Ohio Wrongful Death Deadlines: The Two-Year Rule and Its Exceptions

Deadlines are the hardest part of the law to discuss with a grieving family, because they do not bend for grief. A claim filed one day late can be lost no matter how strong it is.

For most families the deadline is not tomorrow; the general rule gives two years. But some kinds of cases have earlier outer limits, and a few situations change when the clock starts. This chapter walks through each.

The general rule: two years from the death

Ohio's wrongful death statute says the action "shall be commenced within two years after the decedent's death" (R.C. 2125.02(F)(1)). "Commenced" means a lawsuit is filed in court. Reporting a claim or negotiating with an adjuster does not stop the clock.

The Supreme Court of Ohio has treated this limit as part of the right to sue itself. In Brookbank v. Gray, 74 Ohio St.3d 279 (1996), the court called the two-year limit "a restriction which qualifies the right of the action itself."

When the start date can be later: the discovery rule

Sometimes a family does not know, and could not reasonably know, that a death was wrongful or who caused it. In Collins v. Sotka, 81 Ohio St.3d 506, 1998-Ohio-331, the Supreme Court of Ohio held that "the discovery rule applies" to the two-year wrongful death deadline. In that case, a teenager was abducted and killed, and the court held that in a wrongful death action stemming from a murder, the two years begins when the survivors discover, or with reasonable diligence should have discovered, that the defendant has been convicted and sentenced. The Supreme Court cited Collins again in 2024 as a case applying the discovery rule to wrongful death claims (Weidman v. Hildebrant, 2024-Ohio-2931).

The discovery rule is a fact-specific exception. Families should never plan around it. Our chapter on criminal and civil cases discusses cases that involve a prosecution.

Children in the family do not pause the clock

Many families assume that because young children are among the beneficiaries, the deadline waits until they turn 18. For a wrongful death claim, it does not. The Supreme Court said in Brookbank that the two-year limit "is not tolled by a beneficiary's minority."

Ohio's general tolling statute for minors, R.C. 2305.16, applies to actions "mentioned in" certain listed sections, and the wrongful death statute is not one of them. In McCarthy v. Lee, 2025-Ohio-5193, the Tenth District Court of Appeals applied the same reasoning to the four-year medical repose period discussed below, holding that the minority of the beneficiary children did not extend it.

Deaths involving medical care

Deaths caused by medical negligence have their own layered rules, and the old belief that these cases have a one-year deadline from the date of death is not how the statutes read.

The two-year rule still applies to the wrongful death claim. The wrongful death statute's two-year limit governs the family's claim.

A four-year outer limit also applies. R.C. 2305.113(C) bars any action on a "medical claim" commenced more than four years after the act or omission it is based on. In Everhart v. Coshocton Cty. Mem. Hosp., 2023-Ohio-4670, the Supreme Court of Ohio held that wrongful death claims based on medical care are "medical claims" and are subject to this four-year statute of repose. A statute of repose is an absolute outer limit measured from the defendant's conduct, not from the death or from when the family learned of the problem. If a missed diagnosis happened three and a half years before the death, a family may have only months left, not two years.

The statute has narrow exceptions, including for injuries that could not reasonably have been discovered within three years and for objects left in the body (R.C. 2305.113(D)). Whether they help in a particular death case depends on the facts.

An open question about one year. Medical claims generally carry a one-year statute of limitations (R.C. 2305.113(A)). In Everhart, the Supreme Court noted that it "has never considered" whether that one-year limit applies to wrongful death claims based on medical care. Until that question is answered, the cautious course is to act well within one year whenever a death may involve medical care.

The survival claim follows the medical rules. Your loved one's own medical claim, pursued by the estate as a survival claim, is generally subject to the one-year limit, which can be extended in some cases by a written 180-day notice letter sent before the year runs (R.C. 2305.113(B)).

See our page on medical malpractice wrongful death.

Deaths involving defective products

R.C. 2125.02(F)(2)(a) adds a ten-year statute of repose for wrongful death claims based on a product liability claim, counted from when the product was delivered to its first purchaser or lessee. There are listed exceptions:

• The manufacturer or supplier committed fraud about the product that contributed to the death.
• The product carried an express written safety warranty longer than ten years that had not expired.
• If the death occurs in the last two years of the ten-year period, the family still has two years from the death.
• Certain disabilities, and certain exposure cases (such as some toxic chemicals, drugs, medical devices, and asbestos), have their own accrual rules.

See our page on defective product wrongful death.

Deaths involving buildings and construction

R.C. 2305.131 provides a ten-year statute of repose, measured from substantial completion of an improvement to real property, for wrongful death claims against those who designed, planned, supervised, or built it. It does not protect an owner, tenant, or landlord who is in possession and control of the property when the defect causes the death, and it has exceptions for fraud, long warranties, and conditions discovered near the end of the ten years.

Claims against government

• Cities, counties, townships, school districts, and other political subdivisions: R.C. 2744.04(A) requires the action to be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues, "or within any applicable shorter period" provided by law. Immunity rules also apply.
• The State of Ohio: claims are filed in the Court of Claims, generally within two years after accrual or any shorter period that would apply between private parties (R.C. 2743.16(A)). Some claims must first be presented to the state for possible compromise before suit (R.C. 2743.16(B)).

See our page on government and police wrongful death.

Other rules that can matter

• The survival claim's deadline usually runs from the injury, not the death. For most injury claims that is two years (R.C. 2305.10(A)). If your loved one lived for a time after being hurt, that deadline may come first. See wrongful death and survival claims.
• Other next of kin (such as siblings) who want notice of a settlement application filed more than two years after the death must file a written notice of claim with the probate court within two years of the death (R.C. 2125.02(B)(3)(b)).
• Deaths in another state are governed by that state's time limits when the claim is based on that state's statute (R.C. 2125.01).
• Refiling after a dismissal. If a timely case fails "otherwise than upon the merits," R.C. 2125.04 allows a new action within one year, or within the original period if later. For medical claims, the Supreme Court held in Wilson v. Durrani, 2020-Ohio-6827, that Ohio's general refiling statute cannot be used to refile after the four-year repose period has expired, so a dismissal in a medical case can be fatal.

Common questions