Maryland Court Records Search by Name

Independent court-record guide: Public-Court-Records.us is an independent educational website. It is not the Maryland Judiciary, District Court of Maryland, a Maryland Circuit Court, Supreme Court of Maryland, Appellate Court of Maryland, Register of Wills, Maryland State Archives, CJIS, PACER, or any government agency. This guide explains official public-access routes. It does not certify records, provide legal advice, perform background checks, or override sealing, shielding, expungement, or other confidentiality rules.

Maryland Court Records Search by Name: Use the New 2026 Case Search & Record Portal Correctly

Maryland’s public court-record system changed in 2026. On March 14, 2026, the Maryland Judiciary launched the new Maryland Judiciary Case Search & Record Portal, integrating the familiar public Case Search with the Judiciary’s enhanced record-access platform.

For ordinary members of the public, registration is usually unnecessary. You can search public Maryland case information anonymously. Registration matters primarily for users who qualify for enhanced electronic access under Maryland Rule 20-109, such as approved attorneys, government agencies, justice partners, and verified case parties.

The more important limitation is that Case Search is a summary of the official court file—not the complete case file. A case, charge, or document can be publicly accessible at a courthouse even when it no longer appears in the public online search.

New portal launched: March 14, 2026 Official sources reviewed: August 30, 2026 District + Circuit + Appellate routing Maryland statewide guide

The March 2026 Maryland portal change

Maryland first planned to replace its older interfaces in January 2026, but postponed the rollout after technical issues were identified during pre-production testing.

The Judiciary later announced a new launch date and implemented the replacement portal on March 14, 2026.

Maryland Court Record Route Finder

Choose the record you actually need

This router does not submit names or personal information. It only identifies the appropriate official Maryland system.

Case by person District Court Circuit Court Missing criminal case Estate / probate Judgment / lien Deed / land record Certified copy Maryland appeal Federal case Background check Older case

Use Maryland Judiciary Case Search & Record Portal → Party Name Search.

Start with an exact name. Maryland’s published search instructions still provide a percent-sign method for partial name searching when spelling or the full name is uncertain.

Open Case Search

Use Case Search and identify District Court results.

District Court covers landlord-tenant cases, replevin, motor-vehicle violations, misdemeanors, certain felonies and civil claims up to $30,000. There are no District Court jury trials.

Use Case Search and identify the county/Baltimore City Circuit Court.

Circuit Courts handle major civil cases, serious criminal matters, family cases, juvenile matters, jury trials and most District Court appeals. Restricted juvenile/adoption records will not appear as ordinary public results.

A missing online criminal charge may still be publicly accessible at the courthouse.

Maryland now removes several categories of criminal information from remote Case Search while allowing lawful courthouse access. Check the special Maryland criminal-visibility section below before concluding that no record exists.

Use Maryland Estate Search.

Probate and estate administration use the Register of Wills system. Estate Search contains statewide records from 1998 forward, with some jurisdictions including older information.

Official Maryland Estate Search

Use Maryland Judgment and Liens Search when appropriate.

The statewide Judgment/Liens database contains indexed judgment/lien information but does not include District Court records in the same way. For a particular judgment, trace the underlying case and court.

Official Judgment & Liens Search

Use MDLandRec—not Case Search.

Maryland deeds and other land-record instruments use MDLandRec, a Judiciary/Maryland State Archives service. A free account is required to view land records online.

Contact the clerk where the case was filed or heard.

Case Search is not the certified court file. District Court and Circuit Court copy/certification fees are governed by separate Maryland schedules.

Maryland appellate information is included in Case Search.

Supreme Court of Maryland and Appellate Court of Maryland cases are available subject to published historical coverage. Published and unreported opinions are also maintained on the Judiciary’s opinions pages.

Use PACER.

Federal District of Maryland cases are not Maryland state Case Search records. Use PACER or the District of Maryland’s federal court resources.

