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Chaves County, NM Probate Information
Quick facts
| Detail | Chaves County Probate Court | Fifth Judicial District Court |
|---|---|---|
| What it handles | Informal, uncontested probate only: admitting a will to probate, appointing a personal representative, appointing a special administrator, and the closing statement that ends the case (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(C)). The Fifth Judicial District's own description of the probate courts puts it plainly: "Informal probate; Estate (Hears uncontested cases. Contested cases go to district court)." | Every formal and contested probate matter, exclusively: formal testacy and formal appointment, supervised administration, determination of heirs, will construction and will contests, title disputes between the estate and an adverse claimant, trusts and disclaimers (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). It may also take an informal probate (Section 45-1-302.1). There is no separate probate department and no probate judge; the clerk's office lists probate among the civil case types it files and processes. |
| Courthouse address | Chaves County Clerk's Office, 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, Roswell, NM 88203. The county clerk is the clerk of the probate court (Section 34-7-22(A)) and Chaves County lists no separate probate department. | Chaves County District Court, 400 N. Virginia Ave., Roswell, NM 88201. |
| Mailing address | Chaves County Clerk's Office, 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, Roswell, NM 88203. The county publishes no PO Box for the clerk. | Chaves County District Court, 400 N. Virginia Ave., Roswell, NM 88201. The Fifth Judicial District publishes a separate mailing address for its Eddy and Lea county courts but none for Chaves, so mail goes to the street address. Court Administration, which is a different office, is at Suite 127 and uses PO Box 1776, Roswell 88202. |
| Phone | (575) 624-6614 is the Chaves County Clerk's Office line and is the practical number for a probate filing. The county's Probates and Record and Filing pages give the county switchboard, 575-624-6600, and the county staff directory lists a separate Probate Judge line, (575) 623-2288. | 575-622-2212, the Chaves County District Court clerk's line published on the district's Location, Hours and Contacts page. |
| Fax | 575-624-6523, the Chaves County Clerk's Office fax. The county does not say it accepts a probate filing by fax, so do not send one without calling first. | The district publishes no fax number for the Chaves County District Court on its contacts page. It does publish an email intake for that court, which its own page labels for records requests, filings by self-represented parties and other non-e-filed filings; the address is on the district's Location, Hours and Contacts page, or call 575-622-2212. |
| Hours | 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, with no lunch closure published. Note the county's own recording cutoff: documents received after 4:30 p.m. are recorded the following business day, which matters if you are also recording a deed or an affidavit. | 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, closed during the lunch hour. The court adds its own warning: no financial transactions after 4:30 p.m., so arrive before then if you are paying a filing fee. |
| Filing fee | $30 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). The Chaves County Clerk publishes it on its own fee page as an initial filing fee and marks it non-refundable. The county publishes no payee and no list of accepted payment types, so ask at the counter before you write a check. | $132 to open a civil case, which is what a formal probate is: $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus the $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)). The district's own table has a probate line, "Civil and Probate Cases (New and Reopened) $132.00". No second filing fee is charged if a case properly filed in the probate court is later transferred up (Section 34-7-10(B)). |
| Payment accepted | Not published. The county publishes probate fees but no payment method and no payee. Call (575) 624-6614 before you travel. | In the court's own words: "Personal checks are not accepted. Acceptable forms of payment are: cash, cashier's check, money orders, and credit cards." The Fifth Judicial District and the magistrate courts in it began taking credit and debit cards at the counter and online, which makes this district more flexible than several others in New Mexico. |
| Local forms | A printed probate packet, with or without a will, sold by the County Clerk for $5. Otherwise the statewide Form 4B set. The county adds one formatting instruction of its own: when printing probate documents from the Supreme Court website, print single sided only. | None of its own for probate. Its forms library hosts the complete statewide Form 4B set under the heading "Probate Forms for Chaves County, Eddy County & Lea County", together with the New Mexico courts' plain-language probate guide and its Diné (Navajo) translation. |
| E-filing | None. Probate court filing is on paper, at the counter or by mail. The electronic filing system is defined for the district courts only (Rule 1-005.2(A)(3) NMRA), and the Probate Court Rules, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA, contain no electronic filing rule. The original will has to arrive physically, and the Chaves County Clerk asks for the original death certificate too. | eFile & Serve, Tyler's Odyssey File & Serve, at newmexico.tylertech.cloud/ofsweb. It is mandatory for attorneys (Rule 1-005.2 NMRA). Self-represented parties are prohibited from e-filing and file on paper; the clerk converts the paper filing into electronic form (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) and (I)(2) NMRA). |
| Case search | No online index of probate cases. Chaves County Probate Court records are county records held by the clerk of the probate court (Section 34-7-7); ask the Chaves County Clerk's Office for a case file or a certified copy. The county does run an online public document search through Tyler, but that indexes recorded documents such as deeds and plats, by instrument number from December 2, 2019 to the present and by book and page from July 1, 1987 to November 27, 2019. It is not a probate docket. | New Mexico Courts Case Lookup, caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup, indexes district, magistrate, metropolitan and municipal court cases. There is no probate court option in its court-type filter, and it is an index only, with no document images. The district separately publishes a Chaves County District Court hearing docket covering the current day plus six days ahead. |
| Remote appearance | Not applicable. An informal probate is decided on the papers and there is no hearing to attend. | Set case by case. The district publishes courtroom conduct rules but no general remote-appearance policy for civil cases, so whether a probate hearing is held in person or by video is set by the assigned judge in the notice of hearing. If you do attend in person, note that the district screens everyone entering its courthouses and bars knives, scissors and anything with a cutting edge, and that only members of the judiciary, court staff, attorneys and peace officers may carry a cell phone into a courtroom. |
| Website | chavescounty.gov/your-county/departments/clerk-s-office/probates | fifthdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you pick a form or a counter in Chaves County, work out what the estate actually holds and who is entitled to it. The verified application that opens an informal probate has to state the decedent's date of death, age, and county and state of domicile at death, and it has to name the surviving spouse, children, heirs and devisees with their addresses (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-301). You are swearing to it: by verifying the application you submit personally to the court's jurisdiction in any later proceeding for fraud or perjury (Section 45-3-301(G)). The Chaves County Clerk's own Probates page is short and specific about what it wants at the counter, and it asks for the original death certificate and the original will, not copies, so those have to be in hand before the trip.
