Quick Reference Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Official Name | Maryland Judiciary Case Search & Record Portal |
| Website | casesearch.mdcourts.gov |
| Launched | January 2006 (original); redesigned portal launched January 9, 2026 |
| Who Can Use It | Anyone — it is free and open to the public |
| Cost | Free |
| Records Go Back To | District Court criminal: late 1991 · District Court civil: 1989 |
| Courts Covered | District Courts, Circuit Courts, Supreme Court of MD, Appellate Court of MD |
| Types of Cases | Criminal, civil, traffic, family, domestic violence, evictions, appeals |
| CAPTCHA Required? | Yes — to prevent automated access |
| Background Checks? | Officially NOT permitted for this purpose |
| Records Hidden From Public | Expunged records, shielded records, juvenile cases, sealed cases |
| New Privacy Rule (Jan 2026) | STET charges 3+ years old and pardoned cannabis convictions no longer shown |
| Recent Law Change | Expungement Reform Act of 2025 (SB 432), effective October 1, 2025 |
| Managing Agency | Maryland Judiciary (courts.state.md.us) |
What Is Maryland Judiciary Case Search, Really?
Let me make this simple.
Every time someone goes to court in Maryland — whether it is for a speeding ticket, a landlord dispute, a criminal charge, or a divorce — that case gets recorded in the court system. The Maryland Judiciary Case Search is the tool that lets the general public look at those records from home, for free, at any hour of the day.
Think of it like a public library for court files. You walk in, search for a name or a case number, and the system shows you what it has on record.
It is not a complete picture. It is a summary. But for most everyday purposes, that summary is exactly what people need.
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How the System Started — and Why It Changed in 2026
Before 2006, if you wanted to look up a court case in Maryland, you had to physically walk into a courthouse clerk’s office and ask. That was the only way. The clerks were getting flooded with requests. People would call, show up, and wait — just to find out basic information like a hearing date.
In January 2006, the Maryland Judiciary launched Case Search to solve that problem. The public could now find court records online without needing to visit a courthouse at all.
For nearly two decades, Case Search stayed mostly the same. Then, on January 9, 2026, the Maryland Judiciary launched a brand-new portal. They called it the Maryland Judiciary Case Search & Record Portal. This new version merged two separate older systems — the original Case Search and the MDEC portal (Maryland Electronic Courts) — into one unified place.
Before the merger, people were constantly confused. The old Case Search covered District Court records. The MDEC portal covered Circuit Court electronic filings. Nobody knew which one to use. Now, one website handles everything.
Understanding Maryland’s Four-Level Court System
To use Case Search well, you need to understand how Maryland’s courts are organized. There are four levels. Each one handles different kinds of cases.
District Court sits at the ground level. These courts handle minor criminal cases, small claims, traffic violations, and landlord-tenant disputes. There are no juries here — a judge decides everything. District Courts operate in every county and in Baltimore City.
Circuit Court is the next level up. This is where the more serious cases go. Murder charges, felonies, divorces, child custody fights, adoptions, and juvenile cases all land here. Circuit Court is also where you go if you want to appeal a District Court decision. Every county in Maryland has its own Circuit Court.
The Appellate Court of Maryland (formerly called the Court of Special Appeals) sits above those two. This is a middle-level appeals court. If you lost a case in Circuit Court and believe the law was applied incorrectly, this is your next step.
The Supreme Court of Maryland (formerly called the Court of Appeals) sits at the very top. It takes cases that involve major legal questions — the ones where a final, authoritative answer matters for everyone in the state.
Case Search covers records from all four levels. That is one of the things that makes it genuinely powerful.
What You Can Actually Find on Case Search
Here is the honest breakdown of what the system will show you.
For any case it has on file, you can typically find:
- The case number assigned by the court
- The names and addresses of the parties involved (plaintiffs, defendants)
- Date of birth for individuals, in some records
- The type of case — criminal, civil, traffic, family, and so on
- The charges in criminal cases
- Hearing dates and trial dates (past and upcoming)
- Bond information in criminal matters
- The outcome — what the judge decided, whether the case was dismissed, what sentence was given
- Docket entries — a chronological log of every step the case took through the system
Those docket entries use abbreviations like DOCI, INIT, CMIT, and BOND. These are shorthand codes the court clerks type in as cases move along. They can look confusing at first, but the Maryland Courts website has a glossary that explains what each one means.
