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Grant County, NM Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Grant County Probate Court | Sixth Judicial District Court |
|---|---|---|
| What it handles | Informal, uncontested probate only: informal probate of a will and informal appointment of a personal representative, with the letters testamentary or letters of administration that flow from it, plus informal appointment of a special administrator (NMSA 1978, Sections 45-1-302(C) and 45-3-301 to 45-3-309). An informal case is decided on the verified application without a hearing. The county states its own limits the same way: admitting original wills to informal probate, appointing personal representatives informally without a hearing, and appointing special administrators | Everything formal or contested, exclusively: formal testacy and formal appointment proceedings, supervised administration, determination of heirs, will construction, will contests, disputes over who owns property as between the estate and someone claiming against it, disclaimers and tax apportionment (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). It can also open an informal probate, because the two courts have concurrent jurisdiction over informal matters (Section 45-1-302.1) |
| Courthouse address | 1400 Highway 180 East, Silver City, NM 88061, the county government building that also houses the Grant County Clerk's Office, which is the clerk of the probate court and the counter where the fee is paid (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)) | Grant County Courthouse, 201 N. Cooper St., Silver City, NM 88061. This is a staffed clerk's office for Grant County, not a routing point: the district publishes its own counter hours, extension, fax and post office box for it |
| Mailing address | P.O. Box 898, Silver City, NM 88062, published by the Probate Judge's Office. Note the box ZIP is 88062, not the 88061 of the street address. Requests for copies go to the County Clerk's Office at P.O. Box 1286, Silver City, NM 88062 | Grant County District Court, Sixth Judicial District Court, P.O. Box 2339, Silver City, NM 88062 |
| Phone | 575-574-0071, the Probate Judge's Office line, published by the county and repeated on the Sixth Judicial District's own resources page. The Grant County Clerk's Office, which takes the filing fee, is 575-574-0042 (verified July 2026) | 575-538-3250, ext. 2, the Grant County District Court (verified July 2026) |
| Fax | 575-574-0076, published for the Probate Judge's Office | 575-388-5439. The district adds that faxes over ten pages are not accepted without prior approval of the District Court Clerk |
| Hours | By appointment. That is the county's own published answer for the Probate Judge's Office, and it is consistent with the position of probate judge being a part-time one (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-1(B)) and with the court's hours being whatever the clerk of the probate court sets and publishes on the county website (Section 34-7-8). The counter hours that matter for paying the fee and buying the packet are the County Clerk's: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Call 575-574-0071 to arrange the appointment | Court hours 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The clerk's office, which is the filing counter, is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and stays open through the lunch hour. The counter closes an hour before the courthouse does |
| Filing fee | $30 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). Grant County publishes it twice: the Probate Judge's page states that the docket fee to file for informal probate in the probate court is $30, and the County Clerk's Recording Fees Schedule prints it under a probate heading citing Section 34-7-14. The county also publishes the payee and the payment methods, which is unusual in New Mexico: the fees are paid to the Grant County Clerk in cash, checks, money orders or cashier's checks only, and checks are made payable to the Grant County Clerk | $132 for a civil case, which is what a formal probate is. The statutory build is $117 for docketing a civil cause (NMSA 1978, Section 34-6-40(A)) plus $15 in a judicial district running an alternative dispute resolution program (Section 34-6-45(A)), and the Sixth Judicial District publishes the $132 total on its own fee page. Personal checks are not accepted; the district takes cash, cashier's checks or money orders payable to the Sixth Judicial District Court, and since January 3, 2022 credit and debit cards at the counter and online, with a non-refundable service fee of 2.25 per cent |
| Local forms | One, and it is sold over the counter rather than published. The county sells a probate packet for $5 at the Grant County Clerk's Office and describes it as the intestate packet, for an estate with no will; the Clerk's fee schedule lists Probate Packet $5. Everything else is the free statewide Form 4B set. The download link on the county's probate page no longer reaches the state forms library, so use the New Mexico Courts probate forms page instead | None of its own for probate. Its probate forms page holds the judiciary's self-help guide, a Motion and Order to Continue Hearing and the Application and Order for Free Process (Form 4-222 NMRA), and no Form 4B. The district does publish two forms a probate filer may meet: a Request for Setting, LR6-Form 701, and a Motion and Order for Telephonic Appearance |
| E-filing | None. New Mexico's electronic filing system is approved for use by the district courts (Rule 1-005.2(A)(3) NMRA) and no probate court appears in any e-filing authority. You file on paper, at the appointment or by mail, and the original will has to reach the court physically | eFile & Serve, Tyler's Odyssey File & Serve, is mandatory for attorneys (Rule 1-005.2 NMRA). Self-represented parties are prohibited from e-filing and file on paper; the clerk scans a paper filing into the system (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) and (I)(2) NMRA). Separately, the Sixth Judicial District allows self-represented litigants to file some documents by email or by fax under its published notice, but anything that needs a filing fee to open a case must be mailed or hand delivered with the fee |
