diff --git a/doc/services/portability/posix/kconfig/index.rst b/doc/services/portability/posix/kconfig/index.rst
index 059c0c1affe..9263ba0bd6b 100644
--- a/doc/services/portability/posix/kconfig/index.rst
+++ b/doc/services/portability/posix/kconfig/index.rst
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ implementation of the POSIX API.
 * :kconfig:option:`CONFIG_POSIX_API`
 * :kconfig:option:`CONFIG_POSIX_CLOCK`
 * :kconfig:option:`CONFIG_POSIX_FS`
-* :kconfig:option:`CONFIG_POSIX_LIMITS_RTSIG_MAX`
 * :kconfig:option:`CONFIG_POSIX_MAX_FDS`
 * :kconfig:option:`CONFIG_POSIX_MAX_OPEN_FILES`
 * :kconfig:option:`CONFIG_POSIX_MQUEUE`
diff --git a/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.deprecated b/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.deprecated
index 92d3967d38c..126d14f5aae 100644
--- a/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.deprecated
+++ b/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.deprecated
@@ -5,4 +5,14 @@
 # This file should be removed after Zephyr 4.0 is released
 
 menu "Deprecated POSIX options"
+
+config POSIX_LIMITS_RTSIG_MAX
+	int "_POSIX_RTSIG_MAX value in limits.h [DEPRECATED]"
+	default POSIX_RTSIG_MAX if POSIX_REALTIME_SIGNALS
+	default 0
+	help
+	  This option is deprecated.
+
+	  Please use CONFIG_POSIX_RTSIG_MAX instead.
+
 endmenu
diff --git a/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.signal b/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.signal
index 99c225564c7..a25ac268d8a 100644
--- a/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.signal
+++ b/lib/posix/options/Kconfig.signal
@@ -4,15 +4,23 @@
 
 menu "Signal support"
 
-# needed outside of if clause above to define constants & types in signal.h
+config POSIX_REALTIME_SIGNALS
+	bool "POSIX realtime signals"
+	default y if POSIX_API
+	help
+	  Enable support for POSIX realtime signals.
+
+if POSIX_REALTIME_SIGNALS
+
 config POSIX_RTSIG_MAX
 	int "Maximum number of realtime signals"
-	default 31 if POSIX_SIGNAL
-	default 0
+	default 8
 	help
 	  Define the maximum number of realtime signals (RTSIG_MAX).
 	  The range of realtime signals is [SIGRTMIN .. (SIGRTMIN+RTSIG_MAX)]
 
+endif # POSIX_REALTIME_SIGNALS
+
 config POSIX_SIGNAL
 	bool "Support for POSIX signal APIs"
 	default y if POSIX_API
@@ -28,13 +36,6 @@ config POSIX_SIGNAL_STRING_DESC
 	  Use full description for the strsignal API.
 	  Will use 256 bytes of ROM.
 
-config POSIX_LIMITS_RTSIG_MAX
-	int "_POSIX_RTSIG_MAX value in limits.h"
-	default 8
-	help
-	  Define the _POSIX_RTSIG_MAX value in limits.h.
-	  IEEE 1003.1 defines this to be 8.
-
 endif
 
 endmenu # "Signal support"
diff --git a/lib/posix/options/signal.c b/lib/posix/options/signal.c
index f14ef7fe614..362742063fc 100644
--- a/lib/posix/options/signal.c
+++ b/lib/posix/options/signal.c
@@ -13,8 +13,7 @@
 #define SIGNO_WORD_IDX(_signo) (signo / BITS_PER_LONG)
 #define SIGNO_WORD_BIT(_signo) (signo & BIT_MASK(LOG2(BITS_PER_LONG)))
 
-BUILD_ASSERT(CONFIG_POSIX_LIMITS_RTSIG_MAX >= 0);
-BUILD_ASSERT(CONFIG_POSIX_RTSIG_MAX >= CONFIG_POSIX_LIMITS_RTSIG_MAX);
+BUILD_ASSERT(CONFIG_POSIX_RTSIG_MAX >= 0);
 
 static inline bool signo_valid(int signo)
 {