Do not use Case Search as a criminal background-check product.

The Maryland Judiciary directs criminal-history background checks to the fingerprint-supported Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS).

First check Maryland’s jurisdiction-specific coverage dates.

District Court coverage differs from Circuit Court coverage, and Circuit Court electronic start dates differ significantly by county. For an older file, the courthouse clerk can determine whether the official record exists outside Case Search.

How to search Maryland court records by name

The new 2026 portal presents Case Number Search, Party Name Search, and Advanced Search.

For a person-name search, Maryland’s current published instructions continue to distinguish an exact search from a partial search.

1. Open the official Maryland Judiciary Case Search & Record Portal.
2. Accept the public-access terms. The portal warns that confidential or protected cases will not appear.
3. Select Party Name Search.
4. Start with the person’s exact last and first name when known.
5. If you do not know the complete name, use Maryland’s supported partial-name syntax.
6. Apply county/court, case type, status or filing-date filters only when they are accurate.
7. Run the search.
8. Review the result columns. Current results can include name, date of birth where public, party type, court, case type, case status, filing date and case caption.
9. Open the appropriate case.
10. Verify the court and case number before assuming the result belongs to your person.
11. Read the actual disposition and later docket activity before describing a criminal outcome.

Maryland exact-name search vs partial-name search

Maryland’s published Case Search instructions say name searching defaults to exact names.

Practical partial-search examples

Search by case number whenever you already know it

The 2026 portal’s Case Number Search is more precise than a common-name query.

The current portal instructs users to enter the entire case number. Dashes may be omitted.

For traffic records, the portal states that users may omit leading zeroes by entering the rightmost seven digits where applicable.

Case Search is a summary—not the complete Maryland court file

The Maryland Judiciary describes Case Search as a summary of information contained in the official case file.

Which Maryland cases are included in Case Search?

District Court vs Circuit Court: choosing the correct Maryland trial court

Maryland has two trial-court levels, and both feed public information into Case Search.

District Court

The District Court has statewide jurisdiction and currently handles:

• all landlord-tenant cases;
• replevin actions;
• motor-vehicle violations;
• misdemeanors;
• certain felonies;
• civil claims of $30,000 or less; and
• bail and preliminary proceedings in criminal matters.

For ordinary civil claims, the District Court has exclusive jurisdiction through $5,000 and shares jurisdiction with Circuit Courts for many claims above $5,000 but below $30,000.

The District Court does not conduct jury trials.

Circuit Courts

Maryland’s Circuit Courts generally handle:

• more serious criminal cases;
• major civil cases;
• civil claims generally above $30,000;
• jury trials;
• divorce;
• custody;
• child support;
• juvenile proceedings;
• guardianships;
• foreclosure and other equity matters; and
• many appeals from District Court, Orphans’ Court and administrative agencies.

Maryland has a Circuit Court and Clerk’s Office in each of its 23 counties and Baltimore City, organized into eight judicial circuits.

The Maryland criminal-record rule most likely to cause a false “no record” conclusion

Some Maryland criminal information that remains accessible to the public at a courthouse is now intentionally excluded from ordinary online Case Search.

Criminal charges Maryland says may require courthouse access

Maryland can also remove individual charges from an otherwise visible criminal case

Maryland’s Case Search FAQ explains that criminal charges arising from the same incident can form a statutory “unit.” If eligible unit charges are expunged, those charges can disappear from the sequential list while other charges remain.

A case might therefore display charge numbers such as 1, 4, 5 without visible charges 2 and 3.

What Maryland records are confidential or restricted?

Maryland court records are generally public, but several categories are restricted by statute, rule or court order.

Maryland Failure to Pay Rent records have special shielding rules

This is a Maryland-specific access rule that matters for anyone searching civil landlord-tenant cases by name.

For qualifying Failure to Pay Rent cases that do not result in a judgment for possession, Maryland states that the court will automatically shield the record within 60 days after the final decision.

