Limitation of personal injury claims and interrupting the limitation period in time

A personal injury case can take a long time. You are waiting to recover, the insurer keeps asking for new documents and the final extent of the damage is not yet clear. Meanwhile, a limitation period may be running. If you act too late, you can no longer enforce a claim that is sound on the merits once the other party rightly invokes limitation.

Written by Onur Arslan, attorney at Arslan Advocaten. Registered in the specialisation register of the Netherlands Bar for employment law and personal injury. Last updated: 22 September 2026.

Interrupting the limitation period for personal injury means that you break a running period in a legally valid way. A clear written notice can be suitable for this, but the content, the addressee, receipt and the applicable period must all be right. A file number alone or a friendly conversation does not offer sufficient protection in every situation.

In brief

• There is no single limitation period: which one applies depends on whom you hold liable and on what legal basis.
• Against the person who caused the injury or death, the period is five years from the start of the day following the day on which you became aware of both the damage and the liable person (Article 3:310(5) of the Dutch Civil Code).
• For personal injury or death there is no absolute twenty-year period; for these cases it was abolished with effect from 1 February 2004. Only if the event causing the damage took place before that date can the twenty-year period still apply (Article 119c of the Transitional Act for the new Civil Code).
• Was the injured party a minor on the day the damage and the liable party became known? Then the five years only start on the day after his or her eighteenth birthday.
• A direct claim against a WAM insurer (under the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act) has its own period of three years from the event. Every negotiation interrupts that period; after negotiations are formally broken off by bailiff’s writ or registered letter, a new three-year period begins (Article 10(1) and (5) WAM).
• You interrupt the limitation period with a written notice in which you unequivocally reserve your right to performance; after interruption a new period begins.
• Keep proof of dispatch and of receipt, and record the new end date in your file straight away.

Below you can read which differences matter, how to prepare a letter interrupting the limitation period and which evidence to keep. The sample letter is a starting point that you can adapt. The correct final date must be established for your own claim, especially in the case of old events, minors and claims against a motor insurer.

Why there is no single period for all personal injury

A claim for damages against the person who caused the harm is not always the same claim as a direct claim against that person’s insurer. Special statutory rules may also apply. That is why the statement that personal injury claims always become time-barred after five years is too general and, in some situations, misleading.

Start with three questions: whom do you want to hold liable, on what legal basis and for which damage? One accident can involve several potential parties, such as a driver, an employer, a healthcare provider or an insurer. For each claim you need to establish which rules apply and when the relevant period begins.

Historical changes in the law can also be important. With older events, transitional law may play a role. Do not therefore rely solely on a general online calculation based on the date of the accident. A review of the file should also look at earlier correspondence, acknowledgements, proceedings and the precise nature of the claim.

The five-year period and awareness of the damage

In claims for damages, awareness of the damage and of the person liable for it plays an important role. The short period of Article 3:310 of the Dutch Civil Code is linked to that awareness. This is not necessarily the same day as the event, but nor is it automatically the day on which a lawyer explains the legal options to you.

The assessment turns on the specific circumstances and on actual awareness. After a traffic collision the situation may quickly be clear. Where the consequences of medical treatment are discovered later, more investigation may be needed. Uncertainty about the exact amount of the damage does not automatically mean that the period has not yet started to run.

So do not wait for a final medical condition or a definitive calculation of the damage. You can usually reserve your rights earlier. If in doubt, have the earliest defensible starting date assessed and act well before any possible end date. In practice that is safer than litigating later about when you knew enough.

Injury and death are subject to special rules

Article 3:310 of the Dutch Civil Code contains a special provision for damage caused by personal injury or death. As a result, the general absolute period cannot simply be applied to every personal injury claim. The applicable law and the time of the event that caused the damage must be taken into account in the assessment.

Old incidents in particular call for a careful review. The current wording of a statute does not always tell you how an event from an earlier period is treated. Special circumstances can also give rise to complex legal debates. A general blog cannot replace that case-specific assessment.

