Maryland’s emergency petition, Form CC-DC-013, is the court document you use to ask a judge or commissioner to order a psychiatric evaluation for someone in mental health crisis who appears dangerous to themselves or others. There is no filing fee. You can pick up the form at any District Court clerk’s office or download it from the Maryland Judiciary website. Once signed, the order gives law enforcement five days to find the person and take them to an emergency facility for examination.1Maryland Courts. Emergency Evaluations
Who Can File
Three categories of people may file. Health professionals who have personally examined the individual, including physicians, psychologists, clinical social workers, licensed clinical professional counselors, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and health officers. Peace officers who have personally observed the individual or their behavior. And any other interested person, which covers family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors.2Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-622 – Petition for Emergency Evaluation
Which category you fall into changes what happens next. A petition signed by a health professional or peace officer can be acted on immediately by law enforcement without waiting for a judge. When anyone else files, the petition has to go before a judge or commissioner for review and endorsement before officers get involved.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-624 – Emergency Evaluation – Custody and Examination of Evaluee
What You Have To Show
The petition must establish two things, both required: that the person has a mental disorder, and that the disorder makes them a danger to their own life or safety or to others. Erratic behavior without an identifiable safety risk does not meet the threshold. Neither do threats made by someone who shows no signs of a mental health condition.2Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-622 – Petition for Emergency Evaluation
If you are not a mental health professional, “mental disorder” means a clear disturbance in the person’s mental functioning. You do not have to name a diagnosis; health professionals filing on their own credentials do, and must identify a condition from the current DSM. Intellectual disability alone does not qualify as a mental disorder for this petition.4Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-620 – Definitions
Filling Out the Form
Your Information and Your Relationship to the Evaluee
The top of the form asks for your name, address, and cell, home, and work phone numbers. Health professionals also list their specialty and license number. A field asks for your relationship to or interest in the evaluee: “mother,” “treating psychiatrist,” “neighbor,” or whatever fits. That answer establishes your standing to file.5Maryland Courts. CC-DC-013 Petition for Emergency Evaluation
Identifying the Evaluee
The evaluee section asks for name, address, date of birth, sex, race, height, weight, hair color, eye color, complexion, and any distinguishing features. Officers use these details to find the person. If they cannot locate them within five days, the order expires and you would have to file again, so accuracy here matters more than it looks like it should.1Maryland Courts. Emergency Evaluations
A separate field asks for the name, relationship, address, and phone number of a spouse, parent, child, or other relative of the evaluee. Fill it in if you know the information; leave it if you don’t.2Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-622 – Petition for Emergency Evaluation
Treatment History
The form asks about prior emergency petitions (and whether they were granted or denied), past hospitalizations with facility name, address, and approximate dates, current psychiatric treatment with provider name, address, and diagnosis if known, and current medications. There is a place to indicate whether the evaluee is taking prescribed psychiatric medication as directed, not taking it, or whether you don’t know. This gives the examining physician a starting point when the evaluee arrives.5Maryland Courts. CC-DC-013 Petition for Emergency Evaluation
The Two Narratives
The narrative section is what judges read most carefully. There are two separate prompts, and they ask different questions. Answer them separately.
The first asks you to describe the behavior that makes you believe the person currently has a mental disorder. Be specific and recent. What did they say? Use their actual words when you can. What did they do, when did it happen, and how was it different from how they normally function? “He was talking to people who weren’t there and hasn’t slept in four days” tells a judge something. “He’s been acting crazy” does not. Dates and times matter, because a judge reading the petition at 2 p.m. needs to know whether the behavior happened this morning or six weeks ago.
The second narrative asks why the person is a danger to their own life or safety or to others. Tie behavior to a concrete safety risk. “She said she wants to die.” “He threatened to hurt his neighbor and went looking for a knife.” Blanket assertions of danger without supporting facts rarely clear the probable-cause bar.
A separate field asks whether the evaluee has access to firearms or other weapons. Answer honestly. Officers rely on it when they go to make contact.5Maryland Courts. CC-DC-013 Petition for Emergency Evaluation
Signing
You sign under penalties of perjury, certifying the petition is true to the best of your knowledge.2Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-622 – Petition for Emergency Evaluation
Where To File
During regular business hours, generally Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., take the completed form to the nearest District Court clerk’s office. A judge reviews the petition, may ask you questions, and decides whether probable cause exists. The evaluee does not have to be there.1Maryland Courts. Emergency Evaluations
After hours, on weekends, or on holidays, the petition goes to a District Court Commissioner. Commissioners are available around the clock in most Maryland jurisdictions. Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, and Baltimore City process emergency petitions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.6NAMI Maryland. Emergency Petitions
If someone’s life is in immediate danger, call 911 first. Responding officers can evaluate the person on the scene and file their own petition as peace officers, which does not need court endorsement before they act.
After the Judge Signs
Once a judge or commissioner finds probable cause, they sign the order. A peace officer, typically a local police officer, sheriff’s deputy, or state trooper, then locates the evaluee and transports them to the nearest emergency facility. An emergency facility is a hospital or other facility designated by the Maryland Department of Health, and includes any licensed general hospital with an emergency room unless specifically exempted.4Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-620 – Definitions
The order is valid for five days. If officers cannot find the person within that window, the order expires and you would need to file a new petition.1Maryland Courts. Emergency Evaluations
Officers notify the facility ahead of arrival when they can. After delivering the evaluee, the officer can leave unless the person is violent and facility staff ask the officer’s supervisor to have the officer remain.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-624 – Emergency Evaluation – Custody and Examination of Evaluee
What Happens at the Facility
The facility must accept the evaluee if the petition was properly executed. A physician has six hours to examine the person and decide whether they meet the criteria for involuntary admission. If the officer was asked to stay because the evaluee is violent, the examination has to begin as promptly as possible rather than run to the full six hours.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-624 – Emergency Evaluation – Custody and Examination of Evaluee
Three outcomes are possible. If the person does not meet the criteria for involuntary admission, they are released. If they ask for voluntary admission, the facility admits them on that basis. If the physician finds they meet the criteria, the facility starts the involuntary admission process. No one can be held at the emergency facility for more than 30 hours.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-624 – Emergency Evaluation – Custody and Examination of Evaluee
What the Petition Does Not Do
An emergency petition gets someone to a hospital for evaluation. It does not, by itself, keep them there. Involuntary admission is a separate legal process that requires a hearing officer to find, by clear and convincing evidence, that the person has a mental disorder, needs inpatient treatment, is dangerous, will not consent to voluntary admission, and has no less restrictive alternative available.7Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health-General 10-632 – Involuntary Admission
An evaluation that ends in release also does not trigger a federal firearms prohibition. Federal law bars firearm possession by anyone “committed to a mental institution,” and the definition excludes people held for observation only.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts If the evaluation leads to involuntary commitment or an admission of 30 or more consecutive days, Maryland reports the information to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and the federal firearms prohibition attaches from that point forward.