My friends owe me money from 8 months ago -- is it too late for me to ask? What etiquette experts say

My fiancé and I are about to be the winners of our friend group's March Madness pool. The way things have shaken out, no matter which team triumphs, one of us is certain to win the pool -- a victory for our joint wedding fund either way. But as I was calculating our eventual winnings, I had a realization. I also commission a fantasy football league that I did not, in fact, win. I'd paid the prizes to the winner and runner up back in December, but had I collected everyone's entry fees? A quick scroll back through my Venmo account revealed that I hadn't. Several friends, it turns out, hadn't paid before August's draft or anytime thereafter. It's now eight months later, and I'm down a few hundred bucks, which raised another question: Is there a statue of limitations when it comes to hitting people up for money they owe you? Am I too late? Not according to etiquette experts. "I don't think anyone who's in the position of being the unwitting lender should ever feel awkward or uncomfortable about asking for something which is rightly theirs," says Thomas Farley, an etiquette expert known as Mister Manners and author of the Mister Manners Mondays newsletter. Nevertheless, asking for your money back after a long period requires some tact, etiquette pros say. After all, you're just out to get what's yours -- not to appear petty, embarrass anyone or hurt their feelings.