Maryland Foreign Judgment Enforcement — Collecting Across State Lines

Your debtor moved to Virginia. Or you won a case in Pennsylvania and the debtor lives in Maryland. Either way, your judgment exists in one state and the assets sit in another. That's where foreign judgment enforcement comes in.

Maryland handles cross-state judgment enforcement through CJP § 11-802 and the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (UEFJA). The process is simpler than most creditors expect, but the paperwork has to be exact.

Bringing an Out-of-State Judgment into Maryland

If you hold a judgment from another state and the debtor has wages, bank accounts, or property in Maryland, you register it in Maryland. A judgment of $2,500 or less must be filed in District Court; a judgment over $2,500 and up to $30,000 may be filed in District or Circuit Court; a judgment over $30,000 must be filed in Circuit Court.

The filing requires three things:

1. An authenticated copy of the judgment from the original court
2. An affidavit showing the names and last known post office addresses of the judgment creditor and debtor
3. A filing fee of $61 in District Court or $110 in Circuit Court, payable to the clerk

The clerk mails notice to the debtor at their last known address. Recordation gives the judgment the same effect and enforcement procedures as a Maryland judgment; there is no general 30-day challenge period or waiting period before enforcement. Under CJP § 11-804, the court must stay enforcement until an appeal ends, the appeal time expires, or a stay ends if the debtor shows that an appeal is pending or will be taken, or that execution is stayed, and provides security required by the state where the judgment was entered. The court also must stay enforcement on a ground that would stay a Maryland judgment, with the same security required here.

After recordation, you can pursue wage garnishment, bank garnishment, liens, and every other enforcement tool available to Maryland creditors, unless a stay applies.

Taking a Maryland Judgment to Another State

If your Maryland District Court debtor moved out of state or has assets elsewhere, you need to register your judgment in that state. The process works in reverse:

1. Request a certified copy of your Maryland judgment from the District Court clerk
2. File it in the destination state's court under that state's version of the UEFJA
3. Follow the destination state's registration and notice requirements

Every U.S. state has adopted some version of the UEFJA, though filing fees, notice periods, and procedural details vary. The destination state's self-help court resources or clerk's office can tell you exactly what's required.

County-to-County Transfers Within Maryland

If your debtor or their assets moved to a different Maryland county, you don't need the foreign judgment process. Instead, request a transmittal using Form DC-CV-034 under Maryland Rule 3-622. The $10 transmittal fee gets your case transferred to the target county's District Court, where you can file enforcement writs directly.

This is faster and cheaper than the UEFJA process, and it keeps everything in the Maryland District Court system.

Common Pitfalls

Expired judgments can't be registered. If the judgment has expired under the original state's enforcement period, Maryland won't accept it — even if Maryland's own 12-year window would still be open. Check the original state's enforcement deadline first.

Interest rates follow the original state. A foreign judgment registered in Maryland accrues interest at the rate set by the original state's law, not Maryland's 10% rate. Make sure your affidavit calculates interest correctly.

Service of process matters. If the debtor challenges registration by arguing the original court lacked personal jurisdiction — meaning they were never properly served in the original case — a Maryland court will examine whether the original state's service rules were followed. A default judgment from a state where the debtor was never served won't survive a challenge.

For a complete walkthrough of every enforcement tool available after your judgment is registered in Maryland, see our Maryland judgment collection guide.

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