The practical starting point remains simple: preserve your rights as soon as a potentially liable party comes into view. The existence of exceptions is no good reason to wait. A timely and appropriate interruption often prevents you from becoming dependent on a debate about transitional law or exceptional circumstances.

Minors and the start of the period

Article 3:310(5) of the Dutch Civil Code provides a special starting point for minor victims. If the injured party was a minor on the day on which both the damage and the liable person became known, the claim only becomes time-barred five years after the start of the day following the day on which he or she came of age. In practical terms, the period then runs until the day after the twenty-third birthday. Even so, it would be wrong to conclude from this that parents need not record anything for years.

Evidence disappears much sooner than a legal period expires. Witnesses move house, camera footage is overwritten and incident forms become harder to trace. So notify potentially liable parties in good time and keep medical information and details of the damage. This supports both liability and the later assessment of the damage.

Also check which claim is meant. The deferred starting point applies to the child’s own claim. A parent’s own claim (for example for their own costs or for damage shifted onto them) has its own starting point, and a direct claim against a motor insurer falls under the WAM with a period of three years. Being a minor is therefore no substitute for an overview of all rights and periods.

Assess a direct WAM claim separately

In road traffic accidents, an injured party may have a right of their own against the motor insurer. A special limitation regime applies to that WAM claim, in principle with a period of three years after the event that caused the damage. This must be distinguished from the claim against the liable person themselves.

The WAM also contains specific rules on negotiations and on how they end. Under the statutory conditions, negotiations can affect limitation, and a formal notice when they are broken off plays a role. Article 10(5) WAM provides that every negotiation between the insurer and the injured party interrupts the limitation period, and that a new three-year period begins as soon as either party announces by bailiff’s writ or registered letter that it is breaking off the negotiations. That three-year period applies only to the direct WAM claim and is not a general extension for every personal injury case.

So have both the correspondence and the chosen legal route checked. Not every message is a negotiation in the statutory sense, and not every insurer is approached on the same legal basis. Keep letters rejecting the claim or ending discussions safe and discuss them immediately with the person representing your interests.

Which period applies to which claim?

The overview below is a reading guide, not a calculation of your own end date. Go through each row and check whether that claim plays a part in your file.

Claim	Opposing party	Period	Starting point	How do you interrupt it?
Damage caused by personal injury or death	The liable person or business	5 years; no absolute limit of 20 years	The day after the day on which you knew of both the damage and the liable person (Art. 3:310(5) BW)	Written demand or unequivocal reservation of rights (Art. 3:317(1) BW)
Same, but the injured party was a minor at the time of awareness	The liable person or business	5 years	The day after the injured party’s eighteenth birthday (Art. 3:310(5), second sentence, BW)	Same written interruption; do not delay it because of evidence
A parent’s own claim (own costs, damage shifted onto the parent)	The liable person or business	5 years	The parent’s own moment of awareness, not the child’s eighteenth birthday	Interrupt separately in writing
Direct claim against the motor insurer	The WAM insurer	3 years	The event from which the damage arose (Art. 10(1) WAM)	Every negotiation interrupts (para. 5); after a formal break-off by writ or registered letter a new period of 3 years runs. Interruption works both ways with the insured person (para. 4)
Property damage (for example your car or bicycle)	The liable party	5 years, with an absolute limit of 20 years	Awareness of the damage and the liable party; the 20 years run from the event (Art. 3:310(1) BW)	Written interruption
After a valid interruption	The same opposing party	New period, equal to the original one, up to a maximum of 5 years	The day after the act of interruption (Art. 3:319 BW)	Interrupt again before the new end date

What a letter interrupting the limitation period must make clear

A written notice must make it sufficiently clear that you unequivocally reserve your right to performance, in this case compensation. The other party must understand which event and which claim the notice relates to. A letter that only asks about the status of the file may fall short.

