The
Howard County Sheriff’s Office accepts Circuit Court documents for civil
process service in Howard County, MD, as well as documents from out of state
Courts. The fee for all Maryland Court documents served is $40 per defendant
per each address, and $60 for out of state documents served per defendant per
each address. All District Court documents must be processed by the Civil
Clerks in the original jurisdiction and will be sent to the Howard County
Sheriff’s Office for service.
The
Howard County Sheriff’s Office will only accept documents for service if the
defendant is believed to reside or work in Howard County, MD. Documents for
service outside of Howard County must be sent to the appropriate County
Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office will only accept civil process if the
expiration date on the document is two (2) weeks away or more. Usually, the
Court gives the Sheriff’s Office sixty (60) days to attempt service. If the Sheriff’s
Office is unable to serve a document on a defendant, the Office will refund
half of the service fee by mailing a check to the address provided by the
customer requesting service. The Sheriff’s Office only accepts payment for
service by personal check, cashier’s check, or money order. Cash, credit cards,
and starter checks are not accepted. All forms of payment are to be payable
to:
Howard
County Sheriff’s Office.
If payment is made in person at the Sheriff’s
Office, a receipt will be provided. Valid ID is required when dropping off
documents for service and we ask for a phone number in case we have a question
about the service.
Once
the Sheriff’s Office accepts documents for service, it usually takes three (3)
business days to assign them to a uniformed Deputy for service in Howard
County. When the Deputy attempts service at a residence or employer, they make
every reasonable effort to personally serve the defendant named on the
document.
After
the document is served, the assigned Deputy will complete a
RETURN
and that document will be mailed by the Sheriff’s Office to the appropriate
Court named in the civil action. If, after numerous attempts for service, the
documents cannot be served, the assigned Deputy will complete a
NON-EST
RETURN
to the appropriate Court, and a refund check will be mailed
to the requesting party for service. If the assigned Deputy believes the
defendant is purposefully evading service of the document, the Deputy will
complete an
EVASION of SERVICE RETURN to the appropriate Court.
A customer may call the
Howard County Sheriff’s Office to check on the status of their requested
document service by calling:
410-313-4168 and speaking to the Clerk
assigned to data entry of all papers. If a customer leaves a detailed message
and return phone number, the Clerk will return all telephone inquiries in a
timely manner. An additional phone number to call is the Duty Officer at:
410-313-4150.