---
titulo: "How Long You Have to Collect a Promissory Note or Check in Panama"
titulo_seo: "Promissory Note Time Limits in Panama 2026"
meta: "Prescription of negotiable instruments in Panama: three years from the due date, when the clock starts, and what actually stops it. Demand letters do not."
autor: "Diego Ospina Serna"
fecha: 2026-08-22
actualizado: 2026-08-22
materia: "Commercial Law"
idioma: "en"
par: "prescripcion-de-pagares-cheques-y-letras-en-panama"
resumen: "Claims on checks, promissory notes and bills of exchange die three years after the debt falls due. This guide explains when the clock starts, which acts actually stop it, and why a file full of demand letters does nothing to preserve the creditor's right."
tags: ["Prescription", "Promissory Note", "Check", "Debt Collection"]
orden: 20260822
faq:
  - q: "How long do I have to sue on a promissory note in Panama?"
    a: "Three years. Article 1652 of the Code of Commerce, item 5, covers claims on checks, promissory notes, bills of exchange, notes payable to order, letters of credit and any other negotiable instrument."
  - q: "When does the three-year clock start?"
    a: "On the day the debt falls due, under article 1650 of the Code of Commerce. For a note with a stated maturity, that date. For a note payable on demand, the day it is presented for payment."
  - q: "Does a demand letter stop the clock?"
    a: "No. Article 1649-A of the Code of Commerce lists three interrupting acts, which the courts read as exhaustive: filing suit under the Judicial Code, acknowledgment of the debt by the debtor, and renewal of the instrument. Chasing the debtor out of court is not among them, unlike the position in civil matters."
  - q: "My note was signed before 2008. Does the three-year period apply?"
    a: "Not necessarily. The law setting the three-year period dates from 2008 and does not reach periods that had already begun to run. The date on the instrument decides which regime governs it, and the courts still decide the prescription of older documents under the repealed provisions."
  - q: "If the debtor pays something on account, does the clock reset?"
    a: "A part payment is normally treated as an acknowledgment of the debt, which does interrupt prescription. Record it in writing, with the date and how it is applied, so it can be proved later."
---

A promissory note left in a drawer does not collect itself, and there comes a day when it can no longer be collected at all. The question tends to be asked too late, and it has two halves: how long you have, and what actually stops the clock.

> **On the legal quotations in this guide:** Panamanian statutes are authoritative only in Spanish. The passages below are our own working translations, offered for comprehension. Where a case turns on precise wording, work from the Spanish text.

## The period: three years

**Article 1652.** The following shall prescribe in three years: [...] 5. Claims arising from a check, promissory note, bill of exchange, note payable to order, letter of credit, or any other negotiable instrument.

Item 5 comes from article 2 of Law 60 of October 28, 2008, published in Official Gazette 26160 of November 6, 2008, which replaced article 1652 in full and, in its article 3, repealed articles 908 and 942 of the same code.

Before that reform the period was found elsewhere, which is why competing figures still circulate. A warning that is easy to miss: **the date of the instrument decides which regime governs it**. A note signed before the reform does not fall under the three-year period, because the new law does not reach limitation periods that had already started to run. Panamanian courts still decide, today, the prescription of pre-2008 instruments under the repealed provisions. Check the date on the document before you start counting.

The general rule is worth holding onto, because not every commercial debt is a negotiable instrument.

**Article 1650.** Time for the prescription of claims shall begin to run from the day the obligation becomes enforceable. Ordinary prescription in commercial matters shall occur after five years.

So: **five years** for an ordinary commercial debt, **three years** once it is embodied in a negotiable instrument. Shorter periods govern particular dealings. Claims arising from carriage of goods by land or sea, or from charter agreements, prescribe in **one year**, cut to **six months** where the shipment was made within the territory of the Republic.

## When the clock starts

From the day the debt falls due. Not from signature, and not from the day the creditor found out that payment had failed.

- **Note with a stated maturity:** that date.
- **Note payable on demand:** the day it is presented for payment.
- **Check:** when the period for presentation runs out.

If the instrument says nothing about time of payment, Law 52 of 1917 treats it as payable on demand. The note is perfectly good, but the start of the clock then depends on an act of the creditor, which is worth being able to evidence.

## What stops the clock, and what merely feels as though it should

This is where creditors lose money.

**Article 1649-A.** Prescription shall be interrupted by the filing of suit in accordance with the Judicial Code, by acknowledgment of the obligations, or by renewal of the instrument on which the creditor's right is founded.

The article lists three acts, which the courts read as exhaustive:

1. **Filing suit**, in accordance with the Judicial Code.
2. **Acknowledgment of the debt** by the debtor.
3. **Renewal of the instrument** on which the creditor's right rests.

What does **not** stop the clock, however diligent it looks in the file:

- Demand letters and chasing emails.
- Phone calls, reminders and collection agency activity.
- Verbal promises to pay that no one wrote down.
- Negotiations that drift on while the period keeps running.

The contrast with civil law is telling. Article 1711 of the Civil Code does count an out-of-court demand among the interrupting acts; article 1649-A of the Code of Commerce does not. In commercial matters, then, a demand letter records the effort but does not stop the clock.

Two further warnings, from the same article:

- **Suing is not enough if the case collapses.** Interruption by suit does not hold where there is discontinuance, dismissal or lapse of the proceedings. Nor is it complete on filing alone: it works together with article 669 of the Judicial Code, which requires service or the summoning edict before the period runs out.
- **Restarting the clock has its own rules.** Depending on the ground, the fresh period runs from the acknowledgment, from the date of the new instrument, or from expiry of the extended term.

The practical consequence is uncomfortable. A patient creditor who spent two and a half years writing courteous letters and accepting assurances can reach the third anniversary with nothing to show but correspondence, and no claim left to bring.

## Keeping the right alive

Where collection is dragging and litigation is not yet the plan, three routes actually work:

- **Get the acknowledgment in writing.** A note signed by the debtor admitting the debt and its amount. A part payment normally counts, but record the date and how the payment is applied so it can be proved.
- **Renew the instrument.** Replace the matured note with a fresh one, or sign a [debt acknowledgment](/guias/how-to-draft-an-enforceable-promissory-note-in-panama/) covering the updated balance.
- **Sue.** The only route that needs nothing from the debtor.

## Prescription does not erase the debt

A prescribed claim is not the same as a debt that has vanished. It means the debtor may plead prescription and, if they do, the claim fails. If they say nothing, the case goes on.

That is why prescription sits alongside payment and lack of enforcement merit as one of the standard defenses. Anyone served with an executive claim on an old note should begin with the maturity date and count forward.

## In short

| Obligation | Period |
|---|---|
| Promissory note, check, bill of exchange and other negotiable instruments | 3 years |
| Ordinary commercial debt not embodied in a negotiable instrument | 5 years |
| Carriage by land or sea, or charter agreements | 1 year (6 months where the shipment was made within the territory) |

The working rule is short: **move early, and get every acknowledgment in writing**. Time runs for the debtor, and letters do not slow it down.

---

*Legal basis: Code of Commerce, articles 1649-A, 1650, 1651 and 1652 (item 5 as amended by Law 60 of 2008); Law 52 of 1917 on negotiable instruments. Statutory quotations are our own translations from the Spanish. Informative content, not legal advice.*