LMFT Licensure in Maryland: Requirements, Hours and Exams

Maryland does not put its independent tier behind the letters LMFT.

The pre-licensure license is the Licensed Graduate Marriage and Family Therapist (LGMFT); the independent clinical license is the Licensed Clinical Marriage and Family Therapist (LCMFT), the license Health Occupations §17-303(a) issues to practice clinical marriage and family therapy.

The LGMFT is a full license, not a registration or permit, but it is bounded: its holder practices clinical marriage and family therapy only under the supervision of a Board-approved marriage and family therapy supervisor while fulfilling the supervised-experience requirement.

The rule then closes the exits directly: no practicing independent of supervision, no providing supervision.

The clinical license builds on the same ladder: an LCMFT applicant must hold the graduate license or another Board-approved credential, and both tiers carry the exam requirements, so the practical difference between the two licenses is the supervised experience, not the tests.

The degree floor is a master's of at least 60 semester or 90 graduate quarter credit hours in marriage and family therapy or a substantially equivalent program; a doctoral applicant needs at least 90 semester or 135 quarter credit hours.

At least 45 graduate semester hours (68 quarter) must sit in the areas the rule lists, and the list is systemic: psychopathology with family-systems emphasis, diagnosis and treatment in family systems, surveys of the major family-therapy and couples-therapy models with at least three models of each, sexual issues in marriage and family therapy, and professional ethics.

The practicum is the number applicants miss: at least 60 hours under a Board-approved supervisor and 300 hours of direct client contact with couples, families and individuals, at least 100 of which are relational therapy.

The statute asks for a degree in a marriage and family field from an accredited educational institution rather than naming a program accreditor, and the definitions sweep in counseling and other mental-health practice areas, so an allied degree can qualify where the board judges it substantially equivalent.

The statute's sentence controls: not less than 2 years, a minimum of 2,000 hours of board-approved supervised experience in marriage and family therapy, and 2 of those years after the degree.

The rule then splits the hours.

At least 1,000 must be direct clinical therapy services: face-to-face counseling of individuals, groups, couples and families, plus evaluation, intake or assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning with a client, and crisis management or intervention.

At most 1,000 may be indirect: case management, record keeping, staff meetings, trainings and received supervision.

All 2,000 must be completed as an LGMFT, after the master's, under a Board-approved supervisor; at least 80 percent under an LCMFT and no more than 20 percent under another qualifying supervisor documenting 5 years delivering marriage and family therapy services.

On top sit the 100 face-to-face supervision hours, which must be completed within 2 years of the awarding of the master's degree, at least 50 individual and at most 50 group.

A client contact hour and a clinical supervision hour each mean at least 45 minutes of direct time.

Two exams, and both bite early: the graduate license applicant must already have passed a national certification exam approved by the Board and an examination of Health Occupations Article, Title 17 and the subtitle's regulations, the Maryland law exam, and the clinical license rule requires the same pair again.

None of the primary texts read names the national exam, so confirm with the board which test it currently accepts before you register.

The retake mechanics are narrow: an applicant who fails may retake within the time frame set by the applicable testing authority, or the board may approve a waiver extending the testing deadline on proof of exceptional circumstances; otherwise the applicant submits a new application and pays the nonrefundable fee.

Because the texts read set no standing number of attempts, build slack into the timeline and ask the board early.

A supervisor must be licensed by the board as a clinical marriage and family therapist, clinical professional counselor, clinical alcohol and drug counselor or clinical professional art therapist, or be another board-approved licensed mental health provider; the definitions reach the licensed certified social worker-clinical, psychiatrist, psychologist and psychiatric nurse practitioner.

The license alone is not enough: a supervisor documents 3 years of experience in clinical marriage and family therapy plus a listed supervision qualification, from 2 years supervising MFTs working systemically through AAMFT Approved Supervisor status, and 6 semester or 10 quarter credit hours of graduate training in theories of couples and family therapy.

Before supervision begins the supervisor files the board's application, hands you the approval letter, and must have held a license free of disciplinary restrictions for the preceding 2 years.

Video counts: the 100 face-to-face supervision hours, due within 2 years of the master's award, may be met in physical presence or synchronous video conferencing; telephone and non-video internet contact never count.

A relative, graduate-level licensee or conflict of interest may not supervise an LGMFT.

An applicant already licensed or certified as a clinical marriage and family therapist in another state, territory or jurisdiction gets a mandatory route: the Board shall waive the degree, education-documentation, experience and examination requirements of §17-303(d), (e), (f) and (h).

The waiver does not reach §17-303(g): the applicant still documents 2 years of postgraduate supervised clinical experience.

The conditions are clean-discipline conditions: no disciplinary action past or pending in any jurisdiction where the applicant is licensed, no act that would be grounds for discipline under §17-509, plus copies of every current license, an application and the fee.

The board may not require the national certification exam, though it may require an examination of Maryland's own title.

COMAR 10.58.08.06, last amended in 2022, still lists a national certification exam among its eligibility items and treats exam, course and experience waivers as discretionary (.06B, .06D–E); the statute makes endorsement mandatory and bars the exam, so the statute controls.

Out-of-jurisdiction hours may also count toward the 2,000 at the board's discretion.

There is no MFT interstate compact; endorsement is the route.

The CE rule is built around a two-year renewal period, which it defines as the 2 years immediately before the renewal date, and it requires a minimum of 40 CEUs in each period: at least 30 in Category A and no more than 10 in Category B, though all 40 may be Category A.

A CEU is 60 minutes of board-approved activity.

A renewal period shorter than 2 years carries a floor of 20 Category A CEUs.

Home study earns no credit, excess CEUs do not carry over, and documentation is kept for 4 years for possible board inspection.

The ethics-hour split within the 40 was not stated in the sources read.

One boundary the CE rule leaves open: the renewal term itself follows Health Occupations §17-504, which the sources read did not cover, so confirm your expiration date with the board rather than assuming a two-year license term.

The live issue is the statute-rule mismatch on endorsement.

Health Occupations §17-306 directs the board to waive the degree, experience and exam requirements of §17-303(d), (e), (f) and (h) for qualified out-of-state clinical MFTs, while leaving (g)'s postgraduate-experience documentation in place.

COMAR 10.58.08.06, last amended in 2022, still lists the national certification exam among its eligibility items, with exam, course and experience waivers left to board discretion (.06B, .06D–E); the statute makes the waiver mandatory and bars the exam, so the statute controls and this page cites it.

AAMFT's materials list Maryland among the 2024 Access MFT adopters, but the enactment year does not appear on the statute page read, so this page names no year.

Beyond that, the sections read name no 2023–2026 amendment to the MFT rules: the chapter's substantive rewrite, from definitions and the two license regulations to supervision standards and the new supervisor-qualification rule, took effect April 4, 2022 (49:7 Md.

R.

467).

The graduate license runs on a clock.

It expires 2 years after the date issued; an LGMFT who has not finished the clinical hours may apply on a board form for a 2-year extension before the current license expires, up to a maximum of 6 years, and the board may go beyond 6 in certain circumstances if the licensee notifies it in writing.

The first 2-year extension carries no CEU obligation; extensions after that fall under the continuing education rules.

If the license lapses, the board may reinstate it within 5 calendar years if the licensee completes the minimum 20 CEUs required for each year and pays the reinstatement fee; past 5 years, a new application under the current licensure requirements is the only way back.

For a graduate counting hours, the practical reading is that the 2,000-hour plan has to fit inside a six-year ceiling you must actively extend, while the 100 face-to-face supervision hours sit on their own clock, completed within 2 years of the master's award; reinstatement rules wait behind the ceiling.