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Curry County, NM Probate Information
Quick facts
| Detail | Curry County Probate Court | Ninth Judicial District Court |
|---|---|---|
| What it handles | Informal, uncontested probate only. The county publishes the limit in its own words: state law limits the jurisdiction of the probate courts to admitting wills to informal probate, appointing personal representatives informally without a hearing, and appointing special administrators for estates (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(C)). | 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). It has no separate probate department and no probate judge; probate is a civil case type. |
| Courthouse address | 417 Gidding St., Suite 130, Clovis, NM 88101, in the Curry County administrative building. This is not the courthouse: county administration is Suite 100 in the same building, and the district court is somewhere else entirely. | Curry County District Court, Curry County Courthouse, 700 N. Main St., Suite 11, Clovis, NM 88101. The Ninth Judicial District also staffs a Roosevelt County District Court at 109 W. First St., Portales, NM 88130. |
| Mailing address | Curry County Probate Court, 417 Gidding St., Suite 130, Clovis, NM 88101. The county publishes no PO Box. | Curry County District Court, 700 N. Main St., Suite 11, Clovis, NM 88101. The court publishes no PO Box. |
| Phone | (575) 763-5591. This is the Curry County Clerk's line, and it is the right one: the county clerk is ex officio clerk to the county probate judge, so the clerk's counter is the probate counter. | 575-742-7500. The court publishes a phone tree: choose option 1, then option 1, then 5 for Civil or Probate. The Roosevelt County counter in Portales, 575-359-6920, has its own tree with Civil or Probate at the same option 5. |
| Fax | (575) 763-4232. | 575-763-5160 in Clovis; 575-359-2140 in Portales. |
| Hours | 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and the office stays open through lunch. Documents are recorded from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, which matters if you are recording a deed on the same visit. These are the Clerk's Office published hours; New Mexico probate court hours are set by the clerk of the probate court and published on the county's website (Section 34-7-8). The judge is a part-time elected official (Section 34-7-1), so call before you go if you need to see the judge rather than file at the counter. | 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, at both the Clovis and Portales counters. The Curry County Courthouse building itself is open 7:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. |
| Filing fee | $30 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). The county publishes it as the docket fee to file for informal probate. It publishes no payee and no list of accepted payment methods, so confirm both 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)), and the district runs an ADR program. The court's own table reads "Civil Cases $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. Ask at the counter or on (575) 763-5591. | In the court's own words, "Personal checks are not accepted. You must pay with cash or a money order made out to the 'Ninth District Court'." |
| Local forms | A Probate Forms Packet sold by the county for $5. Beyond that the county links the statewide Supreme Court probate forms and the Probate Court Rules rather than publishing forms of its own. | None of its own for probate. Its forms library hosts most of the statewide Form 4B series, the New Mexico courts' plain-language probate guide and a Diné (Navajo) translation of it. |
| E-filing | None. Probate court filing is on paper, at the counter or by mail. 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, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA, contain no electronic filing rule. The original will has to arrive physically. | 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, after which the clerk converts the paper filing into electronic form (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) and (I)(2) NMRA). |
| Case search | None online. Curry County Probate Court cases are county records and are not in any statewide system. Ask the Curry County Clerk's office at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130 for a case file or a certified copy. | 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. |
| Remote appearance | Not applicable. An informal probate is decided on the papers and there is no hearing to attend. | Published, and unusually specific. Under the district's own Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan dated July 12, 2023, civil motion hearings, scheduling conferences, pre-trial conferences and status hearings continue to be held remotely on Google Meet, while civil bench trials and jury trials are in person. The plan sorts civil proceedings by hearing type and does not name probate separately; a formal probate is docketed as a civil case in this district, so those are the categories that govern it. Every notice of hearing carries a Google Meet link and a QR code if the hearing is remote, and a notice without them means an in-person proceeding. Any party may ask to appear remotely or in person, decided case by case by the assigned judge. |
| Website | currycountynm.gov/elected-officials/probate-judge | ninthdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you pick a form or a building in Curry 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)). Curry County's counter staff cannot help you decide what belongs on it, because the Clerk's Office says plainly that it will not conduct searches or provide legal advice.