The same inventory decides whether you need a probate at all. Accounts with a payable on death beneficiary, property held in joint tenancy and real estate covered by a recorded transfer on death deed pass outside probate entirely, and a surviving spouse with a community-property home may be able to record an affidavit with the Chaves County Clerk instead of opening a case (Section 45-3-1205). So list every bank and credit union account, retirement and brokerage account, life insurance policy, vehicle, mineral or royalty interest, farm or ranch parcel and Roswell property, along with every debt, before you file. Sunset's asset-discovery work, which searches more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step.
Which court handles jurisdiction
New Mexico probate is filed in the county where the person lived at the time of death (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-201(A)(1)). If the person was not a New Mexico resident, it is filed in any New Mexico county where they owned property at the time of death (Section 45-3-201(A)(2)). Both courts on this page serve the whole of Chaves County, which is Roswell along with Dexter, Hagerman and Lake Arthur and the ranching country around them.
Within Chaves County you have a choice of court. The Chaves County Probate Court takes an informal, uncontested probate, and the Fifth Judicial District Court takes anything formal or contested and may also take an informal probate (Sections 45-1-302 and 45-1-302.1). Almost everyone who handles a Chaves County estate without a lawyer uses the probate court, because it costs $30 rather than $132 (Sections 34-7-14, 34-6-40 and 34-6-45), it takes walk-in paper filings at the county clerk's counter, and Section 34-7-10(B) means there is no second filing fee if the case has to move up. The Chaves County Probate Court is a county office within New Mexico's judicial branch, funded by the county (Section 34-7-4), and the probate judge is an elected, part-time county official (Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2). Its clerk is the Chaves County Clerk (Section 34-7-22(A)), which is why the county's probate information sits on the Clerk's Office pages and why the counter you walk up to is the clerk's.
The Fifth Judicial District Court is a state court and covers three counties: Eddy, Chaves and Lea (Section 34-6-1). That is an administrative fact, not a venue rule. A Chaves County estate is filed in Chaves County, and the district keeps a staffed clerk's counter in Roswell at 400 N. Virginia Ave., so nobody has to drive to Carlsbad or Lovington to open a formal case. Two Roswell addresses are easy to confuse. The probate counter is at 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, on the county side. The district court is at 400 N. Virginia Ave., and the same building holds the Roswell Magistrate Court, also called the Chaves County Magistrate Court, in Suite G-1. The magistrate court has no probate jurisdiction at all; nothing about an estate is filed there.
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm the case belongs in Chaves County and check the timing. Venue is the county of domicile at death, or a county where a non-resident owned property (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-201(A)). Nothing can be granted for the first 120 hours after the death (Sections 45-3-302 and 45-3-307(A)), and a probate is normally opened within three years of the death (Section 45-3-108). The Chaves County Clerk states both limits in one line on its Probates page: the death must not have occurred less than 120 hours and no more than 3 years from the time of filing.
- Choose your forum. If nobody is fighting, there is a will or a clear set of heirs, and you only need authority to act, file informally at the Chaves County Probate Court through the County Clerk's Office, 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, Roswell. If you need a determination of heirs, a ruling on whether a will is valid, a court order about who owns something, supervised administration, or anything with a hearing, that is exclusively the Fifth Judicial District Court at 400 N. Virginia Ave. (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)).
- Gather what the Chaves County counter asks for. The county publishes the list: an application for informal probate, the original death certificate, and the last will and testament if the decedent had one. The original, apparently unrevoked will must be in the court's possession before it can be probated (Section 45-3-303(A)(5)). Bring the names, addresses and, for minors, ages of the surviving spouse, children, heirs and devisees (Section 45-3-301).
- Get the forms. Buy the county's printed probate packet from the Chaves County Clerk for $5, with or without a will, or download the statewide equivalents from nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate: Form 4B-301 for an estate with no will and Form 4B-302 where there is a will, with the matching orders at Forms 4B-303 and 4B-304 and the acceptance at Form 4B-305. The Fifth Judicial District hosts the same set in its own forms library. Follow the county's printing instruction: when printing probate documents from the Supreme Court website, print single sided only.