What you will NOT find: the full court documents, the actual transcripts, the exhibits, the evidence. For all of that, you have to visit the clerk’s office in person. Case Search is the summary. The courthouse is the full file.
Three Ways to Search — and Which One to Use
The system gives you three main search options. Each one works best in a different situation.
Search by Name is the most common approach. You type in a first and last name and the system shows you every case in Maryland courts connected to that person. This works great for uncommon names. For a name like John Smith, you might get hundreds of results. In that case, you can narrow it down by adding a middle initial, filtering by county, or specifying the type of case you’re looking for.
One useful trick: if you’re not sure of the exact spelling of a last name, type the first letter or two, then add a percent sign (%). That tells the system to search for any name starting with those letters. So “Smi%” might return Smith, Smithson, Smithfield, and so on.
Search by Case Number is the fastest route if you already have the number. This is how lawyers and court clerks typically look things up. Every case in Maryland gets its own unique ID that includes the court code, the year it was filed, and a number sequence. If you got paperwork from a court — a summons, a notice, a letter from an attorney — the case number is somewhere on it.
Search by Date or Location lets you filter results by when a case was filed, which county the court is in, and what level of court handled it. This is helpful if you know roughly when something happened and want to narrow things down geographically.
The New 2026 Portal: What Changed and What Stayed the Same
The January 9, 2026 launch was bigger than just a visual refresh.
The old system required you to jump between two websites depending on which court handled your case. That split caused real confusion. The new portal brings everything under one roof — District Court, Circuit Court, appellate cases, all in one search.
A few practical things the new portal changed: the mobile experience got worse before it got better. If you are using a smartphone to search, the tables and case details can run off the screen. The current workaround is to rotate your phone sideways to landscape mode. The Judiciary is reportedly still working on improving mobile responsiveness.
The CAPTCHA step — the “prove you’re human” box you have to check — stayed in the new version. It is there specifically to stop automated programs from scraping mass amounts of records. It is a brief inconvenience, but it protects the integrity of what is in the system.
What did not change: the access level. The public still sees the same kind of summary information. No new categories of records were opened up. Some records actually became harder to find, which brings us to the privacy changes.
What the System Will NOT Show You — Privacy Rules and Hidden Records
This is one of the most important things to understand about Case Search. Not everything is visible. Maryland law deliberately hides certain records from public view, and for good reason.
Expunged records are gone entirely. When a court orders an expungement, the record is removed from public access completely. Case Search will not show it. It will not hint that it ever existed.
Shielded records are different. A shielded record still exists inside the court system, but the public cannot see it. Maryland’s Second Chance Act and related laws allow people convicted of certain eligible offenses to petition a court to shield their record from public view. Once shielded, Case Search will not show it or even acknowledge it is there. Law enforcement can still access shielded records — but you cannot search on your phone.
Juvenile records are closed to the public entirely. Cases involving people under 18 do not appear.
Sealed cases — records where a judge specifically ordered them kept private — are also invisible.
Domestic violence victim information is automatically protected. In criminal cases, the contact details of victims are hidden without anyone having to ask for it.
The big 2024 change: Criminal charges that ended in nolle prosequi (dropped by the prosecutor), dismissal, or acquittal — all of those disappeared from Case Search. Before 2024, you could search someone’s name and see charges that were never proven, never resulted in conviction, yet sat on the public record. Maryland decided that was unfair. Those results are no longer displayed.
The January 2026 change: STET charges that are at least three years old and cannabis possession convictions that were later pardoned by the Governor — those also came off the public record starting January 31, 2026.
The Expungement Reform Act of 2025 — A Major Privacy Shift
Maryland passed a law in 2025 that significantly expanded who can get their criminal records cleaned up.
Before this law, if you violated your probation — even for something small, like missing a check-in — that violation could permanently block you from getting your record expunged. Even if you had otherwise completed your sentence and turned your life around. The 2025 law changed that. Courts are now required to look at the full picture of how someone did during their supervision, not just whether there was a minor slip.
The list of offenses eligible for expungement also got longer. Some charges that were previously stuck on a person’s record forever became eligible for removal.
New misdemeanor convictions that can now be considered for expungement include things like driving without a license and certain alcohol-related charges.
This matters for Case Search users because expunged records vanish from the system. When someone successfully gets a charge expunged, it disappears. What you saw last year might not be there when you search today.