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 of a community-property homestead may have a recording route rather than a court route (Section 45-3-1205). So list every bank and credit union account, retirement and brokerage account, life insurance policy, vehicle, farm or ranch interest, business interest and parcel of Curry County real estate, 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 Curry County, which is Clovis, Texico, Melrose, Grady, Cannon Air Force Base and the farming communities around them. The statute turns on domicile rather than on where someone happened to be living, which is worth pausing over for a military family posted to Cannon: if the person who died kept their domicile in another state, the New Mexico route is only open where they owned property here.
Within Curry County you have a choice of court. The Curry County Probate Court takes an informal, uncontested probate, and the Ninth 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 Curry 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, and Section 34-7-10(B) means there is no second filing fee if the case has to move up. The Curry 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). The Ninth Judicial District Court is a state court, and it covers Curry and Roosevelt counties.
Two buildings, and getting them the wrong way round costs you a trip. The Curry County Probate Court is at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130, in the county administrative building, at the Curry County Clerk's window. The Ninth Judicial District Court is in the Curry County Courthouse at 700 N. Main St., Suite 11, which you enter from the main entrance on Main Street through a metal detector, with bags not permitted. A third Clovis courthouse, the Curry County Magistrate Court at 221 Pile St., has no probate jurisdiction at all, so nothing about an estate is filed there. Unlike some New Mexico judicial districts, the Ninth does not route this county's filings to another county: the Clovis clerk's office is staffed and takes civil and probate filings for Curry County, and Roosevelt County has its own counter in Portales.
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm the case belongs in Curry 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).
- 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 Curry County Probate Court, 417 Gidding St., Suite 130. 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 Ninth Judicial District Court at 700 N. Main St., Suite 11 (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). Curry County publishes the same split in its own words: formal probates, determinations of heirs, contested cases and trust matters cannot be heard by the probate court and must be filed in the district court.
- Gather what the counter will ask for: the original will if there is one, which must be in the court's possession before it can be probated (Section 45-3-303(A)(5)); a certified copy of the death certificate; and the names, addresses and, for minors, ages of the surviving spouse, children, heirs and devisees (Section 45-3-301).
- Get the forms. Buy the Curry County Probate Forms Packet for $5 at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130, or download the statewide set the county links as its amended probate forms: Form 4B-301 (no will) or Form 4B-302 (with a will), with Form 4B-305 (acceptance of appointment) and the matching order and letters, all at nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate. Form 4B-101 is the one-page flow chart of opening and closing a probate court case.
- Have the application and the acceptance notarized. New Mexico's application is a verified document, meaning you swear it is accurate and complete (Section 45-3-301). Curry County's 2019 fee resolution lists a small notary fee at the probate court, which suggests the counter can notarize, but the county's current probate page does not say so, so arrange notarization before you go or ask on (575) 763-5591 when you call.
- File on paper and pay the fee. Take the application, order, acceptance and proposed letters to the counter at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., or mail them to the same address, and pay the $30 docket fee (Section 34-7-14). There is no e-filing at any New Mexico probate court. The county publishes no payee and no accepted payment methods for the probate fee, so call (575) 763-5591 first. If you cannot afford the fee, ask for free process on Form 4B-201 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 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). Curry County charges $1.50 for each certified copy of letters, so decide at the counter how many the banks and title company will want. 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).
- 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 Clovis newspaper of general circulation is permitted, not required, and it starts a four months 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, and in Curry County that is the same window you filed at. 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 Clovis house or a section of Curry County farmland is conveyed by a personal representative's deed recorded with the Curry County Clerk at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130. Recording runs from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, half an hour before the office closes. 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 Ninth 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 why starting downstairs 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 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 summary administration 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 Curry County
Curry County publishes one probate product of its own and points at the statewide set for everything else.