- File on paper and pay the fee. Take the application, order, acceptance and proposed letters to the Chaves County Clerk's counter at 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, or mail them to the same address, and pay the $30 filing fee (Section 34-7-14), which the county marks non-refundable. There is no e-filing at any New Mexico probate court. The county publishes no payee and no list of accepted payment types, so call (575) 624-6614 first. If you cannot afford the fee, ask for free process on Form 4B-201, affidavit of poverty and indigency, with the order at Form 4B-202 (Section 34-6-27(B)).
- Let the court review and docket the case. An informal probate is decided on the papers and does not require a hearing; the probate judge signs the order and the court issues letters testamentary where there is a will (Form 4B-307) or letters of administration where there is not (Form 4B-306). Administration of the estate begins with the issuance of letters (Section 45-3-103), and you qualify by filing your acceptance of the duties of the office first (Section 45-3-601). The court may also decline an informal appointment for any reason, which is not an adjudication and does not stop you filing formally (Section 45-3-309). Buy the certified copies of the letters you will need for banks and title companies while you are there: Chaves County charges 15 cents a page for probate copies and 50 cents to certify a document.
- Tell the family within 30 days. Not later than 30 days after appointment the personal representative must give written notice of the appointment to the heirs and devisees, by delivery or ordinary mail, and must file a statement with the court naming who was notified (Section 45-3-705). Use Form 4B-401 for the notice and Form 4B-402 for the proof.
- Prepare an inventory within three months of appointment, listing each item with its date-of-death value and any encumbrance (Section 45-3-706). You must send a copy to any interested person who asks for one. Filing it with the court is optional in New Mexico, not required. Form 4B-601.
- Deal with creditors. Publishing a notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks in a Chaves County newspaper of general circulation is permitted, not required, and it starts a four-month claim window (Section 45-3-801, Form 4B-501). Whether or not you publish, claims that arose before the death are barred one year after the death (Section 45-3-803).
- Transfer any real estate at the county clerk, not the court. An informally appointed personal representative has the same power over the title to estate property that an absolute owner would have, exercisable without notice, hearing or court order (Section 45-3-711(A), and Section 45-3-715(A)(23) for sales), so a Roswell house or a Chaves County ranch parcel is conveyed by a personal representative's deed recorded with the Chaves County Clerk in the same building at 1 St. Mary's Place. Recording is $25 per document under Section 14-8-15, with another $25 for each additional block of ten or fewer index entries, and anything handed in after 4:30 p.m. is recorded the next business day. What the probate court cannot do is decide a dispute about that title; that is the district court's, in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)).
- If it turns contested, the case moves up. If anyone contests the will, if the heirs are in dispute, if a formal appointment or formal closing is requested, if a determination of testacy or heirship is needed, or if any hearing is required, the matter goes to the Fifth Judicial District Court (Section 45-1-302; Rule 1B-101(B)(2) NMRA), on Form 4B-1001, order transferring case from probate court to district court. A disqualified or interested probate judge transfers the proceeding the same way (Section 34-7-9). Section 34-7-10(B) is the reason this is safe: if the case was properly filed in the probate court and is later transferred, no filing fee is charged in the district court. A pending formal case in the district court also freezes the probate court, which may not act on an informal application while it is pending (Section 45-3-401(C)).
- Close the estate. After the property is distributed, file a verified closing statement with the appointing court no earlier than six months after the original appointment (Section 45-3-1003, Form 4B-701; Form 4B-702 is the small-estate version). If no proceedings involving the personal representative are pending in the district court one year after the closing statement is filed, the appointment terminates. Outside supervised administration, which is district court only, there is no routine annual accounting to the court in New Mexico.
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Chaves County
Chaves County publishes no probate forms of its own. What it does publish is a printed packet and a short, useful list of what the counter expects, both on the County Clerk's Probates page.
| Item | What it is |
|---|---|
| Chaves County probate packet, $5 | A printed packet sold by the Chaves County Clerk, priced the same with or without a will. It is the county's only local probate product (Chaves County Clerk fee page, verified July 27, 2026). |
| What the counter asks for | The county's own list: an application for informal probate, the original death certificate, and the last will and testament if the decedent had one. |
| Single-sided printing | The county's one formatting rule: when printing probate documents from the Supreme Court website, print single sided only. Worth following, because a double-sided packet can be handed back. |
| Timing stated at the counter | The county repeats the statutory window on the same page: the death must not have occurred less than 120 hours and no more than 3 years before filing (NMSA 1978, Sections 45-3-302 and 45-3-108). |
Everything else is the statewide set. The New Mexico Supreme Court's Form 4B series lives at nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate, is cited as Form 4B-302 NMRA, and is used with the Probate Court Rules, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA. The ones a Chaves County filer meets are 4B-301 and 4B-302 (application, without and with a will), 4B-303 and 4B-304 (the orders), 4B-305 (acceptance of appointment), 4B-306 and 4B-307 (letters of administration and letters testamentary), 4B-401 and 4B-402 (notice of appointment and proof of notice), 4B-501 (notice to creditors), 4B-601 (inventory), 4B-602 (accounting), 4B-701 and 4B-702 (closing statements), 4B-801 and 4B-802 (proof of authority), 4B-901 to 4B-904 (special administration), 4B-201 and 4B-202 (free process) and 4B-1001 (order transferring a case to the district court). The whole set was renumbered by Supreme Court Order No. 18-8300-014, effective for cases pending or filed on or after December 31, 2018, so older numbering you find elsewhere is superseded.
