How We Verify Every Deadline
Legal deadlines are unforgiving, so we treat accuracy as the product. No number appears on this site until it is supported by three independent online sources — led by the official statute itself — and has passed four separate checks. Our publishing system physically refuses to build a page that hasn't cleared every step.
The four checks
- Primary-source draft. Each entry starts from the text of the statute on the state legislature's official website. We record the citation, a direct link, and the operative statutory language at the same moment we record the deadline.
- Independent re-derivation. A second reviewer starts from scratch — same question, no access to the first draft — and pulls the deadline from the official source again. Any disagreement (years, citation, discovery rule, tolling, caps) blocks the entry until the conflict is resolved against the statute text and both checks are redone.
- Corroboration. The result is then confirmed against two more independent online sources from different publishers — state court self-help pages, bar associations, or established statute libraries. All three sources appear on the page.
- Line-by-line review. A final reviewer checks every field of the entry — number, citation, link, exceptions, phrasing — against the collected sources before the entry is cleared for publication.
Sourcing rules
- We cite only official sources: state legislature and government statute websites. Commercial legal sites are never used as a source of record.
- Every page shows its citation and a working link to the statute, plus the month the entry was last verified.
- Every entry lists its three sources — the official statute first, then the two corroborating publications.
- All cited links are re-tested automatically for availability before each site update.
Keeping it current
Legislatures amend these statutes — Florida shortened its negligence deadline in 2023, Louisiana lengthened its prescription period in 2024. We re-verify every entry quarterly, watch for legislative changes in season, and correct any confirmed error within 48 hours. The changelog records what changed and when.
What we are, and what we're not
StateLawClock is a reference — we tell you what the law says and where it says it. We don't give legal advice, and a deadline can play out differently on specific facts. When it matters, read the cited statute and talk to a licensed attorney in your state.