Hello Svetlana. I fully support the opinion of the forum participants who took part in the discussion of your question, and will supplement their answers a little. According to Article.196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the total limitation period is set at three years. Therefore, you should not put off a lawsuit. As for the form of the transaction, in addition to Article 808 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the condition on the form of the transaction is also contained in Part 1 of Article 161 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, according to which: “Transactions must be made in simple written form, with the exception of transactions requiring notarization: 1) legal transactions persons among themselves and with citizens; 2) transactions of citizens among themselves for an amount exceeding at least ten times the minimum wage established by law, and in cases provided by law, regardless of the amount of the transaction. ” It follows that the loan agreement (in your case, the receipt) must be notarized if the loan amount is ten times higher than the minimum wage established by law. However, in practice, the courts, as a rule, take the side of the creditor and do not take into account the requirements of part 1 of article 161 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. I know a large number of examples when the court, on the basis of a receipt (not certified by a notary and written without witnesses), satisfied the claims for amounts equal to 1–2 million rubles, and the court of second instance upheld such decisions. Therefore, you have great chances to win the case. To increase these chances, it is necessary to take into account that on the basis of part 1 of article 812 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the borrower has the right to challenge the loan agreement for its lack of money, proving that the money or other things were not actually received by him from the lender or received in less than indicated in the contract. Therefore, it makes sense, before going to court, to gather evidence that you gave money to a particular person on credit, for such a period, with such and such conditions. As follows from your appeal, no one except you and the debtor was present during the transfer of money, therefore all the evidence that you can collect will be indirect, but the court will have to take them into account.