You do not have to go to the state site to get them. The Fifth Judicial District hosts the complete 4B set in its own forms library under the heading "Probate Forms for Chaves County, Eddy County & Lea County", along with the New Mexico courts' plain-language probate guide and its Diné (Navajo) translation, at fifthdistrict.nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate. That library serves both forums: the same 4B forms are filed on paper at the county clerk's counter for an informal case and at the district court for a formal one.
There is no statewide 4B form for the small-estate affidavit or for the surviving spouse's homestead affidavit, no waiver or renunciation form (consent is a signature block inside Forms 4B-301 and 4B-302), no proof-of-publication form (the newspaper supplies its own affidavit) and no notice-of-hearing form, because the 4B set is informal-only and contested matters transfer out on Form 4B-1001.
Fees
Chaves County is one of the New Mexico counties that publishes a real probate fee list rather than leaving the reader with the statutory figure alone. All amounts below were read from the two offices' own pages on July 27, 2026.
| Charge | Amount | Office and authority |
|---|---|---|
| Probate case, initial filing fee, non-refundable | $30 | Chaves County Clerk (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). The county's own fee page cites Sections 34-7-14 and 34-7-15; Section 34-7-15 was repealed by Laws 2023, ch. 44, effective July 1, 2023, so Section 34-7-14 is the live authority |
| Probate packet, with or without a will | $5 | Chaves County Clerk |
| Probate copies | 15 cents per page | Chaves County Clerk. The statutory ceiling for a probate clerk's document copies is $1.00 per page (Section 14-8-14(B)) |
| Certifying a probate copy | 50 cents per document | Chaves County Clerk |
| Clerk's certificate | $4.00 on the clerk's fee page, $1.50 on the county's Probates page | Chaves County Clerk. The county's two pages disagree, and the Probates page also lists an exemplification certificate at $1.50. Confirm the current figure at the counter |
| Recording a document, including a personal representative's deed or a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit | $25 per document, plus $25 for each additional block of ten or fewer index entries | Chaves County Clerk, effective July 1, 2019 (Section 14-8-15). Plats and surveys are $25 regardless of entry count (Section 14-8-16(D)) |
| Certification of a recorded document | $1.00 | Chaves County Clerk |
| Copies of recorded documents | 50 cents if you make them, $1.00 if staff make them, $3.00 for a survey or plat | Chaves County Clerk |
| Civil and probate cases, new and reopened | $132 | Fifth Judicial District Court fee table. It is $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus the $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)) |
| Photocopies at the district court | 35 cents per page | Fifth Judicial District Court fee table (Rule 1-099 NMRA) |
| Certification at the district court | $1.50 per seal | Fifth Judicial District Court fee table (Rule 1-099 NMRA) |
Two things about paying. First, the district court is explicit and the county is silent. The Fifth Judicial District publishes: "Personal checks are not accepted. Acceptable forms of payment are: cash, cashier's check, money orders, and credit cards." It is one of the New Mexico districts that has started taking credit and debit cards at the counter as well as online. The Chaves County Clerk publishes probate fees but no payment methods and no payee, so call (575) 624-6614 before you make out a check, and remember the $30 is marked non-refundable once the case is filed. Second, watch the clocks: the district court takes no financial transactions after 4:30 p.m., and the county clerk records nothing handed in after 4:30 p.m. until the next business day.
If you cannot afford the fee, New Mexico's route is called free process, not a fee waiver motion. At the probate court it is Form 4B-201, affidavit of poverty and indigency, with Form 4B-202, order allowing free process. At the district court it runs under Rule 23-114 NMRA on Forms 4-222 to 4-224, with presumptive indigency for public-assistance recipients or income at or below 185 per cent of the federal poverty guidelines (Section 34-6-27(B)). And if the probate court transfers a properly filed case up to the district court, no filing fee is charged in the district court at all (Section 34-7-10(B)).
