.129(3)). Suspension does not cancel the time that has already run.

When the limitation period is interrupted

There are two grounds for interruption:

• Filing a statement of claim in the manner set by law (CK Article 1.130(1)).
• Acts of the debtor showing that it acknowledges the obligation (CK Article 1.130(2)). The law does not list such acts. So keep every act of the debtor concerning the debt: a signed reconciliation statement, a letter asking to defer payment, a payment that refers to the debt.

A creditor’s letter of demand or reminder is not among these grounds.

An interrupted period starts again from the moment the ground for interruption ends. If the period was interrupted by filing a statement of claim, the new period starts on the day the court judgment becomes final, if an identical claim can be brought from the relationship in dispute. Time that ran before the interruption does not count towards the new period (CK Article 1.130(3)).

Not every claim interrupts the period. CK Article 1.130(4) provides that the period is not interrupted if:

• the court left the claim unexamined through the claimant’s fault;
• the court refused to accept the statement of claim;
• the claimant withdrew the claim.

So a claim is worth preparing properly and not leaving to the last days of the period. How withdrawal of a claim differs from other ways a case ends is covered in Ending a court case without a judgment in Lithuania: who bears the expenses.

CK Article 1.130(1) refers to filing a statement of claim; it does not mention an application for a court order separately. Courts apply the CK Article 1.130 rules to such an application too: an application the court refused to accept does not interrupt the limitation period, although a timely application refused for defects may be a good reason to restore the period (Supreme Court of Lithuania, ruling of 29 June 2012 in civil case No 3K-3-321/2012). Where the application is deemed not filed, the Court of Appeal of Lithuania looked at whether this happened through the creditor’s fault (Court of Appeal of Lithuania, ruling of 14 June 2022 in civil case No e2A-325-407/2022, applying the test in Supreme Court of Lithuania ruling of 29 March 2013 in civil case No 3K-7-28/2013). If you applied for a court order and the debtor filed objections, you may file a properly drafted claim and pay the missing part of the stamp duty no later than fourteen days after the court’s notice is served on you (Article 439(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPK)). If you do not file a properly drafted claim within that time, your application is deemed not to have been filed (CPK Article 439(6)). When the limitation period is about to expire, do not miss this deadline.

The rules on suspension, interruption and renewal also apply to shortened periods, such as those for interest and default interest, unless the law provides otherwise (CK Article 1.132).

What happens when the limitation period has expired

• The court still accepts the claim. The court accepts a claim to defend an infringed right even though the limitation period has expired (CK Article 1.126(1)).
• Limitation applies only if a party asks (CK Article 1.126(2)). If the debtor does not ask for limitation to be applied, the court does not apply it of its own motion.
• Limitation cannot be waived in advance (CK Article 1.126(3)).
• Consequence. If the debtor asks for limitation to be applied, expiry of the period before the claim was filed is a ground for dismissing the claim (CK Article 1.131(1)).
• Renewal. If the court finds that the period was missed for an important reason, the infringed right is protected and the period is renewed (CK Article 1.131(2)). The law does not list what counts as an important reason. If you ask for renewal, set out the circumstances and the evidence for them in the statement of claim (CPK Article 135(1)).
• A debt that has been paid stays paid. A debtor who performed after the limitation period expired may not demand back what it paid, even if it did not know the period had expired (CK Article 1.133).

Limitation and the deadline for a writ of execution

Once the case is won, another period begins. Writs of execution issued on court judgments may be submitted for enforcement within five years of the judgment becoming final (CPK Article 606(2)). This is not limitation of the claim but a deadline for enforcing the judgment. How enforcement works is covered in Court order, court fee and bailiff in Lithuania: what happens next.

More on debt recovery

• Debt recovery in court: service page
• How long do you have to recover a debt in court, and what documents do you need?
• Letter of demand to a debtor in Lithuania: is it required, what it changes
• Writ of execution in Lithuania: how to obtain it and send it to a bailiff

How to start

Send us the contract, the invoices with their payment dates, the payment history and all correspondence with the debtor, especially its letters about the debt. We will work out which parts of the claim are not yet time-barred and prepare a letter of demand or a statement of claim.

Phone +370 5 212 1506, email info@linden.lt

More about this service: debt recovery in court.