Minors: the clock waits for 18
Under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90, Georgia tolls its statute of limitations for anyone who was under 18 at the time of the injury. The two-year clock doesn't begin running until the minor's 18th birthday, giving a child injured at, say, age 8 until age 20 to file — rather than a clock that would otherwise have expired years before they were ever in a position to bring a claim themselves.
A parent can still act sooner
This tolling doesn't mean nothing can happen before the minor turns 18. A parent or legal guardian may file a claim on the minor's behalf at any time before the minor reaches adulthood, giving a family the option to pursue the claim earlier if that makes sense, while the minor's own separately tolled right to file remains available as a backstop.
A genuinely distinctive pause: pending criminal charges
Here's a detail that catches many people by surprise. Georgia recognizes tolling of the civil filing deadline while criminal charges against the defendant, arising from the same incident, are pending. In other words, if the person who caused the injury is also facing criminal prosecution for the same underlying conduct, the civil statute of limitations can be paused until those criminal proceedings are resolved — recognizing that pursuing a civil claim in parallel with an unresolved criminal case can create real complications for the injured person.
Why this genuinely matters
This particular tolling rule is easy to overlook, because most discussions of statute-of-limitations tolling focus on minors or discovery issues. But in a case involving something like a DUI crash or an assault where criminal charges are also filed, understanding whether and how this tolling applies can meaningfully change the actual filing deadline — worth confirming directly with an attorney whenever a related criminal case exists.
What doesn't pause the clock
A genuinely common and costly misunderstanding: actively negotiating a settlement with an insurance company does not toll or pause Georgia's filing deadline. The two-year clock keeps running the entire time talks are ongoing, regardless of how close the parties seem to a resolution.