| Item | What it is |
|---|---|
| Curry County Probate Forms Packet, $5 | The county's own packet, sold at the probate counter at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130. The county publishes the price on its probate judge page alongside the $30 docket fee (verified July 27, 2026). |
| Amended probate forms | The link the county gives for forms. It goes to the New Mexico courts' statewide Form 4B library at nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate, not to a county form set. |
| Probate Court Rules | The county also links the New Mexico Supreme Court's Probate Court Rules, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA, at nmonesource.com. Every Form 4B carries a matching rule reference on its face. |
| Certified copies of letters, $1.50 each | Not a form, but the thing you will actually be asked for. Banks, transfer agents and title companies each want their own certified copy of the letters testamentary or letters of administration, and Curry County prices them separately from the $30 filing fee. |
The statewide set is the Supreme Court's Form 4B series at nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate, cited as Form 4B-302 NMRA and used with the Probate Court Rules. The ones a Curry 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.
The Ninth Judicial District Court publishes no probate forms of its own, but its forms library at ninthdistrict.nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate hosts most of the statewide 4B set as downloadable PDFs, along with the New Mexico courts' plain-language probate guide and a Diné (Navajo) translation of it. Two of the statewide forms, 4B-201 and 4B-303, are missing from that listing because of a broken link on the page rather than because they do not exist; get those two from nmcourts.gov.
There is no statewide 4B form for the small-estate affidavit for personal property 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
Curry County and the Ninth Judicial District each publish charges of their own beyond the statutory filing fee. All figures below were read from the offices' own pages on July 27, 2026.
| Charge | Amount | Office and authority |
|---|---|---|
| Probate case, docket fee | $30 | Curry County Probate Court, published as the docket fee to file for informal probate (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14) |
| Certified copy of letters of administration or letters testamentary | $1.50 each | Curry County Probate Court. A probate clerk's copy charges are capped by statute at $1.00 per page for document copies, with reasonable certification fees allowed (Section 14-8-14(B)) |
| Probate forms packet | $5 | Curry County Probate Court |
| Initial filing of a civil case, which is what a formal probate is | $132 | Ninth 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)); the district runs an ADR program |
| Photocopies at the district court | 35 cents per page | Ninth Judicial District Court (Rule 1-099 NMRA sets the same figure) |
| Certification at the district court | $1.50 each | Ninth Judicial District Court (Rule 1-099 NMRA) |
| Tape or CD duplication at the district court | $4 per tape or CD | Ninth Judicial District Court |
Two things about paying. First, the district court is strict and says so: "Personal checks are not accepted. You must pay with cash or a money order made out to the 'Ninth District Court'." For copies and certifications ordered by post it asks for a money order or cashier's check with a self-addressed stamped envelope, and allows three days to process the request. Second, the probate court publishes neither a payee nor a list of accepted payment methods, so ask on (575) 763-5591 before you make out a check for the $30.
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 is the Application for Free Process, which 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)). The Ninth District warns that the application is made under oath and that if the evidence at a hearing differs from it you may be ordered to pay the fee after all. And if the probate court transfers a properly filed case up, no filing fee is charged in the district court at all (Section 34-7-10(B)).
