13-206.Ten year limitation.

Written obligations get a longer deadline than unwritten ones. Actions on bonds, promissory notes, bills of exchange, written leases, written contracts, and other written evidence of indebtedness, along with actions under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, must be commenced within 10 years after the cause of action accrued. Sales contracts governed by Section 2-725 of the Uniform Commercial Code are excepted.

The section builds in a restart mechanism: if a payment or a new written promise to pay is made on any covered bond, note, bill, lease, or contract, an action may still be commenced within 10 years after that payment or promise, even if made within or after the original 10-year period.

For promissory notes dated on or after the effective date of the 1997 amendment, the section fixes exactly when the clock starts. A note payable at a definite date accrues on the due date, the stated date, or the date the note is accelerated. A demand note works differently: once a demand for payment is made to the maker, the action must be commenced within 10 years after that demand, and the note becomes time-barred if neither principal nor interest has been paid for a continuous 10-year period with no demand made during that time.