The statute of frauds and the statute of limitations

Two different questions

Florida's statute of frauds concerns the writing needed to enforce certain promises. The statute of limitations concerns the time allowed to start a lawsuit. A signed agreement can still face a filing deadline; filing promptly does not cure a missing required writing.

Writing and signature

Under Florida Statutes section 725.01, contracts for the sale of land, leases longer than one year, and agreements not to be performed within one year from their making fall within the statute of frauds. The agreement, or a sufficient note or memorandum of it, must be written and signed by the party to be charged or that person's lawfully authorized representative. The party to be charged is the person against whom enforcement is sought. This is not a requirement to record the contract. Failure to satisfy the statute generally makes the covered promise unenforceable, rather than automatically void.

A six-month land-sale contract still needs the required writing because it concerns a land sale. A lease for exactly one year beginning immediately does not trigger the longer-than-one-year lease category. Separately check whether an agreement cannot be performed within one year from the date it is made.

Filing deadlines

Florida Statutes section 95.11 generally allows five years for an action founded on a written instrument and four years for an action on a contract not founded on a written instrument. Specific performance has a separate one-year period, even when the purchase contract is written. Rescission has a four-year period. Identify the remedy before choosing the deadline.

Under section 95.031, time generally runs from accrual, when the last element of the cause of action occurs, not simply from signing. Assume an ordinary written-contract damages claim accrues on June 1, 2026: five years points to June 1, 2031. Specific performance accruing on that same date instead points to June 1, 2027.

Two independent checks apply to Florida contract enforcement. The statute of frauds asks whether the required signed writing exists, including for land sales and leases over one year. The statute of limitations asks whether the lawsuit was started on time, using the applicable remedy and accrual date. — Check both the required writing and the filing deadline.

Changes to the clock

Section 95.051 identifies tolling grounds, including pending arbitration concerning the dispute. Section 95.03 makes a contractual provision shortening the applicable statutory time for bringing an action void. A deadline to perform a contract is different from a deadline to sue. These are baseline exam rules; exceptions, accrual disputes, and tolling in an actual case require legal review.