Limitation & Procedural Deadline Firewall

Purpose: protect every potentially live legal route before research, complaints, FOI/SAR, archive requests or public campaigning create a false sense that a limitation or court deadline has been preserved.

Field	Control
Potential claim / route	Identify the specific cause of action, statutory route, appeal, review or complaint.
Potential claimant	Name the actual person/estate/company with standing; never use “family” as a legal substitute.
Potential defendant / public body	Identify the person, company, authority or office-holder legally answerable.
Accrual	Record the earliest legally arguable accrual date and the competing accrual dates.
Knowledge / concealment issue	Record only if supported by evidence and legally relevant to the applicable limitation regime.
Limitation period	Do not assume. Confirm the governing statute/rule and any extension/discretion.
Procedural deadline	Record appeal, review, complaint, tribunal or court deadlines separately from limitation.
Evidence-preservation deadline	Record urgent preservation actions independently of the legal deadline.
Last safe date	Use the earliest defensible date until qualified counsel confirms otherwise.
Protective action	State what must be done before that date: advice, notice, application, claim or other protective step.
Status	OPEN → CHECKING → COUNSEL REQUIRED → PROTECTED → CLOSED.

Firewall rule: a complaint, FOI/EIR request, SAR, archive enquiry or referral may preserve evidence or establish a record, but must not be treated as stopping limitation unless the law actually provides that effect.