How to File a Motion to Seal Court Records in Maryland

To file a motion to seal court records in Maryland, you submit a sworn petition on Form CC-DC-053 under Maryland Rule 16-934 and prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that a special and compelling reason justifies restricting public access to the record. Maryland courts start from a presumption that case files are open, so the burden sits entirely on the person asking for secrecy. The form itself is short. The argument behind it is what decides the outcome.

What You Have to Prove

Rule 16-934 puts two requirements in front of you. You must show a special and compelling reason to restrict access, and you must show that no substantial harm will result from sealing. Both have to be established by clear and convincing evidence, a higher standard than the “more likely than not” test used in most civil matters.¹

There’s no checklist of what counts, but judges consistently recognize certain categories. Bank account numbers and trade secrets qualify because exposure invites identity theft or competitive injury. Medical records with sensitive diagnoses carry obvious privacy weight. In domestic violence matters, shielding a victim’s address is a safety question. The common thread is a specific, identifiable harm that would follow from leaving the record open.

Expect the court to seal no more than it has to. Even successful petitions usually produce an order limited to specific documents or pages. If redacting a Social Security number or account number solves the problem, the judge will order redaction instead of sealing the file. Vague petitions that ask the court to seal “the case” without identifying what in it causes harm tend to be denied quickly.¹

Make Sure Sealing Is the Right Tool

Before filing, check whether another process fits your situation better. Sealing under Rule 16-934 restricts who can see a record but leaves the record intact within the court system. Expungement under Maryland Criminal Procedure § 10-105 removes the record from court files, police databases, and other state or local government records entirely. If your record qualifies for expungement, that is almost always the stronger option, because a sealed record can be unsealed later while an expunged record is gone.

Expungement is available in specific situations, including acquittal or dismissal, probation before judgment (with exceptions for certain DUI and domestic violence offenses), nolle prosequi or stet dispositions, a full and unconditional gubernatorial pardon of a single non-violent conviction, cannabis possession convictions under Criminal Law § 5-601, and convictions for conduct that has since been decriminalized.²

A separate mechanism, shielding under the Maryland Second Chance Act, applies to twelve specific eligible offenses, can only be used once in a lifetime, and must be filed in the county where the judgment of conviction was entered. If any conviction from the same incident is ineligible, none of them can be shielded.¹ If none of those routes fits, Rule 16-934 sealing is the path forward.

Who Can File

Two groups have standing. The first is any party to the case, including anyone who formally intervened. The second is any person who is the subject of, or specifically identified in, a case record, even if they were not a party to the lawsuit. If your medical or financial information ended up in someone else’s case file, you can petition to seal those documents without being a litigant yourself.¹

Preparing the Petition

Use Form CC-DC-053, “Petition to Seal or Otherwise Limit Inspection of a Case Record.” It is available on the Maryland Judiciary website and at any clerk’s office.³ People often call this a “motion to seal,” but Maryland’s rules label it a petition and direct you to the designated form. Filing a generic motion instead can cause delays.

The petition must be sworn under oath and state the circumstances justifying the seal with particularity. Writing “privacy concerns” and leaving it at that will not work. Identify the exact documents or portions of the record you want restricted, explain what harm public access would cause, and address why a narrower fix like redaction would not solve the problem.¹

Complete the Certificate of Service at the bottom of the form. It confirms you sent a copy to every party in the case and to anyone specifically identified in the records you want sealed, with their names, addresses, the date, and the delivery method. False certification carries consequences, so verify the information before you file.³

Filing and Immediate Protection

Maryland courts on the Maryland Electronic Courts (MDEC) system require electronic filing through the MDEC portal, which needs a registered account. In courts still handling paper, you file in person at the clerk’s office with enough copies for all parties.

Once the clerk dockets your petition, a short-term protection begins automatically. The clerk must deny public inspection of the targeted record for up to five business days, counting the filing date, while a judge reviews whether to issue a temporary sealing order. The petition itself and any responses to it are also shielded from public view unless the court orders otherwise.³¹

Response Deadlines, Hearings, and the Decision

After filing, other parties get a window to object. In District Court, the opposing party has 10 days to respond. In Circuit Court, the deadline is 15 days. If someone opposes, the judge schedules a hearing. If no one objects, the judge may rule on the papers.

When the petition is filed after all parties have already been served in the underlying case, the court must hold the hearing within 15 days of the petition’s filing date.¹ At the hearing the judge must decide three things: whether a special and compelling reason exists, whether substantial harm would follow from granting the order, and whether a narrower remedy would adequately protect the interest at stake. The court then has 30 days after the hearing to issue a decision.

If the judge denies your petition before any hearing, you can file a motion for reconsideration within 15 days of the denial.¹ Reconsideration rarely succeeds without new evidence or a clear showing that the court misread the original filing. Refiling the same weak argument changes nothing.

What a Sealing Order Actually Does

A granted petition produces a court order directing the clerk to restrict access. The sealed material disappears from Maryland Judiciary Case Search and from public terminals in courthouses. Parties to the case and their attorneys keep access. The general public, employers, landlords, and anyone running a background check through the public database will not find it.⁴

Sealing is not permanent. A member of the public or a media organization can petition the same court to unseal the record, using the same Rule 16-934 framework in reverse, and the judge applies the same balancing test. In high-profile matters, that happens.¹

One practical limit worth planning for: third-party data brokers and background check companies scrape public records continuously. If information was public before the seal, cached copies may still sit in commercial databases after the court restricts access. You may need to contact those companies directly, send proof of the court order, and ask them to remove outdated entries.

1
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Rule 16-934 – Case Records Court Order Denying or Permitting Inspection
2
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Criminal Procedure 10-105
3
Maryland Courts. Petition to Seal or Otherwise Limit Inspection of a Case Record
4
Maryland Courts. Judicial Records Frequently Asked Questions