Topics on this page:

• Court Records
• Motion to Seal or Otherwise Limit Inspection of a Case Record
• Maryland Second Chance Act

Court Records

Generally speaking, Maryland court records and cases are open to the public. You can visit a Maryland court to look at court records or go online to see information about a case through the Maryland Judiciary Case Search.

Read the Rule: Md. Rule 16-903

However, you can ask a Maryland court to keep the public from seeing records in your case. There are two ways to do this:

• Motion to Seal or Otherwise Limit Inspection of a Case Record
• Petition for Shielding Under the Maryland Second Chance Act

A successful Petition for Shielding or a Motion to Seal offer ways to keep the public from seeing your court records. If you want more information about shielding or sealing records, please visit the Maryland Judiciary's website.

Asking the court to shield or seal your court records is not the same thing as expungement. Learn more about expungements.

Some case records do not require these motions/petitions because the records are not public. For example, in criminal cases, the victim’s contact information is automatically shielded. Check the Maryland Rules for more information on automatically shielded civil and criminal records.

Case Search from the Maryland Courts

Motion to Seal or Otherwise Limit Inspection of a Case Record

This motion asks the court to seal a case record or to limit inspection of a portion of the record. Case records include court papers, orders, notices, and other records on a case. The motion can be used more than once for criminal, civil, and traffic cases. The standard form (form CC-DC-053) is available on the Maryland Courts website. To request to shield a Failure to Pay Rent case filed during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 5, 2020 - January 1, 2022), use form DC-CV-116.

A party to a case, which includes the plaintiff, defendant, and a permitted intervening party, may ask the court to seal or otherwise limit inspection of a case record. A person who is the subject of or specifically identified in a case record may also make this request.

You must give a special and compelling reason why the public should not be able to see the case.

Read the Rules: Md. Rules Title 16, Chapter 900

Process

File the motion in the court where the record is located.

• Serve the motion on all parties in the case and each identifiable person who is the subject of the case record.
• When the motion to seal is filed, the records you are requesting to be sealed are automatically sealed for up to five business days.
• After this time, the court may issue a temporary order to shield the record before a hearing and final decision. If the court does not issue a temporary order to seal, than the records become visible until the court rules on the motion to seal. 

The other parties may object to the motion within a certain period of time

• In District Court, the party has 10 days to respond.
• In Circuit Court, the party has 15 days to respond.

If a party objects, the court will hold a hearing before making a decision. The court has 30 days after the hearing is held to make a decision. If no party objects within the response period, the court will make a decision on the motion to seal. 

The court will typically decide in one of three ways: grant the motion and seal the record, grant the motion and limit inspection, or deny the motion.

• If the court seals the record, the whole case record cannot be opened without the judge’s permission.
• If the court limits inspection, the court will clearly state what record may not be viewed by the public, and for how long.
• If the court denies the motion, the public will be able to see the record.

Access to a Sealed Record - The public can ask for permission to see a sealed case record. Forms are available on the Maryland Courts website.

Read the Rules: Md. Rule 16-912; 2-311; 3-311

Petition for Shielding under the Maryland Second Chance Act

This is a one-time request to remove court and police records about 12 eligible convictions. You file this petition in either District Court or Circuit Court. The petition can only be filed in one Maryland county and only once in your lifetime. You must have been convicted of one of 12 specific convictions in those courts. The petition can include multiples of the 12 convictions.

If you have two or more convictions that came from the same incident, transaction, or set of facts, then eligibility for shielding those convictions is “all or nothing.” If any of those convictions is not eligible for shielding, then none of those convictions is eligible.

Learn more about the shielding your convictions from the public.

Read the Law: Md. Code, Criminal Procedure Title 10, Subtitle 3