For certain cases filed on or after October 1, 2024 that did result in a judgment for possession, a tenant may be able to request shielding after satisfying specified requirements, including circumstances involving redemption and the passage of at least 12 months, or other good cause.

How far back does Maryland Case Search go?

Maryland does not have one universal statewide start year for all case types.

District Court historical coverage

Minor District Court traffic records can “roll off”

Maryland says closed District Court traffic records involving minor infractions can move to the history database 36 months after closure.

A clerk can retrieve a qualifying traffic case from that history database back into Case Search, where Maryland states it can remain visible for 30 days.

Circuit Court Case Search start dates vary by jurisdiction

Maryland appellate case coverage has a different timeline

Maryland appellate cases are organized by term year.

The courts were renamed effective December 14, 2022:

• the former Court of Appeals of Maryland became the Supreme Court of Maryland; and
• the former Court of Special Appeals became the Appellate Court of Maryland.

The name change did not alter the precedential value of earlier opinions.

Maryland Estate Search is separate from ordinary Case Search

If you are searching for the estate of a deceased person, the correct statewide system is the Maryland Register of Wills Estate Search.

The Register of Wills acts as clerk to Maryland’s Orphans’ Courts and maintains estate-administration records.

Estate Search can show

• decedent’s name;
• estate number;
• estate status;
• date of death;
• filing date;
• personal representative;
• attorney;
• decedent aliases; and
• docket history.

Maryland publishes statewide Estate Search coverage from 1998 to the present, with some jurisdictions including additional older estate information. Estate Search data is updated at the end of each business day.

How to search an estate by name

1. Open Maryland Estate Search.
2. Enter the decedent’s last name.
3. Select the county where appropriate.
4. Add the first or middle name when needed.
5. Filter by estate status, estate type or filing date when useful.
6. Open the matching estate.
7. Review the estate number and docket history.
8. For additional documents, contact the Register of Wills in the jurisdiction where the estate is filed.

Judgments and liens have another Maryland search route

Maryland JPortal provides a separate Judgment and Liens Search.

Its current public search allows person or company searching with criteria including:

• last name;
• first name;
• middle name;
• exact-last-name option;
• county; and
• filing-date range.

Deeds and land records are not ordinary court-case searches

Maryland’s Circuit Court clerks also record land instruments, but the online route is MDLandRec, not Case Search.

MDLandRec provides online access to land-record documents through a joint service of the Maryland Judiciary and Maryland State Archives.

A free account is required for online land-record access.

How to obtain the actual Maryland court document

When the online case summary is not enough, contact the Clerk’s Office at the courthouse where the case was filed or heard.

Maryland’s current public-access guidance says most judicial records are in the custody of a local Clerk’s Office, although older District Court material may not be physically stored at the courthouse because of retention and storage procedures.

1. Locate the case in Case Search.
2. Save the complete case number.
3. Identify District Court or Circuit Court.
4. Identify the county or Baltimore City court that maintains the case.
5. Identify the exact document. Examples include complaint, judgment, order, disposition, sentencing document or divorce judgment.
6. Decide whether you need an ordinary, certified or exemplified copy.
7. Open Maryland’s Courts Directory.
8. Contact the clerk before traveling if the file is old.
9. Ask whether the request must be submitted in person or in writing.
10. Verify current copy, certification and mailing charges.

Maryland District Court copy and certification fees

The District Court’s current cost schedule is effective March 1, 2026.

Maryland Circuit Court copy and certification fees

The statewide Circuit Court fee schedule currently lists:

What if the online Maryland case information appears wrong?

Case Search displays information entered into the Judiciary’s case-management systems by the clerk.

If you believe the displayed information is inaccurate, Maryland directs users to send written notice to the court where the original record was created or filed.

How quickly does Maryland Case Search update?

Maryland says case information is reflected in Case Search almost immediately after the clerk enters it into the case-management system.

