Child sexual abuse victims in Florida received historic good news on May 11, 2010, when Governor Charlie Crist signed into law Florida House Bill 525 which eliminated the statute of limitations on both criminal and civil claims relating to children under the age of 16.

The new law goes into effect and applies to any claim that would not have been barred by the existing statute of limitations as of July 1, 2010.

The main opponent lobbying against the new law was the Catholic Church.

This significant change in the course of Florida law allows abused kids to hold their abusers accountable for all of the damages that they haved caused.  Since the psychology of child sexual abuse many times leaves victims unable to comprehend or even remember the abuse for many years after it occurs, the new law will help eliminate the injustice inherently associated with child sexual abuse.

The new law will help us in our fight to make children across Florida safe from sexual predators.  Call us at 407-644-4444 with any questions.

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Anthony 02/20/2020 03:35 AM
Will this legislation impact victims like the White House Boys from Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys who allegedly were savagely beaten, sodomized, or even murdered?
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Kevin 09/21/2020 07:18 PM
What if the crime occurred 33 years ago and the male victim is just now ready to share his story? Would there be any legal remedies for the victim?
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Katharine Moseley 07/24/2021 05:38 PM
My daughter is now is 21 yrs old. And in 2014 or 2015 she was abt 14 or 15 years old she said her father was sexually touching her and tried to have sex with her but she literally kicked him in his balls and fought him off . It took her years to come to me and tell me what happened. I 100% believe my daughter that my ex-husband did this to her. Also my 2 children that were with him were taken out of his custody and put in florida foster care. My ex told state workers that I myself had died years before . But that is an even longer story the question I want to ask on my daughters behalf is even through it's been 6 or 7 years can her father still be charged for this horrific crime that he did against our daughter? Thank you in advance for any comments and concern with this horrible matter.
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Coy 06/25/2022 10:29 PM
I was molested and digitally penetrated when I was 5 by 2 different men. 1 died years ago 1 is still living. I told my family about it, but no one believed me because my father had just passed away a month before it happened. The one that is still living continued to abuse me for over a year. The one that is dead molested a raped me to the age of 15, he was my step dads nephew. He also doped me with heroin atcage 14. The psychological damage lead to multiple suicide attempts, years of drug abuse to try to forget. I told psychiatrist about the abuse from the age of 14 when I was first put into a psychiatric hospital , and my family told them I was lying . My step dad beat me on a constant basis. Not spanked. I was punched , chocked unconscious on an almost daily basis. As a child from the age of 5 my step dad whipped me with heater hose from a car or paddled me with a paddle he fashioned from a 2x6 piece of wood. Right before I was put in the psychiatric ward that paddle was broken on my tailbone. My tailbone was also broken. I told the Doctors at ST JOHNS RIVER HOSPITAL I in Jacksonville Fl about everything. All the years of molestations and physical beatings I received from childhood. But they didn't believe me. Maybe because it was so extreme. I was in the psychiatric hospital for 3 months until my insurance ran out and was forced to go home. I begged and pleaded for the Doctor to let me stay , not to send me back to live with my family.. I even tried to make them Baker act me by hurting 2 orderlies bad enough to have to be hospitalized. I would have rather went to jail than home. That night my step dad shot the wall next to my head and said if I ever mentioned anything again he wouldn't miss. I finally called the police on him for chasing me with a machete trying to behead me. I wound up homeless so he could come home... Looking back , I never had a chance at life. Only one abuser is alive. He is wealthy and he needs to pay. Ive been too scared and ashamed to trying to do anything about the stuff that happened to me as a child. All the suffering ,fear, and the night terrors I I still have to this day. Im still so traumatized I can't leave my home. If im in public I have panic attacks. I can't be the only victim. He deserves to be put under a prison for the stuff he did to me at the age of 5. Im sure there are parts I blacked out. But I will always remember waking up to the burn from the first ti he digitally penetrated me. I cried for hours, while he kept saying you have to promise to say anything cause you're my little buddy. Even though I told and no onr believed me gave him a free pass to continue the abuse more times than I can remember. . Is there any legal action I can take?
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