State your details, the correct opposing party, the date and place of the event and a recognisable description. Say that you are claiming compensation for the damage already suffered and still to be suffered in connection with it. You do not always need to know every amount yet, but the claim must be sufficiently determinable.

Do not use wording that unintentionally limits the claim to a single invoice already known when you also want to reserve future personal injury damage. Conversely, an entirely general claim without a recognisable event does not help either. The content must match the specific file and the positions taken earlier.

Adaptable sample letter interrupting the limitation period

The text below is a sample of a written reservation of rights. Fill in all the fields and, if in doubt, have the correct addressee, legal basis and period checked. The template does not confirm that every possible claim is protected by it.

Why the wording matters so much: according to settled case law, a notice interrupting the limitation period must contain a sufficiently clear warning to the other party that, even after the limitation period has expired, it must take into account that it should keep its data and evidence, so that it can defend itself against a claim that is still brought (Supreme Court 24 November 2006, ECLI:NL:HR:2006:AZ0418, following Supreme Court 14 February 1997). That is why the template below spells out that warning explicitly, alongside the reservation itself.

Choosing the right party and the right address

Check the full legal name of the party you are holding liable. A trade name, branch or intermediary is not always the liable legal entity in its own right. With an employer, a hospital or a retail chain, that distinction can matter. Use reliable file information and up-to-date address details.

If you write to a motor insurer, keep the two tracks apart. Article 10(4) WAM provides that acts which interrupt the limitation period against the insured person also interrupt it against the insurer, and vice versa. That does not alter the fact that the periods themselves differ: three years against the WAM insurer, in principle five years against the person who caused the damage. So preferably interrupt towards both and record both end dates.

A letter to an insurer does not automatically protect every claim against the insured person in all circumstances. Representation and the context of the communication may be relevant. If several parties may be liable, you need to consider for each party which notice is required.

Do not let an earlier acknowledgement of receipt be the only reason to keep using the same route. A file may have been transferred or an authorised representative may have stopped acting. As a period draws to a close, check where the notice will reach the correct addressee and keep evidence of that choice in the file.

Proving receipt is just as important as sending

A valid text is of little help if the other party disputes that it received the notice. So keep the final letter, the dispatch details and proof of delivery or receipt. A draft in your own folder does not prove that the other party received it.

A combination of suitable methods of dispatch can be practical, for example registered post and email to an address known to be in use. However, no single method should simply be regarded as infallible. Check the actual delivery status and ask for an express acknowledgement of receipt.

When sending digitally, keep the complete email, the attachments and the relevant technical data. A screenshot without the content of the attachment may raise questions later. If a message bounces or a letter is not collected, take action in good time. Do not wait until the last possible day has passed.

After interruption, monitoring the period starts again

Interruption is usually not a one-off act that secures your file indefinitely. After a valid interruption, a new period begins under the applicable rules. Article 3:319 of the Dutch Civil Code contains rules on this, including a maximum of five years for the new period in the situations it covers.

The new end date that applies in your case must be calculated specifically. Take into account the relevant claim, the date of the valid act and any special rules. Also record which party was reached by that act. A single diary entry for a file involving several parties may not be enough.

Set a reminder well before the possible end date and keep the calculation. When you change lawyer or representative, agree explicitly who will monitor the periods. Handing over documents does not mean that both parties have automatically noted the same deadline.

Read negotiations and acknowledgements carefully

Discussions can be legally relevant, but they do not automatically have the same effect for every claim. An insurer may request documents without admitting liability. A payment may also be made under reservation. The precise content and context of the correspondence must be assessed.

An acknowledgement can affect limitation, but you would be wise not to rely solely on an implied acknowledgement. A clear written reservation of rights is often easier to prove than a debate about the meaning of a telephone call from years ago.

Read rejections straight away. Sometimes they change the position, or a relevant period starts to run under special rules. Keep the envelope or the digital date of receipt where it may be significant. Forward such documents without delay to whoever is handling your case.

