Maryland Court Records: How to Search, What's Public, and How to Seal Them

Maryland runs one of the more genuinely useful statewide court-record tools covered in this series. Maryland Judiciary Case Search is free, covers the whole state from a single login, and has been public for years, but the state's own courts are explicit that it is not an authoritative record and was never built for background-check purposes.

This page covers how to use Case Search, what it excludes, what stays confidential under Maryland's court rules, and the difference between Maryland's two distinct record-clearing remedies: shielding and expungement.

Information last verified on 2026-08-10. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How to Search Maryland Court Records: Case Search

Maryland Judiciary Case Search is the state's official, free, statewide public access tool, covering District Court and Circuit Court cases from one login with no fee. The portal's landing page states plainly: "This website provides public access to the case records of the Maryland Judiciary. Access to these records is governed by the Maryland Rules on Access to Court Records." Getting in requires clicking through an I-AGREE disclaimer page first; the search tool itself cannot be reached by a direct link that skips that step.

Case Search is not comprehensive by design. The portal's own examples of what's excluded from search results are "juvenile case records, cases involving trade secrets and records in any case ordered shielded by a judge." It also links an index of public cases created by MDEC (Maryland Electronic Courts) courts in the previous five days, a useful feature for anyone tracking newly filed cases.

Maryland's court system is direct about the tool's limits: "PLEASE NOTE that this information is NOT intended to be used as an authoritative public record or as a legal document and shall have no legal force or effect." If you spot an error in a Case Search entry, the remedy is written notice to the court where the record was created or filed, not a correction request through the website itself.

What's Public and What's Restricted in Maryland

Maryland codified its access framework in the Maryland Rules on Access to Judicial Records (Title 16, Chapter 900 of the Maryland Rules), which formalized the state's existing common-law access right in 2004. That framework rests on a broader constitutional foundation too: the First Amendment, Article 40 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, and common law dating back to the pre-colonial period, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Presumptively open categories include court papers, documents, exhibits, orders, and docket entries filed in a case, trial records, pretrial motions, settlement agreements, and arrest records once they've been introduced as evidence. Presumptively closed categories include search warrants before they've been executed, grand jury investigation records, presentence investigation reports (unless later entered into evidence), and juvenile and family proceeding records such as adoption, guardianship, and abuse or neglect cases. A party seeking to seal an otherwise-open record has to show a special and compelling reason, and any sealing order is supposed to be narrowly tailored and temporary where possible.

Maryland's Case Search portal echoes this framework in practice: its own listed exclusions (juvenile records, trade secrets, judicially shielded cases) map directly onto the categories the access rules identify as closed. If a case type is confidential under Maryland's rules, it will not surface in Case Search at all, rather than appearing with sensitive information redacted.

Shielding vs. Expungement in Maryland

Maryland runs two separate record-clearing mechanisms, and mixing them up leads to wrong assumptions about what actually happens to a record. Shielding temporarily limits or denies inspection of a court record while the record remains in the court system; a shielded case will not turn up in Case Search, but law enforcement and other public agencies can still see it. Expungement, by contrast, permanently destroys or removes conviction records from public access, effectively erasing the record's existence in most contexts.

Maryland's shielding statute, Criminal Procedure Section 10-303, requires waiting until no earlier than three years after a person satisfies the sentence, including any parole, probation, or mandatory supervision, before filing a petition. If someone is convicted of a new crime during that waiting period, the original conviction becomes ineligible for shielding unless the new conviction also becomes eligible. A person cannot petition while they're a defendant in a pending criminal proceeding, and critically, the statute allows only one shielding petition over a person's entire lifetime.

Maryland's expungement statute, Criminal Procedure Section 10-105, sets different waiting periods depending on how a case ended. A petition based on an acquittal, a nolle prosequi, or a dismissal generally cannot be filed within three years after the disposition, unless the petitioner files with the petition a written general waiver and release of all tort claims arising from the charge, which allows an earlier filing. A petition based on probation before judgment cannot be filed earlier than the later of the date probation ended or three years after probation was granted. One category waits far longer: a petition based on a probation before judgment for driving under the influence of alcohol or driving while impaired by alcohol, under Transportation Article Section 21-902(a) or (b), may not be filed within 15 years after the date the petitioner was discharged from probation. Read that category carefully, because it turns on a probation before judgment rather than a conviction, and Section 10-105(a) bars expungement of a probation before judgment for a violation of Section 21-902(c), (d), (h), or (i) altogether. A court can grant a petition sooner than these default windows on a showing of good cause.