Local nuance
Chaves County-specific considerations
| Local fact | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| The probate counter is the county clerk's window, not a courtroom | Chaves County lists eighteen departments and none of them is a probate court. Probate sits under the Clerk's Office, because the county clerk is the clerk of the probate court by statute (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)), and the Clerk's Office describes maintaining probate court records as one of its core duties. So you file, pay and collect certified copies at 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, and the elected probate judge signs the order behind the counter rather than hearing you in a courtroom. |
| The county publishes its probate prices, which most do not | The Chaves County Clerk's Record and Filing page carries a probate block: $5 packet, $30 non-refundable initial filing fee, 15 cents a page for copies, 50 cents to certify. That is unusually specific for a New Mexico county and it means you can budget the certified copies the banks will ask for before you leave home. One caveat: the clerk's fee page prices a clerk's certificate at $4.00 while the county's Probates page prices it at $1.50, so confirm that one figure at the counter. |
| Two Roswell buildings, and a third counter inside one of them | The probate filing counter is at 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110. The Fifth Judicial District Court is at 400 N. Virginia Ave., a different address on the other side of town. Inside that second building, in Suite G-1, is the Roswell Magistrate Court, also signed as the Chaves County Magistrate Court, which handles small civil claims and misdemeanors and has no probate jurisdiction at all. Court Administration is a fourth office again, in Suite 127. |
| The district court closes for lunch and stops taking money at 4:30 | The Chaves County District Court is open 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, closed during the lunch hour, and it publishes that there are no financial transactions after 4:30 p.m. The county clerk's counter, by contrast, publishes 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with no lunch closure, though its recording cutoff is also 4:30 p.m. If you are doing both errands in one day, do the district court first. |
| Personal checks are refused at the district court, and cards are taken | The Fifth Judicial District publishes that personal checks are not accepted and that cash, cashier's checks, money orders and credit cards are. Several New Mexico districts refuse cards as well as personal checks; this one does not, and it has extended card payment to online as well as counter transactions. The county side publishes nothing about payment for probate, so ask. |
| The district court is shared with Eddy and Lea counties but staffed in Roswell | The Fifth Judicial District covers Eddy, Chaves and Lea (Section 34-6-1), and in some New Mexico multi-county districts the smaller county's courthouse takes no filings. That is not the case here: the Chaves County District Court has its own clerk's counter, its own hours and its own phone line, 575-622-2212, at 400 N. Virginia Ave. A formal Chaves County probate is filed in Roswell, not in Carlsbad or Lovington. |
| Some probate records at the district court are sequestered | The Fifth Judicial District's own description of its clerk's office says that adoption, mental illness and some probate matters are sequestered records that are not open to the public. So do not assume a formal probate file in Roswell can be pulled over the counter by anyone who asks. Cases are randomly assigned to a district judge on filing unless a court rule says otherwise. |
| There is no walk-in self-help center in the Fifth Judicial District | The district has a Self-Representation section on its site, but its Self Help Center page is written guidance about case types and how the clerk's office works rather than a staffed window with hours, and it publishes no self-help phone line. For live help a Chaves County filer uses the New Mexico Courts HelpLine on 1-855-268-7804 or the State Bar's free helpline for residents aged 55 and over. |
Small-estate Alternatives
The New Mexico small-estate routes are statewide and are covered on the New Mexico state page. Two of them finish at a Chaves County counter rather than at either court, which is worth knowing before you open a case you may not need.
A surviving spouse's homestead affidavit for a community-property homestead is recorded with the county clerk in the county where the home is, six months after the death, and no probate or administration is needed (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-1205). In Chaves County that is the Chaves County Clerk's recording counter at 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, at $25 per document under Section 14-8-15, with anything handed in after 4:30 p.m. recorded the next business day. The value cap in that statute is measured as assessed for property taxation purposes, not market value, so the figure to check is on the Chaves County Assessor's roll rather than a listing price.
The small-estate affidavit for personal property under Section 45-3-1201 is not filed with any court and carries no court fee. You present it to the bank, transfer agent or other holder of the property. Neither court on this page takes it, there is no statewide 4B form for it, and the New Mexico courts' own guide calls it an affidavit of successor in interest. It cannot be used to perfect title to real estate (Section 45-3-1201(C)), so a Chaves County house or ranch parcel still needs either a probate or one of the non-probate transfer routes.