What to do if the period may have expired

Do not conclude yourself that the case is definitively lost. Have it investigated which period applied, when it began and which earlier acts may have had an effect. Correspondence, payments, acknowledgements and court documents can be important. Exceptions or transitional law may also turn out to be relevant.

At the same time, a new letter cannot automatically undo a limitation period that has already expired. That is why a prompt review of the file is needed. Collect all documents in chronological order and also list oral contacts, with the date and the person you spoke to as far as known. Present recollections as recollections, not as established written agreements.

Invoking limitation is a legal defence that must be assessed on its specific facts. The outcome cannot be predicted from the date of the accident alone. Ask for a reasoned analysis before you abandon a claim or accept a settlement based solely on alleged limitation.

A file transfer with a separate overview of periods

When you change representative, limitation deserves a separate handover note. For each opposing party, state which claim is being monitored, which starting date has been used and when the last relevant act took place. Attach the actual documents and proofs of receipt. A mere statement that the claim ‘has been interrupted in time’ cannot be verified properly.

Ask the new adviser to assess the underlying assumptions independently. An earlier calculation may be incomplete or may relate to a different claim. With several insurers, old incidents or a combination of own and derivative claims, extra precision is needed. Make clear which points are still uncertain.

Keep the confirmation of the transfer and agree who will act while the file review is still ongoing. An administrative handover must not create a period without anyone monitoring the deadlines. Also put a personal reminder in your diary, so that you can ask in good time whether a necessary act has been carried out.

The same applies when a case is put on hold temporarily to await recovery. Record why the substantive handling is paused and which periods continue to run in the meantime. An agreement to request medical information again later is not automatically an agreement about limitation. So have both subjects dealt with explicitly and in writing.

The periods and interruption rules at a glance

These provisions were consulted in the consolidated text on wetten.overheid.nl:

• Article 3:310(1) of the Dutch Civil Code a claim for damages becomes time-barred five years after the start of the day following the day on which the injured party became aware of both the damage and the person liable for it, and in any event twenty years after the event. Both conditions, awareness of the damage and of the person, must be met. Note: for personal injury or death, this paragraph is set aside by paragraph 5, below.
• Article 3:317(1) of the Dutch Civil Code the limitation period of a claim for performance is interrupted by a written demand or by a written notice in which the creditor unequivocally reserves its right to performance. That wording is the heart of a letter interrupting the limitation period.
• Article 3:319 of the Dutch Civil Code after interruption, a new limitation period starts to run, equal to the original one but no longer than five years. Put that new date in your diary straight away.
• Article 10 WAM the direct claim against the motor insurer becomes time-barred three years after the event from which the damage arose. Paragraph 5 provides that the limitation period is interrupted by every negotiation with the insurer; if either party breaks off the negotiations by bailiff’s writ or registered letter, a new three-year period begins.
• Article 3:310(5) of the Dutch Civil Code by way of derogation from paragraphs 1 and 2, a claim for compensation for damage caused by personal injury or death becomes time-barred five years after the start of the day following the day on which the injured party became aware of both the damage and the liable person. If the injured party was a minor on that day, those five years only run from the start of the day following the day on which he or she came of age. No absolute twenty-year period applies here. See also personal injury involving minors.
• Article 3:306 of the Dutch Civil Code the general twenty-year period is a safety net for claims to which no other period applies. A claim for compensation for property damage in principle falls under Article 3:310(1) of the Dutch Civil Code: five years after awareness of the damage and the liable person, plus an absolute period of twenty years. Special rules may deviate from this.
• Article 119c of the Transitional Act for the new Civil Code the abolition of the twenty-year period for personal injury and death does not have retroactive effect: if the event causing the damage took place before 1 February 2004, have it assessed separately which period applies.

If you think a period may have expired, do not wait: there are situations in which invoking limitation is unacceptable according to standards of reasonableness and fairness. That is the exception rather than the rule, and it calls for swift action.