Local nuance
Curry County-specific considerations
| Local fact | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| The probate court is not in the courthouse | The Curry County Probate Court is at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130, in the county administrative building. The Curry County Courthouse at 700 N. Main St. holds the Ninth Judicial District Court. Directory listings and data sets routinely give the probate court the courthouse address, and it is wrong. If you are filing an informal probate, go to Gidding Street. |
| The county clerk is the probate court's clerk, and the county says so | Curry County's own description of the County Clerk's responsibilities includes that the clerk "serves as ex-officio clerk to the County Probate Judge", which is exactly what NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A) provides. So the practical probate counter is the Clerk's Office window, open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and open through lunch, and the phone number for a probate filing question is the clerk's, (575) 763-5591. |
| One counter does the probate filing and the deed recording | The same Clerk's Office at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130 records deeds and affidavits, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. That is where a personal representative's deed transferring a Curry County house or farm is recorded after letters issue, and where a surviving spouse of a community-property homestead records the affidavit that avoids probate altogether six months after the death (Section 45-3-1205). Note the recording cutoff is half an hour before the office closes. The fee schedule the clerk links is a county fee resolution adopted in 2019, and at least one fee on it has since changed (the clerk's own page says the marriage license fee rose to $55 effective June 20, 2025), so call for current recording amounts. |
| Courthouse hours changed and there is security screening | Effective February 18, 2025 the Curry County Courthouse hours became 7:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Entry is through the main entrance on Main Street at 700 N. Main St., bags are not permitted inside, and you clear a metal detector before you get past the check point. The district court clerk's counter itself runs 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., so the building opens 15 minutes before the counter does and both shut at 4:00 p.m. |
| Probate has its own option on the district court's phone tree | Calling 575-742-7500 and choosing option 1, then option 1, then 5 gets you Civil or Probate. That is unusually direct for a New Mexico district court, and it is the fastest way to ask a formal-probate filing question in Clovis. The Roosevelt County counter in Portales, 575-359-6920, has its own tree with Civil or Probate at the same option 5. |
| The district covers two counties and staffs both counters | The Ninth Judicial District is Curry and Roosevelt counties. Several New Mexico multi-county districts have a courthouse in the smaller county that takes no filings and routes everything to the main clerk. The Ninth does not: it publishes a staffed Curry County District Court in Clovis and a staffed Roosevelt County District Court at 109 W. First St., Portales, each with its own hours, phone and fax. File in the county where venue lies (Section 45-3-201). |
| Remote hearings are the published default for civil motions | The district's Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan, dated July 12, 2023, keeps civil motion hearings, scheduling conferences, pre-trial conferences and status hearings remote on Google Meet, while civil bench trials and jury trials are in person. Each judge has a fixed Google Meet link and QR code, and every notice of hearing carries them if the hearing is remote; a notice without them means you appear in person. Any party may ask to switch, decided case by case. The plan does not name probate; it applies by hearing type to civil cases generally, which is what a formal probate is here. It also records a self-help desk at each district court location, with computers a person can use to appear remotely at hearings outside the district. |
| The probate judge does not marry people here | New Mexico probate judges may perform marriages within their county, and many do. Curry County states on its probate page that its probate judge does not perform marriage ceremonies. Marriage licenses are issued by the Clerk's Office at the same Suite 130 counter, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. It is a small thing, but it is the sort of errand that sends people to the wrong window in a county where one counter does several jobs. |
Recent updates
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| February 18, 2025 | Curry County Courthouse hours changed to 7:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Entry is through the main entrance on Main Street at 700 N. Main St., bags are not permitted inside, and visitors clear a metal detector at a check point. This affects anyone filing a formal or contested probate at the Ninth Judicial District Court, whose clerk's counter runs 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. inside that building. It does not affect the probate court, which is at 417 Gidding St. | Courthouse Hours, currycountynm.gov |
| July 12, 2023 | The Ninth Judicial District adopted a Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan under the New Mexico Supreme Court's remote-hearing guidance. Civil motion hearings, scheduling conferences, pre-trial conferences and status hearings remain remote on Google Meet; civil bench trials and jury trials are in person; each judge has a fixed Google Meet link and QR code, printed on the notice of hearing when the hearing is remote. The plan also records a self-help desk at each district court location. | Ninth Judicial District Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan, ninthdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