Recent updates
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| November 3, 2026 and January 1, 2027 | The Chaves County probate judge is an elected county official and the position is part-time (NMSA 1978, Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2). Every New Mexico probate judgeship, Chaves County's included, is on the ballot on November 3, 2026, and the winner takes office on January 1, 2027. Address correspondence to the office rather than to a person, and expect any name you find in a directory to change. | NMSA 1978, Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2; Chaves County staff directory, chavescounty.gov |
| July 1, 2023 | The Chaves County Clerk's published probate fee block cites Sections 34-7-14 and 34-7-15. Section 34-7-15 was repealed by Laws 2023, ch. 44, effective July 1, 2023, in the overhaul that rewrote the probate court statutes. The $30 fee itself is unaffected and remains set by Section 34-7-14. | Chaves County Clerk Record and Filing page; NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14 and Laws 2023, ch. 44 |
| Current practice | The Fifth Judicial District and the magistrate courts within it now accept credit and debit card payments at the counter as well as online, while continuing to refuse personal checks. Accepted forms are cash, cashier's check, money orders and credit cards. | Fees, Costs and Filings and Now Accepting Credit/Debit Cards, fifthdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Chaves County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | A Roswell home held in joint tenancy passes to the survivor outside probate, and title is cleared at the Chaves County Clerk's recording counter at 1 St. Mary's Place rather than at either court. Where the home was community property and the other conditions are met, a surviving spouse can record a homestead affidavit six months after the death and skip probate altogether (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-1205). Accounts and property in the deceased spouse's sole name may still need a probate. Where they do, the surviving spouse applies informally at the Chaves County Probate Court through the same clerk's office for $30 (Section 34-7-14); a surviving spouse who is a devisee has priority for appointment, and a surviving spouse who is not still ranks ahead of other heirs (Section 45-3-203(A)). There is no hearing. | Asset discovery to separate survivorship and beneficiary property from sole-name assets, which is what decides whether a probate is needed at all. Packet generation for the Chaves County application, order, acceptance and letters, ready to take to Suite 110 with the original will and death certificate. Guidance on the recording step at the same clerk's office and on the assessed-value test in the homestead statute. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | If the parent was domiciled in Chaves County, that is where the case belongs (Section 45-3-201(A)(1)), even though the child is not. If the whole estate is small enough and there is no real estate, the Section 45-3-1201 affidavit is presented directly to the bank or transfer agent 30 days after the death, with no court, no filing and no fee. Where a probate is needed, the informal application can be mailed to the Chaves County Clerk's Office at 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, Roswell 88203 with the $30 fee. There is no e-filing at any New Mexico probate court and no hearing to attend, so the trip is usually avoidable, but the original will and the original death certificate have to physically reach the counter, so they are mailed or carried. | Asset discovery to establish whether the estate clears the affidavit route or needs letters. Packet generation for a mail-in Chaves County filing, including the Section 45-3-705 notice to heirs and devisees due within 30 days of appointment and the proof of notice on Form 4B-402. Help working out how many certified copies of the letters to order at 15 cents a page plus 50 cents each, so a second trip is not needed. |
| Parent settling a predeceased child's estate, home must be sold | A parent is an heir where the child left no spouse or descendants, and ranks after any devisees and the surviving spouse in the appointment order (Section 45-3-203(A)). If nobody objects, the parent applies informally at the Chaves County Probate Court and, once letters issue, has the same power over the title to the house that an absolute owner would have, exercisable without notice, hearing or court order (Sections 45-3-711(A) and 45-3-715(A)(23)), so the sale closes on a personal representative's deed recorded with the Chaves County Clerk at $25 per document. If a sibling, a co-owner or a creditor disputes who owns the house, only the Fifth Judicial District Court can decide it, in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)), and the probate court transfers the case up on Form 4B-1001 with no second filing fee (Section 34-7-10(B)). | Asset discovery to surface the mortgage, liens, unpaid property tax and any recorded interest against the Chaves County parcel before the sale is agreed. Packet generation for the informal application and for the closing statement due no earlier than six months after appointment (Section 45-3-1003). A vetted Chaves County probate attorney if the title question goes to the district court. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Chaves County Clerk's Office, Probates (1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, Roswell, (575) 624-6614) | The probate filing counter and the clerk of the probate court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)). Its Probates page lists what to bring, the 120-hour and three-year timing limits and the probate fees; its Record and Filing page carries the full fee schedule including recording. Open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. It sells the $5 probate packet and issues certified copies of letters. |
| Chaves County Clerk online public document search (chavescounty.gov/your-county/departments/clerk-s-office/public-document-search) | The county's Tyler-hosted index of recorded documents, searchable by instrument number from December 2, 2019 to the present and by book and page from July 1, 1987 to November 27, 2019. Use it to check a deed, a mortgage or a recorded affidavit against a Chaves County parcel. It is not a probate case docket. |
| Fifth Judicial District Court, Chaves County (400 N. Virginia Ave., Roswell, 575-622-2212, fifthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | Location, Hours and Contacts for all three counties in the district; Fees, Costs and Filings with the civil and probate fee line and the payment rules; Courtroom Rules and Conduct with the security screening list; and the Chaves County District Court hearing docket, which shows the current day plus six days ahead. Open 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., closed for lunch, no financial transactions after 4:30 p.m. |
| Fifth Judicial District probate forms library (fifthdistrict.nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate) | The complete statewide Form 4B set published locally under the heading "Probate Forms for Chaves County, Eddy County & Lea County", plus the New Mexico courts' plain-language probate guide and its Diné (Navajo) translation. The same forms are used in both forums. |
| New Mexico Courts HelpLine (1-855-268-7804) | The judiciary's own information service, Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in English and Spanish with interpreters available. It provides court-approved forms and explains what a form is asking for, and points to free or low-cost legal services. It cannot tell you what to write on a form (Rule 23-113 NMRA). This is the closest thing to a self-help desk available to a Chaves County filer, because the Fifth Judicial District runs no staffed walk-in center. |