Frequently asked questions about limitation and interruption

Does a personal injury claim always become time-barred after five years?

No. Which period applies depends on the claim, the moment of awareness, special statutory rules and sometimes transitional law. A direct WAM claim, for example, has its own period of three years. Have your own period established.

Is there also an absolute limit of twenty years for personal injury?

Not for damage caused by personal injury or death. Article 3:310(5) of the Dutch Civil Code sets aside the absolute twenty-year period for these cases; this has applied since 1 February 2004. If the event causing the damage took place before that date, the twenty-year period may still play a role (Article 119c of the Transitional Act for the new Civil Code). For property damage, the short period of five years after awareness of the damage and the liable person also applies in principle; the twenty-year period is an additional absolute limit.

When does the period start for a child?

If the injured party was a minor on the day on which both the damage and the liable person became known, the five-year period only starts on the day after his or her eighteenth birthday. That deferred starting point applies to the child’s own claim. A parent’s own claim and a direct WAM claim have their own starting point, so do not wait with those.

Does the amount of my damage have to be known already?

Not necessarily. A reservation of rights can also cover future damage. The event and the claim must, however, be sufficiently clear. So do not wait solely for a definitive medical or financial calculation.

Can I interrupt the limitation period by email?

An email is in writing, so in principle it is possible. The risk lies in proving receipt. So preferably combine email with a registered letter or, if in doubt, opt for a bailiff’s writ. Keep the complete message as sent, the delivery status and the reply, and ask for an express acknowledgement of receipt.

Are ongoing negotiations enough to prevent limitation?

For a direct claim against a WAM insurer, yes: Article 10(5) WAM provides that every negotiation with the insurer interrupts the limitation period. Importantly, that interruption does not stop at the insurer: Article 10(4) WAM provides that acts which interrupt the limitation period against the insurer also interrupt it against the insured persons, and vice versa. The driver of the insured vehicle is usually such an insured person. Outside the WAM that rule does not exist: if you hold, for example, an employer, a hospital or a road authority liable, you must interrupt the period yourself in writing. So do not rely merely on the fact that talks are still going on, and check whether the party you want to hold liable really is an insured person.

Do I have to write to every potentially liable party?

Every claim requires attention. Apart from the knock-on effect under the WAM, a letter to one party does not automatically protect all rights against others. Investigate who can be held legally liable and which notice is required for each party.

What must a letter interrupting the limitation period contain as a minimum?

Your details, the date and a recognisable description of the event, the party you hold liable, and the unequivocal statement that you reserve your right to compensation for the damage already suffered and still to be suffered. Do not limit the description to a single item of damage already known, or you run the risk that the interruption only covers that item.

Can I reuse the same letter later?

First check the current details, earlier positions and the applicable period. An amended reservation of rights may be needed. Keep every final version together with the corresponding proof of receipt and the new calculation of the period.

What if I think I am too late?

Have the complete file assessed. The starting date or earlier acts may work out differently from what you expect. However, an expired period is not automatically restored by sending a letter after all.

Have your periods checked specifically

When it comes to limitation, what counts is a timely act that can be proved. Make sure that the claim, the addressee and receipt are clear, and then monitor the new period. Keep all correspondence, even if the substantive handling of the damage is temporarily on hold.

Arslan Advocaten handles personal injury cases and can assess your documents and possible periods. Get in touch via the contact page and say straight away if you suspect a deadline is approaching. Send the accident details and earlier correspondence with it for a targeted assessment.

Related articles

• Child injured at school or in childcare
• Two accidents with the same symptoms
• Holding someone liable for personal injury
• Personal injury involving minors
• How long does a personal injury case take?
• Code of Conduct for Personal Injury Claims
• The partial dispute procedure

Sources and further explanation

• The Dutch judiciary on personal injury
• The Dutch Personal Injury Council on guidelines

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