How to Complete and File the Maryland Restricted Information Form (MDJ-008)

The Maryland MDJ-008 form is a one-page “Notice Regarding Restricted Information Pursuant to Rule 20-201.1” that you file together with any court document containing information the law keeps private. The notice itself holds no sensitive data. It tells the clerk which category of restricted information your filing includes and which rule or statute makes it private, so the clerk can route the sensitive version to the non-public part of the file and leave a redacted version in the public record.¹

When You Need the Form

You attach MDJ-008 any time you file a document in a Maryland court that includes restricted information, whether in the Supreme Court of Maryland, the Appellate Court, a circuit court, or the District Court. Every submission under Rule 20-201 that contains restricted information must also state prominently on its first page that it does.²

Some case types are already confidential by default, and you do not use MDJ-008 for them: adoption, emergency evaluation, Extreme Risk Protective Order (ERPO), guardianship of a child, juvenile cases, judicial declarations of gender identity, and criminal cases with a pending motion to transfer jurisdiction to juvenile court. Those files are shielded automatically, which makes the notice unnecessary.¹

What Counts as Restricted Information

Maryland treats two things as restricted, and knowing which one applies to your filing tells you which section of the form to check.

The first is personal identifiers. Rule 1-322.1 prohibits including Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, and the characters of financial or medical account identifiers in any court filing. Financial accounts include credit and debit card numbers, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, insurance policies, and annuity contracts. When your case genuinely requires one of these, you can include only the last four characters (all characters redacted if the number is fewer than eight), file the unredacted version under seal by court order, or, on paper, file two copies — one redacted and one marked to be shielded.³

The second is whole categories of documents that the law keeps out of public inspection. The form itself lists them with checkboxes: child abuse or neglect records, financial statements in child support or family law actions, state and federal tax returns, medical reports and correspondence from health care professionals, presentence investigation reports, joint marital property statements, parenting plans prepared under Rules 9-204.1 and 9-204.2, recordings or transcripts of hearings closed to the public, peace or protective order records that were denied, dismissed, or later shielded, disability-related records, failure-to-pay-rent actions, and any document sealed or shielded by court order. An “Other” checkbox with a blank line lets you flag a category not printed on the form by naming the rule or statute.⁴

How to Fill Out MDJ-008

Download the current version (Rev. 03/2026) from the Maryland Courts website or pick one up at the clerk’s office. It runs one page.⁴

Header

Check the box for the court where your case is pending. Fill in the city or county, the court address, and the case number. Enter the plaintiff or petitioner and the defendant or respondent. Write the title of the confidential document you are filing exactly as it appears on the document itself, so the clerk can pair the two.

Section 1: Restricted Document

Use Section 1 when the entire document is not open to public inspection. Check the specific category from the printed list that fits — tax return, medical report, presentence investigation report, and so on. Each category on the form carries a citation to the rule or statute that makes it restricted. If the document comes from a confidential case type but is being filed in a non-confidential case, use the separate checkbox for that situation and identify the confidential case type.

Section 2: Confidential Information

Use Section 2 when the document itself is public but contains protected details inside it — a contract, pleading, or motion that happens to reference a Social Security number or bank account. Write a description of the restricted information, not the information itself. “Plaintiff’s bank account number” is right; the actual digits are not. Then cite the rule that makes the information confidential, or reference the date of a court order.⁴

Section 2 also reminds you that under Rules 20-201.1 and 1-322.1 you must submit a redacted version of the document alongside the unredacted one. So you will file three items together: the MDJ-008, a redacted version titled “Redacted,” and an unredacted version titled “Unredacted — to be shielded.”²

Sign and date at the bottom. Add your printed name, address, phone, fax, and email. Attorneys include their attorney number.

Filing Electronically Through MDEC

In MDEC, submit the redacted and unredacted versions as separate filings, each with a filing code describing the submission. Mark the unredacted version prominently on its first page as containing restricted information. Then add a separate filing for the MDJ-008 itself and pick “Notice of Restricted Information” from the filing code drop-down. If the filing code is missing or wrong, the system will not shield the document automatically and the submission may be rejected as non-compliant with Rule 20-201.1.⁵

Self-represented litigants may e-file but are not required to. One thing to know before you register: once you e-file for the first time, you are required to e-file all future documents in all future cases.⁶ Paper filing remains the alternative if that commitment is not one you want to make.

Filing on Paper

Bring the completed MDJ-008 together with the redacted and unredacted versions of your document to the clerk of the circuit or district court. Label each version clearly in its title so the clerk knows which copy belongs in the public file and which goes into the restricted portion.⁷ The clerk places the redacted copy in the public file and routes the unredacted copy and the MDJ-008 to the non-public side, where only judges, court staff, and authorized parties can see them.

Ask your local clerk’s office whether they want extra copies for service or their own records. There is no separate filing fee for MDJ-008, though the usual fees for the underlying document still apply.

What Happens if You Skip the Form

Under Rule 1-322.1, if you file your own personal identifiers without redaction and without a sealing order, you waive the rule’s protection for that information. Once your unredacted Social Security number sits in the public file, the court has no automatic duty to remove it.³

The court can also impose sanctions. Rule 1-322.1 authorizes the court, on a party’s motion or on its own, to enter any appropriate order when someone fails to comply. In practice that can mean striking the improperly filed document, requiring a corrected filing, or awarding costs to the other side.³

MDJ-008 Is Not the Same as Sealing a Case

The MDJ-008 process shields specific items inside a filing, or flags a single document as restricted, while the rest of the case file stays publicly accessible. Sealing a case record is a separate, higher-bar process: it locks down the entire record so nobody can view it without a judge’s permission, and it requires a motion showing a special, compelling reason. While a sealing motion is pending, the records are automatically sealed for up to five business days; after that window, if the court has not entered a temporary sealing order, they become publicly visible again until the judge rules.⁸ If your concern is limited to account numbers, medical records, or other protected documents inside an otherwise public case, MDJ-008 is the tool. Sealing is for situations where even the existence of the case would cause harm.

1
Maryland Courts. Restricted Information Form
2
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Rules, Rule 20-201.1 – Restricted Information
3
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Rules, Rule 1-322.1 – Exclusion of Personal Identifier Information in Court Filings
4
Maryland Courts. Notice Regarding Restricted Information Pursuant to Rule 20-201.1
5
Maryland Courts. MDEC Policies and Procedures
6
Maryland Courts. E-filing for Self-Represented Litigants
7
Maryland Courts. Tip Sheet – The Restricted Information Form
8
Maryland People’s Law Library. Shielding or Sealing a Case Record