| November 3, 2026 and January 1, 2027 | The Curry 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, Curry County's included, is on the ballot on November 3, 2026, and the winner takes office on January 1, 2027. The judge named on the county's own probate page as of July 27, 2026 is Hollie Barnett. Address correspondence to the office rather than the person, and check the county page before you write a name on anything. | NMSA 1978, Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2; currycountynm.gov/elected-officials/probate-judge |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Curry County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | A Clovis home held in joint tenancy passes to the survivor outside probate, and title is cleared at the Curry County Clerk's recording counter at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130 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 Curry County Probate Court 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 Curry County application, order, acceptance and letters, ready to notarize and walk into Suite 130. Guidance on the recording step at the same counter, and on how many certified copies of the letters at $1.50 each you will actually need. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | If the parent was domiciled in Curry 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 Curry County Probate Court at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130, Clovis 88101 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 has to physically reach the court, so it is mailed or carried. | Asset discovery to establish whether the estate clears the affidavit route or needs letters. Packet generation for a mail-in Clovis 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. A checklist for the follow-up call to (575) 763-5591, since Curry County probate cases are not searchable online. |
| 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 Curry 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 Curry County Clerk. If a sibling, a co-owner or a creditor disputes who owns the house, only the Ninth 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 Curry 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 Curry County probate attorney if the title question goes to the district court, where civil motion hearings are held remotely on Google Meet. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Curry County Probate Court and County Clerk (417 Gidding St., Suite 130, Clovis, (575) 763-5591, currycountynm.gov) | The county's own probate page states the court's jurisdiction, the $30 docket fee, the $5 forms packet and the $1.50 certified copy charge, and links the statewide forms and the Probate Court Rules. The Clerk's Office page gives the counter hours, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and open through lunch, the 4:30 p.m. recording cutoff, and the clerk's role as ex officio clerk to the probate judge. Staff state that they will not conduct searches or give legal advice. |
| Ninth Judicial District Court (ninthdistrict.nmcourts.gov, 700 N. Main St., Suite 11, Clovis, 575-742-7500) | Location, Hours and Contacts for the Clovis and Portales counters and both magistrate courts; the Fees, Costs and Filing page with the civil filing fee and the copy and certification charges; a self-representation section with the court's own pro se guidance on filing, service, hearings and free process; and a probate forms library carrying most of the statewide 4B set. |
| Ninth Judicial District self-help desk (at each district court location) | The district's Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan of July 12, 2023 records a self-help desk at each of its district court locations, with computers that a person can use to appear remotely at a hearing outside the district, plus kiosks set up to assist jurors. It is a facilities and forms desk, not a probate advice service. |
| 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). |
| New Mexico Courts statewide probate forms (nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate) | The Supreme Court's complete Form 4B series, plus a plain-language probate guide and a Diné (Navajo) translation. This is where Curry County's own probate page sends filers for forms. |
| New Mexico Courts self-representation site (selfrepresentation.nmcourts.gov) | The statewide self-help site, with a probate page carrying the same 4B forms. Note that the judiciary's free Guide & File document-preparation tool does not cover probate: its interviews are free process, divorce, and orders of protection only. |
| New Mexico Courts Case Lookup (caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup) | The free public index for Ninth Judicial District Court cases, along with magistrate, metropolitan and municipal courts. It has no probate court option, so a Curry County Probate Court case will not appear there. For a probate court file or a certified copy, ask the Curry County Clerk's office. |
| 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 Bar also runs New Mexico Free Legal Answers at nm.freelegalanswers.org and an online bar directory. |
| 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; the nearest office to Curry County is 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. |
When to hire an attorney
Curry County's two counters are both clear that they do not give legal advice: the Clerk's Office states that it will not conduct searches or provide legal advice, and the district court tells self-represented filers that clerks may not advise them how to proceed and that they must follow the same rules a lawyer follows. That line is a good guide to when counsel makes sense here. It makes particular sense when a will's validity or the identity of the heirs is in doubt, because only the Ninth 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 and only in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)); when the estate holds farmland, water rights, mineral interests, a business or property across the state line in Texas; 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 Curry County probate attorney when the situation calls for counsel.
How Sunset helps
Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Curry County real estate, farm and business interests and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds for estate settlement before you file. In New Mexico that picture does real work: it decides whether a probate is needed at all; 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 Curry County filing: the application, order, acceptance and proposed letters in the form the court expects, with the heirs and devisees named and addressed, ready to notarize and file at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130 or mail to the same address 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 land against the estate, or when the case has to move to the Ninth Judicial District Court on Form 4B-1001, Sunset connects families to a vetted Curry 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 Curry County?
At one of two buildings, depending on the case. An informal, uncontested probate is filed on paper at the Curry County Probate Court, 417 Gidding St., Suite 130, Clovis 88101, at the County Clerk's window, open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and open through lunch, or mailed to the same address. Anything formal or contested is filed at the Ninth Judicial District Court in the Curry County Courthouse, 700 N. Main St., Suite 11, Clovis 88101, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. You file in Curry County if the person who died lived here at the time of death, or lived outside New Mexico but owned property here (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-201(A)).
