The general rule: two years, for injury, property, and death alike
Under K.S.A. § 60-513(a), actions for injuring personal property, for injury to the rights of another, and for wrongful death must all be brought within two years. This is a genuinely distinctive unification — unlike many states that split personal injury, property damage, and wrongful death into separate statutes with different deadlines, Kansas folds all three into this same section.
When the clock actually starts
The two-year period doesn't necessarily begin on the date of the underlying act. It starts once the act first causes substantial injury, or, if the fact of injury isn't reasonably ascertainable right away, once it becomes reasonably ascertainable to the injured person. There's a hard outer boundary, though: no action can ever be commenced more than 10 years beyond the act giving rise to it, regardless of when the injury was discovered. This 10-year statute of repose applies broadly to Kansas tort actions, not just a narrow category like medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice: a shorter, separate repose period
Medical malpractice claims follow the same two-year discovery-based rule, but with a notably shorter four-year statute of repose — not the general 10-year period that applies to most other Kansas tort claims. See our full guide to Kansas's discovery rule and tolling for how this, and a distinctive minors' rule specific to malpractice, actually work.
Government claims: a notice that can extend, not shorten, your deadline
Suing a Kansas municipality still follows the same two-year general rule — but a mandatory notice-and-wait process has to happen first, and in a genuinely interesting twist, that process can actually extend the deadline rather than cut it short. See our full guide to Kansas's municipal notice requirement.