How to Fill Out and Serve the Maryland Uniform Subpoena Form

The Maryland Uniform Subpoena Form is a statewide document, approved by the State Court Administrator, that compels a person to appear at a court proceeding, give testimony, or produce documents and other evidence. The same form works in every Maryland circuit court and District Court. To make it binding, you fill in the required information, have the clerk sign and seal it, arrange proper service on the witness, and file proof of that service with the court.

Where To Get the Form

You have two options. Download the fillable PDF from the Maryland Courts website, or pick up a blank copy at the clerk’s office in any circuit or District Court. Under Maryland Rule 3-510, the clerk will either prepare the subpoena from information you provide or hand you a blank form that you complete and bring back for the clerk’s signature and seal.¹ The circuit court process under Rule 2-510 works the same way.²

Attorneys in good standing with the Maryland Bar can ask the clerk to issue a subpoena that is signed and sealed but otherwise blank, which the attorney fills in before service. Attorneys registered as MDEC users can download an electronic version carrying the clerk’s digital signature and seal, print it, and complete it.¹

Do not photocopy a blank form and fill it in on your own. Maryland rules prohibit anyone other than the clerk from copying and filling in a blank subpoena, and the court can respond with sanctions, attorney’s fee awards, and exclusion of any evidence the improper subpoena produced.¹

What To Put on the Form

Every Maryland subpoena has the same required fields:¹

The case caption, with the full party names as filed, the court name, and the case number.
The name and address of the witness you are directing to appear or produce evidence.
The name of the person or attorney on whose behalf the subpoena is being issued.
The date, time, and place of attendance — a courtroom, a deposition location, or another designated site.
A description of any items the witness must bring, specific enough that the recipient knows exactly what to gather.

Precision on the date, time, and location matters more than people expect. Ambiguity in any of those fields gives the recipient grounds to challenge the subpoena or claim confusion about what they were supposed to do.

If You Need Documents or Evidence (Subpoena Duces Tecum)

When you need the witness to bring documents or tangible evidence rather than just testify, use the production section of the form. Identify each item — documents, recordings, photographs, electronically stored information, or other tangible things — with enough detail that the recipient can comply without guessing.³ A sweeping request like “all documents related to the matter” invites a motion to quash and will delay your case. Specify date ranges, document types, and the custodian or department likely to hold the records.

For electronically stored information, say upfront what format you want. If you need spreadsheets in native format rather than PDF, state that in the request. Courts are reluctant to order re-production in a different format once documents have been provided in a reasonably usable one.

Getting the Clerk To Issue It

Once the form is complete, the clerk signs it and applies the court seal. That signature and seal are what turn your paperwork into a binding court order. No one may serve a subpoena that the clerk has not signed and sealed.¹

There is no court fee for issuing a witness subpoena. The District Court cost schedule lists the subpoena fee as zero.⁴ Your costs come from service.

Serving the Subpoena

A signed subpoena sitting in your file does nothing. It has to be physically delivered to the witness in a way the court will recognize.

Who Can Serve

Under Rule 2-510, service can be made by a sheriff of any Maryland county or by any person who is not a party to the case and is at least 18 years old.² Certified mail with restricted delivery also works, since the recipient has to sign the return receipt.⁵ If the witness is represented by an attorney, service on the attorney counts.

What It Costs

In the District Court system, the fee is $60 if a sheriff or constable serves the subpoena, or $20 if the clerk mails it.⁴ County sheriff’s offices handle service directly; Baltimore County, for example, charges $60 per service by check or money order.⁶ Private process servers set their own rates and are often faster, but confirm the server is a non-party adult before hiring.

Timing

Make a good-faith effort to have the subpoena served at least five days before the hearing. Rule 2-510 and Rule 3-510 frame this as a good-faith standard rather than an absolute deadline, but a close call leaves the witness less time to comply and a judge less sympathy if something goes wrong.²

Serving a Business

When the subpoena is directed to a corporation or other business entity, service goes to the entity’s registered agent — the person or company the business has designated to accept legal documents. You can look up a Maryland business’s registered agent through the State Department of Assessments and Taxation business search tool, then serve that agent the same way you would an individual witness.

Filing Proof of Service

After delivery, the person who served the subpoena prepares a return of service or affidavit of service. This sworn statement records the date, time, location, and method of delivery. File it with the clerk’s office. Without that proof on file, the court has no basis to enforce the subpoena if the witness does not show up, and a no-show can face contempt of court.⁷

Criminal Cases Have Different Deadlines

Criminal subpoenas run on Rule 4-265 rather than the civil rules. The request must be filed at least nine days before trial in circuit court, or seven days before trial in District Court, excluding the trial date itself and any Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays. The clerk then delivers the subpoena for service at least five days before trial, again excluding the trial date, weekends, and holidays.⁸ A duces tecum request in a criminal case must designate each document, recording, photograph, or other item the witness should bring.³

If the Case or Witness Is Out of State

Maryland has adopted the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act under Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, Title 9, Subtitle 4.⁹ If your case is pending in another state and you need testimony or documents from someone in Maryland, submit your request to the clerk of the circuit court in the Maryland county where the discovery will take place. Include the foreign subpoena and a written undertaking, signed by the requesting party and their out-of-state attorney, submitting to that Maryland court’s jurisdiction for discovery disputes, motions to quash, and sanctions.¹⁰ Form CC-084 is the official request form.¹¹ The clerk then issues a Maryland subpoena incorporating the terms of the foreign one, which must be served within 60 days of issuance.

If your Maryland case needs testimony or documents from a witness in another state, the process runs in reverse. Obtain the Maryland subpoena first, then submit it to the clerk in the county and state where the witness is located, following that state’s version of the UIDDA. Most states have adopted the act in some form, though specific procedures and forms vary.

Don’t Misuse the Form

A subpoena may only be used to compel attendance and testimony at a court proceeding or, for nonparties, at a deposition. Using a subpoena, or a copy of the blank form, for any other purpose is sanctionable. The court can impose attorney’s fees and costs, exclude any evidence obtained through the improper subpoena, and order reimbursement to anyone who was inconvenienced.¹

1
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Rules, Rule 3-510 – Subpoenas
2
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Rules, Rule 2-510 – Subpoenas, Court Proceedings and Depositions
3
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Rules, Rule 4-265 – Subpoena for Hearing or Trial
4
Maryland Courts. District Court of Maryland Cost Schedule
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New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Rules, Rule 2-121 – Process, Service, In Personam
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Baltimore County Government. Service of Process
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Maryland Courts. Witness
8
Maryland Courts. Maryland Rules, Rule 4-265 – Subpoena for Hearing or Trial
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New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Subtitle 4, Maryland Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act
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New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Rules, Rule 2-510.1 – Foreign Subpoenas in Conjunction with a Deposition
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Maryland Courts. CC-084, Request for Issuance of Subpoena Based Upon Foreign Subpoena Authorization