When can I stop asking for the bill?

According to the provisions of Articles 188 to 199 of the Civil Code on "limitation of action" and Chapter 12 of the Civil Code on "loan contract", lending money to others is a typical "loan behavior", and you need to ask the other party for it within a certain period of time. Even if someone really owes you money after the statute of limitations,

Therefore, it is very important to calculate the limitation of action in the loan contract. This article will explain the general loan situation.

According to the provisions of the Civil Law, the three-year statute of limitations applies to loans. However, when to start counting three years is more complicated in practice. Here are some basic information for you, and also remind you of some points you should pay attention to after borrowing.

In general, lending money to others can be divided into two situations: agreed repayment period and no repayment period.

1. Both parties agreed on the repayment period.

If both parties agree on the repayment period, for example, it is clearly stated in the IOU and WeChat written records that the repayment will be made before 2023 1, then the three-year statute of limitations will be calculated from 2023 1. If the creditor has never asked the debtor for money within three years by June 5438+ 10/in 2026, then the debtor will have legal reasons for not paying back the money after that. Even if the creditor brings a lawsuit to the court, as long as the debtor claims the limitation of action, the court will rule that the creditor loses the case and the debtor no longer needs to pay back the money.

But this does not mean that the creditor must sue the debtor for repayment within three years, just to avoid this situation, the creditor must find the debtor to repay in time and leave evidence. As long as the creditor asks the debtor for money within these three years, the statute of limitations will be recalculated. Take the above time as an example. Now it is 65438+2023 10/month, and the debtor has not paid back the money. June 65438+February 3, 20251,the creditor asked the debtor to repay by himself, and there were relevant recordings and WeChat chat records, so it will be from June 65438+February 3, 20251.

Back to practice, in this case, when the repayment period expires, both parties will generally make up the IOUs and IOUs again. This is also a good way to recalculate the limitation of action according to the new IOUs and IOUs, with clear evidence.

2. Both parties have not agreed on the repayment period.

This kind of loan is common in familiar friends and relatives. It may be that the creditor is not sure when to repay the loan out of affection, and may directly transfer the money to the other party under certain circumstances, without IOUs, IOUs, etc. According to Article 675 of the Civil Code, in this case, the creditor may demand repayment from the debtor at any time.

Because the creditor can find the debtor at any time, there is no way to apply the three-year statute of limitations here, because both parties have no clear repayment node as the starting period, and the law believes that the creditor can find the debtor at any time, which is naturally not subject to some restrictions of the statute of limitations.

However, even so, according to the provisions of the Civil Code, this kind of loan is still subject to the statute of limitations of up to 20 years. For example, on June 65438+1 October 1 day, 2022, Xiao Jia lent Xiao B a sum of money without any agreement, so if Xiao Jia never asked Xiao B for it, it would be June 65438+1October/kloc-0, 2025, although it was not limited by the three-year statute of limitations.

Limitation of action is a complicated issue. The above is just a simple answer to the questions related to the limitation of action in loans. In fact, the starting point, suspension or interruption of the limitation of action. In practice, it will affect the judgment result and need specific analysis.