Indiana Law - Statute of Limitations

Detailed below are a few of the various time thresholds set out in Indiana law that you may run into when reviewing a title to real property located in Indiana.

Mortgages - The statute of limitations, IC 32-28-4-1, for the viability of a mortgage is reviewed with the terms of the mortgage to determine if the mortgage has expired.  Mortgages executed after September 1982 have a ten (10) year life from the date of maturity.  Mortgages executed prior to September 1982 have a twenty (20) year lien life from the date of maturity.  If the mortgage is silent as to a maturity date, the mortgage remains viable twenty (20) years after the mortgage execution regardless of the mortgage's signing before or after 1982.  If the execution date is not apparent from the mortgage, the lien will survive twenty (20) years from the mortgage's recording date. 

Judgments - A judgment lien attaches to real property when the judgment has been entered and indexed in the judgment docket. IC 34-55-9-2.  An Indiana judgment as well as a state tax warrant survive ten (10) years after the rendition of the judgment.  However, this time period may be extended due to an appeal, injunction, bankruptcy, the judgment debtor's death, or upon agreement of the parties.  A federal judgment does not need to be indexed in the same manner as a state judgment.  It must be recorded with the county recorder and due to the Federal Debt Collection Procedures act of 1990, it has a twenty (20) year life. 

Mechanics Liens - IC 32-28-3-1 et al governs the procedures and lien time frame for a valid and viable mechanic lien.  The following criteria must be satisfied:  1) Pre-lien notice requirements with a residential property where a non owner contracts for the labor. 2) Sixty (60) day recording requirement from the last day of work or supply for mechanic's lien on residential property. 3) Ninety (90) day recording requirement from the last day of work or supply for mechanic's lien on commercial property. 4) The recorded notice of intent to hold a mechanic's lien meets the form requirements of the statute. 5) Whether recorded no lien contract is enforceable.  A property owner can request by certified mail that the lien claimant foreclose the mechanic's lien.  if the foreclosure is not instituted within thirty (30) days, the property owner can file an affidavit to void the mechanic's lien.  The statute also requires the foreclosure of the mechanic's lien within one (1) year of the recording date.

Leases/Land Contracts - Under IC 32-23-8-1 et al a lease is null and void after a period of one year when rental payments, development, or oil/gas production have ceased.