The important qualification is that the time at which the clerk enters the information varies by jurisdiction.

How to read a Maryland case result responsibly

Arrest, charge, disposition and conviction are different

How to verify that you found the correct person

Maryland Case Search can return multiple people with similar or identical names.

• compare complete first and last name;
• check middle name or initial;
• review suffix;
• confirm the court;
• confirm county or Baltimore City jurisdiction;
• compare case number;
• check filing date;
• confirm party type;
• review case type;
• use date-of-birth information only where lawfully public and genuinely necessary; and
• if identity remains uncertain, do not claim that the case belongs to the person you are researching.

Maryland Case Search is not a criminal background check

The Maryland Judiciary explicitly states that Case Search should not be used to perform criminal background checks.

Maryland directs official criminal-history background checks to the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which maintains fingerprint-supported criminal identification and criminal-history information.

Maryland state court records vs federal court records

A federal case filed in Maryland does not appear in Maryland Judiciary Case Search.

Federal cases use the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and PACER.

PACER search workflow

1. Open PACER.
2. If you know the case is in the District of Maryland, search that federal court.
3. If you are unsure which federal court has the case, use PACER Case Locator.
4. Search by case number whenever possible.
5. If searching by name, narrow the criteria to avoid unnecessary billable result pages.
6. Confirm the case number and court.
7. Review the docket.
8. Check the displayed charge before opening a large document.

Technical help for the new Maryland Case Search portal

The Maryland Judiciary’s current support information for the new portal lists:

CAPTCHA is intentional

The Maryland Judiciary uses CAPTCHA technology to prevent robots and other automated systems from abusing Case Search.

Maryland no-result troubleshooting

1. Exact-name issue? Use Maryland’s supported partial-name format with a trailing %.
2. Company missing? Try the company name through Person Search in the last-name field as Maryland’s FAQ suggests.
3. More than 500 matches? Add filing date, first name, court or case type.
4. Nolle prosequi, dismissal or acquittal? The public record may require courthouse access instead of Case Search.
5. Stet more than three years old? Check courthouse access.
6. Older minor traffic ticket? It may have rolled into the District Court history database.
7. Old Circuit Court case? Compare the jurisdiction’s online start date with the filing year.
8. Estate? Move to Estate Search.
9. Deed or mortgage? Move to MDLandRec.
10. Sealed, shielded or expunged? Do not attempt to bypass the restriction.
11. Federal case? Use PACER.
12. Still unresolved? Contact the clerk where the official case record is maintained.

What to do after you find the Maryland case

1. Save the complete case number.
2. Confirm District Court, Circuit Court or appellate court.
3. Confirm the county or Baltimore City jurisdiction.
4. Verify the person’s identity using multiple lawful data points.
5. Read the case status and latest docket activity.
6. For criminal records, identify the disposition rather than repeating the original charge.
7. Determine whether you need the Case Search summary or the actual filed document.
8. If you need the document, identify the correct clerk’s office.
9. Ask whether a plain, certified or exemplified copy is required.
10. Confirm current fees and delivery procedures.
11. For time-sensitive matters, verify the latest information with the court.