The Background Check Warning — This Is Serious
Maryland’s official Case Search portal includes a clear warning in capital letters: THE INFORMATION SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PERFORMING BACKGROUND CHECKS ON AN INDIVIDUAL.
This is not a small disclaimer to click past. There are real reasons it exists.
Case Search only shows summaries. It might not have every detail. Records can have data entry errors. Charges that were dropped might no longer show. Some cases might be in the system but misfiled under a slightly different name. People share the same name. A common name search returns hundreds of results, and none of them might be the right person.
If you are an employer making hiring decisions based on what you find in Case Search, you are walking into serious legal trouble. The Fair Credit Reporting Act governs background checks for employment purposes. Using Case Search as a substitute for a proper, legally compliant background check is not just risky — it is potentially a legal violation.
If you genuinely need a complete background check, you use the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS), which requires a fingerprint check and a fee. That is more complete and legally appropriate for screening purposes.
Case Search is a transparency tool for the public. It is not a screening tool for employers or landlords.
Special Cases: What Case Search Does Not Cover At All
A few categories of records live outside the Case Search system entirely.
Estate cases — wills, probate, inheritance matters handled by the Register of Wills and Orphan’s Court — are found through a separate system at registers.maryland.gov, not Case Search.
Federal court cases are completely separate. Case Search only covers Maryland state courts. If someone was charged in federal court, you will not find it here. Federal cases are on PACER (the federal court records system).
Historical records before 1989 or 1991 are largely incomplete or not in the digital system at all. If you need records from the 1970s or 1980s, your best option is the Maryland State Archives, which holds physical records going back to the 1800s.
Judgment and lien information has its own separate tool. The Judgment and Liens Search at the Maryland Judiciary website lets you find indexed judgment and lien information filed against people or businesses — useful if you are checking whether someone has unpaid court judgments against them.
Practical Tips That Actually Save You Time
After understanding what the system is, here is how to use it without headaches.
If a name search returns too many results, do not give up. Add a county filter. Try narrowing by case type. Adding a middle initial when you know it cuts the clutter immediately.
If you get a result back and see only a case number and a name but nothing else, that might mean the record has limited public information due to the type of case it is. It does not mean the system is broken.
When the CAPTCHA appears, just complete it and move on. It is brief and it will let you through.
If you are looking up your own record and something is missing — a charge you know exists — remember that dismissed and acquitted charges are no longer publicly visible since 2024. They might still exist in your official record (your RAP sheet from CJIS) even if Case Search does not show them.
For anything involving a case you are personally a party to, the safest move is to contact the clerk’s office directly. Case Search is a starting point. The clerk’s office has the full picture.
Who Uses Case Search and Why
The system was not built for any one kind of person. Real estate investors check it before buying property to look for judgment liens. Journalists use it to verify court records when reporting on public figures. People going through custody disputes check their case status without needing to call their lawyer every day. Tenants look up their landlord’s history. Regular people check on themselves — to see what the public can find about them.
Lawyers use it too, though they often rely on the fuller MDEC portal for electronic filings and case documents. Attorney Max Frizalone of FrizWoods Law even made a public video walking people through the new 2026 portal, because he saw how many clients were confused by the transition.
The system is free. It is available 24 hours a day. It requires no account or login. That combination makes it genuinely accessible to anyone with an internet connection — which was exactly the point when the Maryland Judiciary built it in 2006.
The Bigger Picture: Why Transparency in Courts Matters
When court records are publicly accessible, it changes how the legal system operates.
Judges know their decisions can be seen. Parties in lawsuits know the public can check the record. Outcomes that might otherwise be quietly buried have to stand up in the open.
At the same time, Maryland has been increasingly aware that transparency can cause real harm when it exposes people to permanent consequences for charges that were never proven. The 2024 rule removing acquittals from public view, the 2025 Expungement Reform Act, and the January 2026 privacy provisions all reflect that tension.
The goal is balance. The public deserves to know how courts operate. Individuals deserve protection from records that no longer fairly represent who they are. Maryland has been actively adjusting that balance in recent years, and the tools are still being refined.
Case Search sits right at the center of that tension — and understanding it well means understanding both what it reveals and what it deliberately hides.
Final Words
The Maryland Judiciary Case Search is one of the most underused public tools in the state. Most people only discover it when they already have a problem — a ticket to deal with, a case to check on, a landlord to look up. But it is genuinely useful even before any problem arrives.
