§PlainStatute

Tools · Debt

South Dakota Debt Statute of Limitations Calculator (2026)

Enter your last payment or activity date to see when the South Dakota limitations period would run out for your debt type — credit-card debt runs 6 years, a written contract 6 years (§15-2-13). Every result flags revival.

Cited to SDCL §15-2-13; §15-2-29; §57A-3-118Source: South Dakota Legislature (SDCL).

South Dakota debt statute-of-limitations calculator

Debt statute of limitations · South Dakota
South Dakota rule applied to your dates
Limitations period
6 years
Credit-card debt in South Dakota: 6 years. Six years. South Dakota runs one uniform clock. A credit-card balance is a contract, obligation, or liability under §15-2-13, the same 6-year period that covers written contracts, oral contracts, and open accounts. There is no shorter open-account track here, so the answer is a clean six years.
Period would run out
Enter your last payment or activity date to see the date.

These are the South Dakota figures applied to the date you entered — a plain summary of the period, not a determination that any debt is or is not time-barred (too old to sue over).

A payment can restart the clock

A voluntary partial payment can restart the entire 6-year clock. Under §15-2-29 a written, signed acknowledgment or new promise also revives the debt, and the statute says that section does not alter the effect of any payment of principal or interest, so a payment carries its own common-law revival power. Do not pay or sign anything on an old debt before you check the dates.

The date above assumes no new activity. A statute of limitations does not erase the debt or remove it from your credit report — it is a defense you must raise if you are sued after the period runs. In many states a partial payment or a signed written acknowledgment can restart the clock entirely, so be careful before paying or signing anything on an old account. Revival rules are complex and this is informational only, not legal advice.

Informational only, not legal advice. The statute of limitations is complex, classification-dependent, and revival can reset it — this tool cannot decide your case. See the full breakdown and citations on the South Dakota debt statute-of-limitations reference, cited to SDCL §15-2-13; §15-2-29; §57A-3-118.

How the South Dakota debt clock works

South Dakota keeps this simple: nearly every kind of debt runs on one 6-year clock under SDCL §15-2-13. Written contracts, oral contracts, open accounts, and credit-card balances all share that single period, so you do not have to sort your debt into a shorter or longer bucket the way you would in many other states. Promissory notes get to the same place through the UCC at §57A-3-118. There is a well-known irony here: South Dakota is the legal home of many national credit-card issuers because of its lender-friendly interest rules, yet a lawsuit against a South Dakota debtor still runs on the ordinary §15-2-13 clock like any other contract. The clock generally starts at default or your last payment. And note the trap in §15-2-29: a signed written promise revives a debt, and a partial payment can restart the whole 6-year period too.

This tool applies the South Dakota periods to the date you enter and assumes no new activity. It is informational only and not legal advice — revival can reset the clock and classification can change the period. For the full four-type breakdown, revival rule, and citations, see the South Dakota debt statute-of-limitations reference.

Debt statute-of-limitations tools for other states

Same tool, each with its own periods and revival rule.