http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178592.aspx RAISERROR (Transact-SQL) ... BEGIN TRY -- RAISERROR with severity 11-19 will cause execution to -- jump to the CATCH block. RAISERROR ('Error raised in TRY block.', -- Message text. 16, -- Severity. 1 -- State. ); END TRY BEGIN CATCH DECLARE @ErrorMessage NVARCHAR(4000); DECLARE @ErrorSeverity INT; DECLARE @ErrorState INT; SELECT @ErrorMessage = ERROR_MESSAGE(), @ErrorSeverity = ERROR_SEVERITY(), @ErrorState = ERROR_STATE(); -- Use RAISERROR inside the CATCH block to return error -- information about the original error that caused -- execution to jump to the CATCH block. RAISERROR (@ErrorMessage, -- Message text. @ErrorSeverity, -- Severity. @ErrorState -- State. ); END CATCH; ...