This page covers the mechanism and the timing framework at a general level. For a full eligibility walkthrough, see our Maryland expungement guide.

Getting Certified Copies and Searching Effectively

Certified copies of Maryland court records come from the clerk's office of the court where the case was filed or the hearing was conducted, not from Case Search itself, which the portal repeatedly disclaims as non-authoritative.

When searching Case Search by name, keep in mind that common names can produce multiple matches or none at all if you enter a name slightly differently than it appears in the court's system. A case number, where you have one, avoids that ambiguity entirely. And because juvenile, trade-secret, and judicially shielded cases are excluded from search results by design, a blank result on Case Search does not necessarily mean no case exists; it may mean the case falls into one of those excluded categories. Our how to look up court records guide covers name-versus-case-number search strategy in more depth.

Using Court Records Responsibly: The FCRA Rule

Checking your own case, or a case you have a genuine personal reason to look into, is exactly what Case Search is built for. Using it, or a commercial people-search product pulling from the same underlying data, to screen a tenant or job applicant is a different legal question, governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), not Maryland's access rules.

Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c, most negative consumer-report information ages off after seven years, but § 1681c(a)(5) exempts criminal convictions from that window, so a conviction can be reported indefinitely unless a shielding or expungement order actually restricts it. In 2023, the FTC fined TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate $5.8 million for marketing public-records-based background reports for tenant and employment screening without complying with the FCRA, making clear that a company marketing reports for that purpose is a consumer reporting agency under the law. Treat Case Search as personal-use research, and run any real tenant or employment screening through a properly FCRA-compliant background check instead.

Related Maryland Records Searches

This page is part of our broader Court Records by State guide, and our are court records public page covers the general presumption-of-openness concept in more depth. If you're checking your own history before a job or a lease, see Maryland background check laws. If you think you might have an active warrant rather than an ordinary case, see Maryland warrant search. For records held by state agencies rather than the courts, see Maryland public records laws.

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Court portals, fees, and coverage change without notice, and the Maryland Judiciary is the only authoritative source for its own records. If you need a certified copy or have a legal question about a specific case, contact the clerk of court where the case was filed, or consult a licensed Maryland attorney.

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Last updated: 2026-08-10. Portal facts and fees reflect their published status as of August 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Maryland Judiciary Case Search really free?

Yes. Case Search is free and statewide, covering District Court and Circuit Court cases with no account or fee required. You do have to click through an I-AGREE disclaimer page before you can search.

Can I use Case Search for a background check?

The portal itself is explicit that its information 'is NOT intended to be used as an authoritative public record or as a legal document.' It excludes juvenile, trade-secret, and judicially shielded cases from results, so it is not a complete or certified background-check source.

What is the difference between shielding and expungement in Maryland?

Shielding temporarily restricts access to a record that still exists in the court system; law enforcement and other public agencies retain access even though the case will not appear in Case Search. Expungement permanently removes conviction records from public access.

How long do I have to wait to petition for shielding in Maryland?

Under Criminal Procedure Section 10-303, a shielding petition generally cannot be filed earlier than three years after satisfying the sentence, and a person can only be granted one shielding petition over their entire lifetime.

How long do I have to wait to petition for expungement in Maryland?

It depends on how the case ended. Under Criminal Procedure Section 10-105, acquittals, nolle prosequi, and dismissals generally require a three-year wait, unless the petitioner files a written general waiver and release of all tort claims arising from the charge, which permits an earlier filing. Probation before judgment requires three years or the end of probation, whichever is later. A probation before judgment for a DUI or DWI violation under Transportation Article Section 21-902(a) or (b) requires 15 years after discharge from probation.

Why does a case I know exists not show up on Case Search?

Case Search excludes juvenile case records, cases involving trade secrets, and any case a judge has ordered shielded. If a case falls into one of those categories, it will not appear in search results even though the record exists.

How do I get a certified copy of a Maryland court record?

Contact the clerk's office of the court where the case was filed or the hearing was conducted. Case Search itself is not a certified or authoritative source, according to its own disclaimer.