| New Mexico Courts statewide probate forms (nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate) | The Supreme Court's complete Form 4B series, plus the plain-language probate guide and a Diné (Navajo) translation. Print single sided, as the Chaves County Clerk asks. |
| New Mexico Courts Case Lookup (caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup) | The free public index for Fifth Judicial District Court cases, along with magistrate, metropolitan and municipal courts. It has no probate court option, so a Chaves County Probate Court case will not appear there; ask the county clerk for those records instead. |
| Legal Resources for the Elderly Program, State Bar of New Mexico (505-797-6005 or 1-800-876-6657) | A free statewide helpline for New Mexico residents aged 55 and older with no income restrictions, whose published advice areas expressly include probate, powers of attorney, transfer on death deeds and general estate planning. Phone lines are open and accepting voicemails Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Mountain Time. |
| Modest Means Helpline, State Bar of New Mexico (505-797-6013 or 888-857-9935) | Advice by phone for New Mexico residents of modest means, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Callers aged 55 or older are directed to the elderly program instead. The State Bar's Online Bar Directory and New Mexico Free Legal Answers at nm.freelegalanswers.org are the routes to a private attorney. |
| New Mexico Legal Aid (1-833-545-4357) and its Volunteer Attorney Program (1-877-266-9861) | Statewide intake Monday through Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for households at or below 125 per cent of the federal poverty guidelines, and one of its ten offices is in Roswell. Probate is not one of its staff practice areas; it reaches probate through the Volunteer Attorney Program's free one-time consultations at scheduled clinics, for households at or below 200 per cent of the guidelines. |
| New Mexico Supreme Court Law Library (505-827-4850, [email protected]) | Statutes, rules and forms for the public, and the library the Fifth Judicial District points its self-represented filers to alongside nmonesource.com, the Compilation Commission's free official text of NMSA 1978 and the rules. Neither gives legal advice. |
When to hire an attorney
Most uncontested Chaves County estates are handled without a lawyer, which is what the probate court is for, and the county clerk's staff can hand you the packet and take your money but cannot tell you what to write in it (Rule 23-113 NMRA). Counsel makes particular sense in Chaves County when a will's validity or the identity of the heirs is in doubt, because only the Fifth Judicial District Court can decide either (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(A)); when someone claims an interest in estate property adverse to the estate, which is again district court only in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)); when the estate holds a farm, a ranch, oil and gas or mineral and royalty interests, or land in more than one county, all of which are ordinary in southeastern New Mexico and none of which a $5 packet is built for; when a deed has to be drafted, which the New Mexico courts' own guide warns can be very tricky to draft and execute properly; when the estate looks insolvent or creditors are pressing; and whenever the probate judge declines an informal appointment, which the judge may do for any reason without deciding anything (Section 45-3-309). An attorney also brings e-filing with them, since attorneys must e-file at the district court while self-represented parties are prohibited from doing so (Rule 1-005.2 NMRA). Sunset can connect families to a vetted Chaves County probate attorney when the situation calls for counsel.
How Sunset helps
Find the accounts and assets. At the start of estate settlement, Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Chaves County real estate, mineral and royalty interests, business interests and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds before you file. In New Mexico that picture does real work: it decides whether a probate is needed at all or whether a non-probate route will do; it fills the verified application you have to swear to (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-301); and it is the basis of the inventory due within three months of appointment (Section 45-3-706).
Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the Chaves County filing: the application, order, acceptance and proposed letters in the form the clerk expects, with the heirs and devisees named and addressed, ready to take to 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110 or mail there with the $30 fee (Section 34-7-14), plus the notice of appointment and proof of notice due within 30 days (Section 45-3-705) and the closing statement due no earlier than six months in (Section 45-3-1003).
Find a local probate attorney. When a will is contested, when the heirs are in dispute, when someone claims the house or the acreage against the estate, or when the case has to move to the Fifth Judicial District Court on Form 4B-1001, Sunset connects families to a vetted Chaves County probate attorney who can file, e-file and appear.
Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).
Frequently asked questions
Where do I file probate in Chaves County?
At one of two Roswell counters, depending on the case. An informal, uncontested probate is filed on paper with the Chaves County Clerk's Office at 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, Roswell 88203, open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, or mailed to the same address; the county clerk is the clerk of the Chaves County Probate Court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)). Anything formal or contested is filed at the Fifth Judicial District Court, 400 N. Virginia Ave., Roswell 88201. You file in Chaves County if the person who died lived here at the time of death, or lived outside New Mexico but owned property here (Section 45-3-201(A)).
Do I file in the Chaves County Probate Court or the Fifth Judicial District Court?
Both courts can open an informal probate (Section 45-1-302.1), so you have a genuine choice, but only the district court can do anything formal or contested (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). Use the probate court if nobody is objecting, there is a will or a clear set of heirs, and you just need the legal authority to act: it costs $30 rather than $132, it takes walk-in paper filings at the county clerk's window, and there is no hearing. Use the district court if you need a determination of heirs, a ruling on whether a will is valid, a court order about who owns something, supervised administration, or any hearing. If you start in the probate court and it turns contested, the case transfers up on Form 4B-1001 and no second filing fee is charged (Section 34-7-10(B)), which is why starting in the probate court is low-risk.
How much does it cost to file probate in Chaves County?
$30 for a probate case, which the Chaves County Clerk publishes as a non-refundable initial filing fee (Section 34-7-14). Beyond that the county charges $5 for its printed probate packet, 15 cents a page for probate copies and 50 cents to certify a document, and prices a clerk's certificate at $4.00 on its fee page and $1.50 on its Probates page, so confirm that one at the counter. At the Fifth Judicial District Court a civil case, which is what a formal probate is, costs $132: $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus a $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)), on a fee line the court itself labels civil and probate cases. If you cannot afford either fee, ask for free process (Section 34-6-27(B)), which is Forms 4B-201 and 4B-202 at the probate court.
