Debt collectors in Kansas

Credit cards: Unsettled. K.S.A. 60-511(1) gives 5 years for an 'agreement, contract or promise in writing,' and 60-512(1) gives 3 years for contracts 'expressed or implied but not in writing.' No published Kansas appellate decision classifying a credit card account was found. Per the Alper Law 2026 chart, Portfolio Recovery Associates v. Kimrey, No. 112,874 (Kan. Ct. App. 2015, unpublished) applied 3 years only because the parties agreed it did, so it settles nothing. The 3-year period is the shorter alternative and is often applied where no signed, complete writing is proved.

Payments and acknowledgments: Under K.S.A. 60-520(a), in any case founded on contract, a payment of any part of the principal or interest, or an acknowledgment or promise to pay that is in writing and signed by the debtor, starts the full period anew from that date. The statute does not distinguish payments before and after expiry, so a payment on a time-barred debt can revive it. Under 60-520(b), one joint debtor's payment or acknowledgment does not bind the others without their knowledge and consent. No consumer or debt-buyer revival ban was found.

Judgments: A judgment goes dormant 5 years after entry, revival, the last renewal affidavit or the last execution (including garnishment) unless, within that time, a renewal affidavit stating the unpaid balance is filed or an execution is issued (K.S.A. 60-2403(a)). Each one restarts the 5 years, so a judgment can be kept alive indefinitely. A dormant judgment stops being a lien on real estate. It can be revived by motion within 2 years after dormancy, and the court must revive unless good cause is shown (60-2404), or by written stipulation. A judgment dormant for 2 years must be released of record on request. Child support judgments, and since July 1, 2015 court costs, fees, fines and restitution, never go dormant. 60-2403 was last amended L. 2022, ch. 31.

Other rules: All statute text came from the official Kansas Legislature 2025-26 statute pages. Per their history lines, 60-511 was last amended in 1965, 60-512 in 1963, 60-520 in 1963, 60-2404 in 1992 and 60-2403 in 2022. Recent changes to 60-2403 made court costs, fees, fines and restitution non-dormant (2015) and refined the child-support rules. The credit-card ambiguity is documented only by secondary sources. No Kansas statute expressly banning suit on time-barred consumer debt was found.

• open account: K.S.A. 60-511(1) (5 yrs) vs 60-512(1) (3 yrs); no controlling appellate decision
• written contract: K.S.A. 60-511(1)
• oral contract: K.S.A. 60-512(1)
• promissory note: K.S.A. 84-3-118(a)
• judgment: K.S.A. 60-2403, 60-2404
• payment restarts: K.S.A. 60-520
• other: K.S.A. 60-516 (borrowing statute, per secondary source)

Sources: kslegislature.gov · kslegislature.gov · kslegislature.gov