It is not perfect. It is a summary, not the full file. It has gaps and limitations and a CAPTCHA that will ask you to prove you are human. The mobile version still needs work.
But for a free tool that gives anyone access to the public record of Maryland’s courts — available at midnight on a Tuesday if you need it — it is remarkable. And after the January 2026 upgrade merged two confusing systems into one, it is more useful than it has ever been.
Understanding what it shows, and what it wisely does not, is the whole key to using it well.
FAQs
1. What is the Maryland Judiciary Case Search?
It is a free online system run by the Maryland Judiciary that lets anyone look up public court records from Maryland’s state courts. You can find case summaries for criminal, civil, traffic, family, and domestic violence cases, among others. The current version launched on January 9, 2026.
2. Is Maryland Judiciary Case Search free to use?
Yes, completely free. You do not need an account, a login, or a credit card. Anyone with an internet connection can use it at any time.
3. Where do I find the Maryland Judiciary Case Search?
The official address is casesearch.mdcourts.gov. That is the only official portal. There are third-party websites that look similar, but the official government portal is the authoritative source.
4. How far back do Maryland court records go on Case Search?
District Court criminal records generally go back to late 1991. Civil documents from the District Court date back to 1989.Older records exist in historical databases or at the Maryland State Archives, but they may not appear in standard Case Search results.
5. Can I search by someone’s name?
Yes. Name search is the most common method. Type in a first and last name and the system returns all cases connected to that person across Maryland courts. For common names, use filters for county or case type to narrow the results. You can also use a percent sign (%) after a partial name for partial-match searching.
6. What happened to criminal charges that were dropped or dismissed?
Since 2024, Maryland no longer displays on Case Search any criminal charges that ended in nolle prosequi, dismissal, or acquittal. Those charges still exist in the official criminal justice system, but they are no longer publicly visible in Case Search. You would need to visit the courthouse to see them.
7. What is the difference between expungement and shielding?
Expungement means a record is fully removed from public inspection — it disappears completely. Shielding means the record still exists but is hidden from the public. Case Search will not show a shielded record or even indicate that it exists. Law enforcement agencies can still access shielded records; the general public cannot.
8. Can I use Case Search to run a background check on someone I am hiring?
No. The Maryland Judiciary explicitly states that Case Search should not be used for background checks. The data is incomplete, entries can have errors, and common names return multiple people. For legally compliant employment background checks, the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) with fingerprint verification is the appropriate tool.
9. Are juvenile records available on Case Search?
No. Cases involving people under 18 are closed to the public and will not appear in Case Search results under any circumstances.
10. Why do I have to complete a CAPTCHA every time I search?
The Maryland Judiciary added CAPTCHA to stop automated programs from mass-downloading court records. It is a brief step that proves you are a human user. You will need to complete it each session before the system lets you search.
11. What changed with the Maryland Case Search in January 2026?
On January 9, 2026, the Maryland Judiciary launched a new combined portal called the Maryland Judiciary Case Search & Record Portal. It merged the old Case Search and the MDEC (Maryland Electronic Courts) portal into one system. Additionally, starting January 31, 2026, STET charges older than three years and pardoned cannabis convictions were removed from public display.
12. What is the Expungement Reform Act of 2025 and how does it affect Case Search?
The Expungement Reform Act of 2025 (SB 432), effective October 1, 2025, expanded the list of offenses eligible for expungement and made it easier for people with minor probation violations to get their records cleared. As more people successfully get records expunged, those records disappear from Case Search. A record that was visible when you searched last year might be gone from the public view today.
13. Can I find estate records or will information through Case Search?
No. Estate cases handled by the Register of Wills and Orphans Court are in a separate system — Estate Search at registers.maryland.gov — not in the standard Maryland Judiciary Case Search.
14. Does Case Search include federal court cases?
No. The Maryland Judiciary Case Search only covers Maryland state courts. Federal cases are handled through PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), which is a separate federal system.
15. What if I believe my record should be expunged or shielded but it is still showing up?
You may have grounds to petition the court. Maryland’s expungement laws were significantly expanded in 2025, which means some records that previously could not be cleared may now be eligible. An attorney or a legal aid organization like Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS) can help you understand whether you qualify and how to file a petition. The process is separate for expungement (full removal) and shielding (hidden from public view but not deleted).
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