What do I have to bring to the Chaves County Clerk to open a probate?
The county publishes the list on its Probates page: an application for informal probate, the original death certificate, and the last will and testament if the decedent had one. Originals, not copies, because the original will has to be in the court's possession before it can be probated (Section 45-3-303(A)(5)). The same page states the timing limits, that the death must not have occurred less than 120 hours and no more than 3 years before filing (Sections 45-3-302 and 45-3-108), and asks that probate documents printed from the Supreme Court website be printed single sided. Bring the names and addresses of the surviving spouse, children, heirs and devisees as well (Section 45-3-301).
Can I e-file a probate case in Chaves County?
Not at the probate court, ever: New Mexico's electronic filing system is defined for the district courts only (Rule 1-005.2(A)(3) NMRA) and the Probate Court Rules contain no electronic filing rule, so every Chaves County Probate Court filing is paper, at the clerk's counter or by mail, and the original will has to arrive physically. At the Fifth Judicial District Court e-filing runs on eFile & Serve, Tyler's Odyssey File & Serve, and it is mandatory for attorneys, but self-represented parties are prohibited from e-filing and must file on paper, after which the clerk scans the filing into the system for you (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) and (I)(2) NMRA).
How do I look up a Chaves County probate case?
Not online. Chaves County Probate Court records are county records held by the clerk of the probate court (Section 34-7-7), and no New Mexico county probate court except Bernalillo and Santa Fe publishes an index. Ask the Chaves County Clerk's Office on (575) 624-6614 for a case file or a certified copy. Fifth Judicial District Court probate cases are in the statewide New Mexico Courts Case Lookup at caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup, which has no probate court option and shows an index only, with no document images, and the district also publishes a Chaves County District Court hearing docket for the current day plus six days. Note that the district describes some probate matters, along with adoption and mental illness cases, as sequestered records not open to the public. The county's own online search at chavescounty.gov covers recorded documents such as deeds, not probate cases.
What happens if someone objects or contests the will in Chaves County?
The probate court cannot decide it, and the case moves to the Fifth Judicial District Court, which has exclusive original jurisdiction over formal proceedings, will contests, will construction and determination of heirs (Section 45-1-302(A)). An objection to an appointment can only be made in a formal proceeding (Section 45-3-203(B)). The move is made on Form 4B-1001, order transferring case from probate court to district court, and the triggers are set out in Rule 1B-101(B)(2) NMRA: a formal appointment or formal closing is requested, a contest arises, testacy or heirship has to be determined, a hearing is required, or any interested party or the judge asks for the transfer. No filing fee is charged in the district court on a transfer of a case properly filed in the probate court (Section 34-7-10(B)). While a formal case is pending, the probate court may not act on an informal application at all (Section 45-3-401(C)).
Is there a hearing, and do I have to travel to Roswell?
An informal probate at the Chaves County Probate Court is decided on the papers and does not require a hearing, because informal proceedings in New Mexico are conducted without notice to interested persons (Section 45-1-201(25)). You can mail the application and the fee to the Chaves County Clerk's Office at 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite 110, Roswell 88203, so an out-of-state family often never appears, although the original will and the original death certificate must physically reach the counter. If the case is in the Fifth Judicial District Court, the assigned judge sets whether a hearing is in person or by video in the notice of hearing; the district publishes no general remote-appearance policy for civil cases, so ask the clerk on 575-622-2212.
Does the Chaves County Probate Court have its own forms?
No, and it says so by what it sells rather than what it publishes. The county offers a printed probate packet for $5, with or without a will, and asks that documents printed from the Supreme Court website be printed single sided. Everything else is the statewide Form 4B set: 4B-301 or 4B-302 to apply, 4B-303 or 4B-304 for the order, 4B-305 for the acceptance, 4B-306 or 4B-307 for the letters, 4B-401 and 4B-402 for the notice, 4B-601 for the inventory and 4B-701 to close. You can download the whole set from nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate or from the Fifth Judicial District's own library, which publishes it under the heading Probate Forms for Chaves County, Eddy County and Lea County.
Who is the Chaves County probate judge, and can I call them?
Chaves County has an elected, part-time probate judge, as every New Mexico county does (Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2), and the county's staff directory lists the position under the Clerk's Office with its own line, (575) 623-2288. In practice the office you deal with is the Chaves County Clerk's Office on (575) 624-6614, which is the clerk of the probate court, takes the filing and the fee, and holds the records. This page names the office rather than the person on purpose: every one of New Mexico's 33 probate judgeships is on the ballot on November 3, 2026, and the winners take office on January 1, 2027, so address correspondence to the Chaves County Probate Judge, not to a name you found online.
Shaped by the families we've helped
Thank you to the thousands of families who have trusted Sunset to help settle their loved ones' estates. This page is shaped by the questions they actually asked and the obstacles they actually hit — and that hard-won experience is what keeps it accurate, current, and genuinely useful to the families who come next.