Maryland Opens Expungement to 'No Finding' Dispositions Under Chapter 465

Maryland Opens Expungement to 'No Finding' Dispositions Under Chapter 465

A Maryland law that took effect October 1, 2026 lets a person petition to expunge a conviction record under Criminal Procedure Article § 10-110 when a remaining charge in the case carried a 'no finding' designation or the case was designated as terminated without finding.

Information last verified on October 4, 2026. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Maryland state law only. It does not describe expungement practice in any other state.

What Happened

Senate Bill 320, sponsored by Senator Muse and cross-filed with House Bill 187, was enacted as Chapter 465 of the 2026 Laws of Maryland. The bill page maintained by the Maryland General Assembly records a Senate third reading vote of 41-0 on March 20, 2026, a House third reading vote of 130-0 on April 10, 2026, and the entry "Approved by the Governor - Chapter 465" dated May 12, 2026. The chaptered text closes with the same approval line: "Approved by the Governor, May 12, 2026."

The Act is titled "Criminal Procedure - Expungement - No Finding and Case Terminated Without Finding." Its effective date is stated in the Act itself, at Section 2: "AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect October 1, 2026."

The operative language is a new subsection (j) of Criminal Procedure Article § 10-110, printed in the chaptered text in the small capitals the General Assembly uses for newly added law:

A DISPOSITION MAY BE EXPUNGED UNDER THIS SECTION IF THE CASE WAS NOT DISPOSED OF BY AN UNEQUIVOCAL CONVICTION BUT WAS INSTEAD INCLUDED IN A CASE THAT WAS: (1) DISPOSED OF BY THE COURT WITH A NO FINDING DESIGNATION; OR (2) DESIGNATED BY THE COURT AS HAVING BEEN TERMINATED WITHOUT FINDING.

What the Law Actually Says

Section 10-110 is the Maryland provision that allows a person convicted of one of roughly 100 enumerated offenses to petition for expungement of the police and court records in that case. It sits alongside § 10-105, which handles acquittals, dismissals, nolle prosequi entries, stets and probation before judgment. Our Maryland expungement guide walks through both sections and the separate shielding remedy at § 10-301.

Chapter 465 makes three printed changes inside § 10-110.

First, it adds a fourth item to the eligibility list in subsection (a). After the existing items covering eligible misdemeanors, eligible felonies, and attempts, conspiracies and solicitations of those offenses, the Act adds coverage for an offense listed in those items "WHERE A REMAINING CHARGE WAS: (I) DISPOSED OF BY A COURT WITH A NO FINDING DESIGNATION; OR (II) INCLUDED IN A CASE THAT WAS DESIGNATED BY A COURT AS HAVING BEEN TERMINATED WITHOUT FINDING."

Second, it rewrites the opening of subsection (d)(3). That paragraph carries the § 10-110 version of Maryland's unit bar, under which a person who cannot expunge one conviction in a unit cannot expunge any other conviction in that unit. A unit is defined at § 10-107 as two or more charges arising from the same incident, transaction or set of facts, with minor traffic violations and cannabis possession under Criminal Law Article § 5-601 carved out. Chapter 465 changed only the § 10-110 copy of the unit bar. The subtitle-wide unit bar at § 10-107(b)(1), which also governs § 10-105 petitions, is untouched. As amended, (d)(3) now begins "SUBJECT TO SUBSECTION (J) OF THIS SECTION," which subordinates the unit bar to the new provision.

Third, it adds subsection (j) quoted above.

Everything else about the petition path is unchanged. A petition is still filed in the court where the proceeding began under § 10-110(b). The waiting periods at § 10-110(c) still run from completion of the sentence, including probation, parole and mandatory supervision, at 5 years for most misdemeanors, 7 years for second degree assault, common law battery and most felonies, 10 years for first and second degree burglary and felony theft, 3 years for possession with intent to distribute cannabis, and 15 years for a domestically related crime. The State's Attorney is still served and listed victims still receive notice, with 30 days to object before the court may order expungement without a hearing. Chapter 465 adds no new waiting period of its own and contains no filing fee provision. The Maryland Judiciary's self-help pages state that the expungement filing fee for eligible guilty dispositions is $30 per case, that it is nonrefundable even if the petition is denied, and that a person who cannot afford it may ask the court to waive it.

One point has to be stated plainly rather than smoothed over. Maryland law does not define either term the Act turns on. The definitions subsection for the expungement subtitle, § 10-101, defines Central Repository, completion of the sentence, court record, expunge, expungement, law enforcement unit, minor traffic violation and police record. It does not define 'no finding' or 'terminated without finding', and Chapter 465 adds no definition. The Department of Legislative Services fiscal and policy note for the bill says the same thing and records the Judiciary's position: "The Judiciary notes that it does not mark cases with dispositions of 'no finding' or 'terminated without finding' and advises that it is unclear what types of dispositions these terms are intended to represent." The note adds that "though the bill does not define any of these dispositions," the measure can likely be implemented with existing resources if it reaches only a small and unique group of dispositions.

Analysis: Why This Matters

The following is analysis from the Recording Law Editorial Team.

