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Current Cases
Most court cases will not be heard. Hearings scheduled during the court closure will be rescheduled. The court will contact you with a new date. Hearing dates on Case Search may not be updated during the closure.
Current Court Orders
Custody and parenting time: All court orders for a child’s custody, parenting time, and child support are still in effect.
Child support: You must continue to pay your child support as ordered.
For more information about custody, visitation, and child support, see the Statement from the Maryland Judiciary on Matters
Concerning Children & Families.
Emergencies
The following family law emergencies are being heard. Contact your local Circuit Court or District Court. A judge will decide whether your case needs to be heard in person, whether it can be held by video conference, whether it can be rescheduled, or whether it can be resolved without a hearing:
- Family law emergencies (Custody, child access, visitation, support)
- Domestic violence hearings (New cases: contact a District Court Commissioner)
- Peace order hearings (New cases: contact a District Court Commissioner)
- Extreme risk protective order hearings (New cases: contact a District Court Commissioner)
- Child in Need of Assistance (CINA)
- Emergency delinquency hearings
- Emergency guardianship matters
- Contempt relating to peace or protective orders
Filing court documents while courts are closed
The court will continue to accept documents filed electronically through MDEC, by mail, and in person. If you plan to file in person, all courts have a drop box. Contact the individual court for more information on where and how to use the drop box.
During this emergency, the filing date will be considered as follows:
- MDEC filings: the date of submission.
- Mailed filings: the postmark date.
- Drop box filings: The previous business day, unless there is a timestamp on the drop box.
Filing deadlines and statutes of limitations
Filing deadlines and statutes of limitations still apply and are not affected by court closures. This means that, even though hearings may be rescheduled, if there is a filing deadline in your court case, that deadline has not changed. For example, if you have 30 days to file a response to a complaint, the deadline still applies. You can still file court documents while the courts are closed.