Maryland records guide · Updated October 2026
Maryland Estate Search: how to search Register of Wills probate records
Estate Search is the free public tool the Maryland Registers of Wills use to publish estate (probate) cases for all 24 Maryland jurisdictions. This guide shows how to search it, what the results mean, and what it will not tell you.
How to search Maryland Estate Search, step by step
- Open Estate Search on the Register of Wills website.
- Choose the county where the person lived when they died. Estates are opened in the jurisdiction where the decedent was domiciled, and Baltimore City and Baltimore County are separate jurisdictions.
- Enter the last name. Searching by last name alone is allowed; tick “Exact Match on Last Name” only if you are sure of the spelling.
- If you get too many results, narrow with a first name, a filing-date range, the estate status or the estate type.
- Open the estate to see the estate number, status, date of death, filing date, personal representative, attorney and docket history.
Searching for a family member’s estate?
Want to know where the estate stands? Our guide to reading a Maryland estate docket explains each filing, the deadlines, and when heirs can expect to hear something.
Dealing with the house? Whether it is sitting vacant, needs a cleanout, or is a property the heirs disagree about, our sister company Bluebeam Property Services helps personal representatives and families manage estate property in Maryland.
Received a letter about a family property? To stop mail from businesses that use our data, opt out here.
Search tips that save time
- Use % as a wildcard. Smith in the last-name field with M% in the first-name field finds every Smith whose first name starts with M. %berg in the last-name field finds names ending in berg.
- Date ranges need a name. A filing-date search requires at least a partial first or last name.
- Search by executor. Set Party Type to Personal Representative when you know the executor’s name but not the decedent’s.
- Estate numbers are 12 characters. If yours is shorter, add leading zeros.
- No result? Check the county. The estate is filed where the person lived, which is not always where their property is.
- Coverage. Estate Search generally covers estates filed from 1998 onward, with some older records depending on the jurisdiction, and is updated at the end of each business day.
What the estate types and statuses mean
The codes you will see most often are RE (regular estate), SE (small estate), RJ and SJ (regular and small estates handled judicially by the Orphans’ Court when matters cannot be handled administratively), FP (foreign proceeding: the decedent lived outside Maryland but owned real property here), NP (non-probate property that passed outside the estate, such as jointly titled property or property held in a trust) and LO (a limited order, for example to search for assets or a will in a safe deposit box). Status is Open, Closed (which includes archived estates) or Pending. The official Estate Search glossary defines every code.
For anyone researching property, FP estates deserve attention: they exist because someone who lived out of state owned real estate in Maryland.
Estate search by county
There is one statewide Estate Search; you choose the jurisdiction from the County menu. That covers a Montgomery County estate search, a Prince George’s County estate search, an Anne Arundel County estate search and every other Maryland county, plus Baltimore City. Documents that do not appear online can be requested from the Register of Wills office in the county where the estate is filed. For Prince George’s County specifically, see the Prince George’s County Register of Wills estate search guide.
Common Maryland probate search questions
Are Maryland probate records public?
Yes. Estate Search provides public internet access to information from estate records maintained by the Maryland Registers of Wills. Additional documents or details may require contacting the Register of Wills office where the estate is filed.
Are wills public record in Maryland?
A will filed with the Register of Wills after a death becomes part of that estate’s record, and copies can be requested. A will deposited with the Register for safekeeping by a living person is held by the office rather than published.
How do I get a copy of a will in Maryland?
Find the estate in Estate Search and note the estate number and county. Then request a copy through Estate Search or directly from that county’s Register of Wills office. Fees apply, and copy requests placed through Estate Search are non-refundable.
How can I find out if a house is in probate?
Look up the property’s owner of record in Maryland’s real property search. If the owner has died, search Estate Search for that name in the county where they lived. An open estate with a personal representative usually means the estate is being administered, and the house is often part of it. Two cautions: a house titled jointly or held in a trust can pass outside probate, so finding no estate does not mean no transfer is coming; and an owner who lived out of state may appear as an FP estate.
Can probate records show which estates own homes?
Not on their own. An estate docket is not a property database, so the property has to be connected from separate records. Bluebeam Signals delivers that connection for any Maryland county: each estate tied to the property the decedent owned, with the personal representative and their address of record. See how to find probate properties in Maryland.
About this guide: Search instructions are drawn from the Maryland Register of Wills Estate Search FAQ and glossary; check the official site if anything has changed. Bluebeam Signals compiles publicly available Maryland records and is not affiliated with the Register of Wills. It is not a consumer reporting agency, and its data may not be used for eligibility decisions covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Nothing here is legal advice.