The mechanism Chapter 465 targets is the unit bar, and that is the part worth understanding. Maryland cases frequently resolve as a mix: one charge produces a conviction on the enumerated list, another charge in the same unit resolves some other way. Under the unamended § 10-110(d)(3), an ineligible companion charge in the unit froze the whole unit. Making that paragraph subject to the new subsection (j) is a narrow release valve for cases where the remaining charge carried a no finding designation, or sat in a case the court designated as terminated without finding, rather than ending in a conviction.

The drafting leaves real questions. Subsection (a) opens with the condition that the person "is convicted of" a listed offense, while subsection (j) describes a case "NOT DISPOSED OF BY AN UNEQUIVOCAL CONVICTION." Those two framings are not obviously the same, and the Act does not reconcile them. Nor does it say which entries in the Judiciary's case management system qualify, which is precisely the gap the Judiciary flagged during the session. How the circuit and District Court clerks map these phrases onto real docket entries will decide whether the Act reaches a handful of unusual old cases or a larger set.

A second observation is about scale. The fiscal note puts the Judiciary's one-time cost of revising expungement brochures, forms and instructional videos at $11,740 in fiscal 2027 (the note's one-page summary rounds it to $11,700) and expects no material ongoing cost. The Department of Legislative Services reached that second conclusion only by assuming the Act applies to a small and unique group of dispositions and is not read to expand eligibility beyond that group. If courts read the terms broadly, the volume assumption behind that estimate stops holding.

How This Affects You

Chapter 465 is in force as of October 1, 2026. Nothing about it is automatic. It creates a petition path, and every other requirement of § 10-110 continues to apply, including the waiting period for the underlying offense, the bar on filing while a criminal proceeding is pending, and the bar that attaches when a person is convicted of a new crime during the applicable waiting period.

Because Maryland law does not define the two designations, a person cannot tell from the statute alone whether a particular old case carries one of them. That is a docket question rather than a statutory one, and the answer lives in the court file for the specific case. The Maryland Judiciary publishes the petition forms and a fee waiver process, and a person who wants to know how a specific disposition was recorded would be looking at the court record, not at the Act.

Record relief also interacts with screening law. What a Maryland employer or landlord may ask about and act on is governed by separate statutes, covered in our Maryland background check guide and in our report on the Fair Chance Housing Act that took effect the same day. Readers comparing how neighboring states handle record clearing can start with Virginia's expungement and sealing framework or the state-by-state expungement comparison.

This is general legal information, not legal advice. Whether any particular Maryland case is eligible for expungement depends on the record in that case, including how the court recorded each disposition. Consult a licensed Maryland attorney or the Maryland Judiciary self-help resources before relying on anything described here.

Related articles

• Maryland Expungement Laws: Eligibility, Waiting Periods, and How to File
• Expungement Laws by State
• Maryland Background Check Laws
• Maryland Fair Chance Housing Act Takes Effect October 1, 2026
• Virginia Expungement Laws

Last updated: 2026-10-04. This is a developing story; details verified as of 2026-10-04.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Maryland Chapter 465 of 2026 change?

Chapter 465, enacted as Senate Bill 320, amends Criminal Procedure Article § 10-110. It adds a new eligibility item at subsection (a)(4) covering a listed offense where a remaining charge was disposed of with a no finding designation or included in a case designated as terminated without finding, makes the unit bar at subsection (d)(3) subject to a new subsection (j), and adds subsection (j), which provides that a disposition may be expunged under the section if the case was not disposed of by an unequivocal conviction but was instead one of those two designations.

When did the Maryland no finding expungement law take effect?

Section 2 of the Act states that it takes effect October 1, 2026. Governor Wes Moore approved the bill on May 12, 2026, and it was assigned Chapter 465 of the 2026 Laws of Maryland.

Does Maryland law define a no finding disposition?

No. As of October 4, 2026, neither Chapter 465 nor the definitions subsection for the expungement subtitle at Criminal Procedure Article § 10-101 defines a no finding disposition or a case terminated without finding. The legislative fiscal and policy note records that the Maryland Judiciary does not mark cases with those dispositions and advised that it is unclear what types of dispositions the terms are intended to represent.

Does Chapter 465 change the Maryland expungement waiting period?

No. The waiting periods at Criminal Procedure Article § 10-110(c) are unchanged. They run from completion of the sentence, including probation, parole and mandatory supervision, and are 5 years for most eligible misdemeanors, 7 years for second degree assault, common law battery and most eligible felonies, 10 years for first and second degree burglary and felony theft, 3 years for possession with intent to distribute cannabis, and 15 years for a domestically related crime.

Is there a filing fee for a Maryland expungement petition?

Chapter 465 contains no filing fee provision. Separately, the Maryland Judiciary states that the filing fee for expungement of eligible guilty dispositions is $30, charged per case rather than per charge within a unit, and nonrefundable even if the petition is denied. The Judiciary also publishes a process for requesting a fee waiver.

How did the Maryland General Assembly vote on Senate Bill 320?

The bill passed the Senate on third reading 41-0 on March 20, 2026 and passed the House on third reading 130-0 on April 10, 2026, according to the legislative history on the General Assembly bill page. It was cross-filed with House Bill 187, and the legislative fiscal note records that similar legislation was introduced in 2025 as Senate Bill 649 and House Bill 610.