The prescriptive periods for initiating a lawsuit is the period during which a party has the right to file a lawsuit requesting the Court to resolve a civil case to protect their infringed legal rights and interests; if this period ends, the right to initiate a lawsuit is lost. How is the prescriptive period for initiating lawsuits stipulated by law in each specific case?
Article table of contents
Summary of the prescriptive periods for each type of civil dispute in Vietnam (Illustrative Image)
1. Conditions for applying the prescriptive periods in Vietnam:
As stipulated in Clause 2, Article 149 of the Civil Code 2015:
The Court only applies regulations on the prescriptive periods upon request for application of the prescriptive periods from one or the parties, provided that this request must be made before the Court of first instance issues a judgment or decision to resolve the case.
the prescriptive periods for filing lawsuits is applied when meeting two conditions:
- There is a request for applying the prescriptive periods from one or the parties;
- The request for applying the prescriptive periods must be made before the Court of first instance issues a judgment or decision to resolve the case.
Therefore, the Court does not automatically apply or check the prescriptive periods for filing lawsuits on its own; the parties, if they wish to apply it, must request the Court to apply it to protect their rights. Additionally, the law allows the beneficiary from the application of the prescriptive periods to refuse such application if the refusal is not intended to evade the fulfillment of an obligation.
The beneficiary from the application of the prescriptive periods has the right to refuse its application, except where the refusal is intended to evade the fulfillment of an obligation (according to Clause 2, Article 149 of the Civil Code 2015).
2. Prescriptive periods for filing lawsuits for each type of civil dispute and request in Vietnam
The prescriptive periods for filing lawsuits depends on the type of dispute and the request of the parties. To be specific:
| Type of Dispute, Request |
Statute of Limitations |
Starting Point of Statute of Limitations |
Legal Basis | |
| Contract Dispute | The prescriptive periods for filing a lawsuit to request the Court to resolve a contract dispute is 03 years. | From the day the person with the right to request knows or should have known that their lawful rights and interests were infringed. | Article 429 of the Civil Code 2015 | |
| Request for Compensation for Damages | The prescriptive periods for filing a lawsuit to request compensation for damages is 03 years. | From the day the person with the right to request knows or should have known that their lawful rights and interests were infringed. | Article 588 of the Civil Code 2015 | |
| Inheritance Prescriptive periods | Request for Inheritance Division | The prescriptive periods for the heir to request inheritance division is: + 30 years for real estate; + 10 years for movable property. |
From the time of opening the inheritance. | Article 623 of the Civil Code 2015 |
| Request to Confirm one’s Inheritance Rights or Deny another's Inheritance Rights | The prescriptive periods is 10 years | |||
| Request for the Heirs to Fulfill the Obligations related to the Decedent’s Property | The prescriptive periods for filing a lawsuit is 3 years | |||
3. Consequences when the prescriptive periods expires:
When the prescriptive periods for filing lawsuits for each type of dispute and request expires, the person who needs to file a lawsuit loses the right to file a lawsuit according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 150 of the Civil Code 2015.
4. Cases where the prescriptive periods for filing lawsuits is not applied:
The prescriptive periods for filing lawsuits stipulated in this Code does not apply to the following cases:
- Requests to protect personal rights not associated with property;- Requests to protect ownership rights, except where this Code or other relevant laws have different provisions;- Disputes over land use rights as prescribed by the Land Law;- Other cases as prescribed by law.
Customers should be well aware of the prescriptive periods for filing lawsuits, disputes, and civil requests to promptly request the authorities to protect their lawful rights and interests when infringed, avoiding regrettable loss of the right to file a lawsuit. Although filing a lawsuit to protect infringed rights of the subjects is legitimate, to avoid cases where individuals are subjective, abuse this right to prolong the dispute resolution time, the law sets the prescriptive periods for filing lawsuits so that subjects are more proactive in protecting their own rights.
Thuy Tram
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