Official Maryland sources reviewed for this guide

• Maryland Judiciary Case Search & Record Portal — current 2026 public court case portal.
• March 3, 2026 Portal Launch Announcement — confirms the March 14, 2026 launch and integration of Case Search and Record Search.
• Frequently Asked Questions for Existing Case Search Users — public vs enhanced access and registration guidance.
• Maryland Case Search FAQ — exact/partial name searching, historical coverage, case types, 500-result handling, company searching and background-check warning.
• Case Search Notices — CAPTCHA and name-search guidance.
• Access to Court Records — official file access, restricted records, criminal information removed from remote Case Search, shielding and expungement guidance.
• Access to Judicial Records — remote access vs local clerk records and complete-file guidance.
• About the Maryland Court System — four-level Maryland court structure.
• District Court Jurisdiction — landlord-tenant, traffic, criminal and current civil monetary jurisdiction.
• Maryland Circuit Courts — major civil, serious criminal, family, jury and appellate jurisdiction.
• Maryland Courts Directory — local District and Circuit Court contact routing.
• District Court Cost Schedule DCA-109 — current March 1, 2026 copying, certification, recording and transcript fees.
• Maryland Circuit Court Fee Schedule — statewide copy, certification and exemplification fees.
• Maryland Estate Search — official Register of Wills estate search.
• Estate Search FAQ — 1998-to-present statewide coverage, daily updates and estate-search fields.
• Maryland Judgment and Liens Search — statewide judgment/lien index search.
• Maryland Court Records — Case Search, MDLandRec, Plats.net and related official resources.
• Maryland Appellate Opinions — Supreme Court and Appellate Court opinions.
• U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland — federal Baltimore and Greenbelt divisions.
• PACER Pricing — current federal electronic-access charges.

Research review: August 30, 2026. Court status, portal behavior, fees, rules and access restrictions can change. For an urgent or legally significant matter, verify the current official case file with the court maintaining it.

Frequently asked questions about Maryland court records

1. What is the official Maryland court records search by name?

Use the Maryland Judiciary Case Search & Record Portal. Select Party Name Search and enter the person’s name. The new integrated portal launched March 14, 2026. Ordinary members of the public can search public case information anonymously without registering.

2. How do I do a partial name search in Maryland Case Search?

Maryland’s published instructions say searches default to exact names. For a partial surname, enter at least the first character followed by a percent sign, such as Smi%. Partial first names can also use known starting characters followed by the percent sign. The percent sign cannot be placed at the beginning or middle of the word.

3. Why can’t I find a dismissed or not-guilty Maryland criminal charge online?

Maryland now excludes several categories from ordinary remote Case Search even though the record may still be available for lawful public inspection at the courthouse. These include charges resolved by nolle prosequi, dismissal or acquittal/not guilty, as well as certain older stet and cannabis-related records.

4. Does Maryland Case Search show the complete court file?

No. Maryland describes Case Search as a summary of the official case file. For the complete publicly accessible record or a specific filed document, contact the clerk at the courthouse where the case was filed or heard.

5. How far back do Maryland court records go online?

Coverage varies. District Court criminal Case Search generally reaches late 1991 and civil reaches 1989. Circuit Court start dates vary by jurisdiction—for example, Montgomery County has civil coverage from 1978 and criminal from 1979, while several other counties begin in the late 1990s or 2000. Older courthouse records can exist even when they predate Case Search.

6. Where do I search Maryland probate or estate records?

Use the Maryland Register of Wills Estate Search rather than ordinary Case Search. Statewide Estate Search records are available from 1998 to the present, and some jurisdictions have entered older records.

7. How much does a certified Maryland court record cost?

For District Court, the March 2026 schedule lists photocopies at $0.50 per page and certification at $5 per request plus photocopy charges. Circuit Courts also charge $0.50 per ordinary page and $5 for certification in addition to copying charges; exemplification is $10 plus copying charges.

8. Are deeds and land records found in Maryland Case Search?

No. Use MDLandRec for Maryland land-record documents. It is a joint Maryland Judiciary and Maryland State Archives service and requires a free account for online viewing. Plats use the separate Plats.net system.

9. Where do I search federal court cases filed in Maryland?

Use PACER. Federal cases belong to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland rather than Maryland’s state Case Search system. The federal District of Maryland has Clerk’s Offices in Baltimore and Greenbelt.

10. Can Maryland Case Search be used for employment or tenant background screening?

Maryland explicitly states that Case Search should not be used as a criminal background-check system. Official Maryland criminal-history checks use the fingerprint-supported CJIS process. Public-Court-Records.us is not a Consumer Reporting Agency and must not be treated as an FCRA consumer-reporting service.