Do I file in the Curry County Probate Court or the Ninth 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)). Curry County puts it the same way on its own probate page: formal probates, determinations of heirs, contested cases and trust matters cannot be heard by the probate court and must be filed in the district court. 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, and there is no hearing. If you start there 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.
What happens if someone contests the will in Curry County?
The probate court cannot decide it, and the case moves to the Ninth 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)).
How much does it cost to file probate in Curry County?
$30 for a probate case at the Curry County Probate Court, which the county publishes as the docket fee to file for informal probate (Section 34-7-14). Certified copies of the letters of administration or letters testamentary are $1.50 each on top of that, and the county's probate forms packet is $5. At the Ninth 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)). The district court charges 35 cents a page for photocopies and $1.50 for a certification, and it takes no personal checks. If you cannot afford the fee, ask for free process (Section 34-6-27(B)), which is Forms 4B-201 and 4B-202 at the probate court and the Application for Free Process at the district court.
Can I e-file a probate case in Curry 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 Curry County Probate Court filing is paper, at the counter or by mail, and the original will has to arrive physically. At the Ninth 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 Curry County probate case?
If it is a probate court case, not online. Curry County Probate Court records are county records and are not in any statewide system: New Mexico Courts Case Lookup covers the appellate, district, magistrate, metropolitan and municipal courts and offers no probate court option at all. Ask the Curry County Clerk's office at 417 Gidding St., Suite 130, (575) 763-5591, for a case file or a certified copy. A formal or contested probate in the Ninth Judicial District Court does appear in Case Lookup at caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup, as an index only, with no document images; records from before the statewide court automation project finished in June 1997 may sit in a separate database.
Is there a hearing, and do I have to travel to Clovis?
An informal probate at the Curry 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 417 Gidding St., Suite 130, so an out-of-state family often never appears, although the original will must physically reach the court. If the case is in the Ninth Judicial District Court, the court's own Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan keeps civil motion hearings, scheduling conferences, pre-trial conferences and status hearings remote on Google Meet, while civil bench trials and jury trials are in person; the plan does not name probate separately, but a formal probate is docketed as a civil case, so those categories are the ones that apply. Your notice of hearing tells you which: if it carries a Google Meet link and a QR code the hearing is remote, and if it does not, it is in person.
Does the Curry County Probate Court have its own forms?
One product of its own: a probate forms packet sold at the counter for $5. For the forms themselves the county links the statewide Supreme Court set, which it labels its amended probate forms, at nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate, and it also links the Probate Court Rules, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA. The forms you will use to open a case are Form 4B-301 without a will or Form 4B-302 with one, plus Form 4B-305 and the matching order and letters. The Ninth Judicial District Court hosts most of the same 4B set in its own forms library, along with the New Mexico courts' plain-language probate guide.
Which Clovis building do I go to?
417 Gidding St., Suite 130 for an informal probate. That is the Curry County administrative building, and Suite 130 is the County Clerk's Office, which is the clerk of the probate court. 700 N. Main St., Suite 11 is the Curry County Courthouse and the Ninth Judicial District Court, for formal or contested matters; you enter from the main entrance on Main Street, the building is open 7:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., bags are not permitted and there is a metal detector. The Curry County Magistrate Court at 221 Pile St. has no probate jurisdiction, so nothing about an estate is filed there.
Can the counter staff help me fill out the probate forms?
No. The Curry County Clerk's Office states that it will not conduct searches or provide legal advice, and the Ninth Judicial District Court tells self-represented filers that courthouse staff are prohibited from giving legal advice and that clerks may not advise them how to proceed, although clerks can give you your case number, the assigned judge and what has been filed. Court staff everywhere in New Mexico work under Rule 23-113 NMRA on this. For help beyond the counter, the New Mexico Courts HelpLine on 1-855-268-7804 gives court-approved forms and explains what a form is asking for, and the State Bar's free helpline for residents aged 55 and older on 505-797-6005 expressly advises on probate.
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.