| Case search | None. Grant County Probate Court cases are county records and are in no statewide system, and Grant County publishes no probate index of its own. Ask the Grant County Clerk's Office for a case file or a certified copy. The Clerk's Online Document Search is the index of recorded documents, not of probate cases | Case Lookup, the free statewide index, covers New Mexico's district courts, so a Sixth Judicial District case appears there. It is an index only, with no document images, and it offers no probate court option |
| Remote appearance | Nothing published. An informal probate is decided on the papers and needs no hearing, and the judge is seen by appointment, so ask what the office will do by telephone or mail when you call | Published and narrow: telephonic appearances are allowed only if requested in writing for good cause and approved by the court in advance of the hearing, and the district says it is best to be present in person. It publishes its own Motion and Order for Telephonic Appearance form |
| No office mailbox is published. The only address the county publishes for the Probate Judge's Office belongs to a named individual, so use the telephone line or the post office box | The address the district publishes for Grant County is a court administration mailbox rather than a public help desk. Its emailing and faxing notice carries the address self-represented litigants use to file the documents the notice covers; take it from the notice itself, because the email link on the district's contacts page misdirects to the Hidalgo County mailbox. For anything else call 575-538-3250, ext. 2, or write to P.O. Box 2339 | |
| Website | https://www.grantcountynm.gov/219/Probate-Judge for the Probate Judge's Office, https://www.grantcountynm.gov/214/Clerk for the filing counter, and https://www.grantcountynm.gov/232/Recording-Fees-Schedule for the county's own fee sheet | https://sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov/location-hours-contacts/ for locations, hours and contacts, and https://sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov/about-this-district/fees-costs-filing/ for the district's own fee page |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Know what the estate holds before you make the appointment. Which route fits, and which of the two Grant County forums you use, depends on whether there is a will, who is entitled to be appointed, whether anyone is likely to object, and what kind of property is involved. Some estates here never need a court at all, because the property passes by survivorship, by a transfer on death deed, by a payable on death designation or by a beneficiary designation, and some qualify for one of New Mexico's affidavit routes that are handled at a bank or at the County Clerk's recording counter rather than in a courtroom. Those statewide routes and their dollar limits are covered on the New Mexico state page. Grant County makes the first step easy in one respect: the Probate Judge's Office and the County Clerk's filing counter are in the same building at 1400 Highway 180 East, so a single visit can cover the appointment, the packet and the fee. It makes it harder in another: the probate court is by appointment only, so there is no counter to drop in on, and a missing document means another appointment.
Then list every asset and every debt in detail. New Mexico requires the application for informal probate to be verified as accurate and complete (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-301), and by verifying it you submit personally to the court's jurisdiction in any later proceeding for fraud or perjury, so a missed account is not a small thing. Within three months of appointment the personal representative must prepare an inventory of everything the person owned at death, with a value for each item as of the date of death (Section 45-3-706). Sunset's asset discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so the application you take to your appointment in Silver City describes the estate accurately the first time.
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)). Grant County publishes the same rule in its own words, telling readers to visit the Grant County Probate Court if the person resided in Grant County at the time of death or resided outside New Mexico but owned property in Grant County. Within Grant County you have a choice of court: the Grant County Probate Court for an informal, uncontested probate, or the Sixth Judicial District Court for anything formal or contested (Sections 45-1-302 and 45-1-302.1). Where a proceeding could be brought in more than one place, the court where it is first commenced has the exclusive right to proceed (Section 45-1-303(A)).
The Grant County Probate Court sits at 1400 Highway 180 East in Silver City, the county seat, and serves the whole county: Silver City itself, Bayard, Hurley, Santa Clara, Pinos Altos, Arenas Valley, Tyrone, and the Mimbres and Gila valleys and the smaller communities across the Gila country. It is a county office within New Mexico's judicial branch, funded by the county (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-4), and the position of probate judge is a part-time, elected one (Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2). Its clerk is the Grant County Clerk, because the county clerk of each county is designated as the clerk of the probate court in that county (Section 34-7-22(A)), which is why the county says the filing fee is paid to the Grant County Clerk and why the Clerk's own fee schedule carries the probate heading. Its hours are whatever the clerk sets and publishes on the county's website (Section 34-7-8), and what Grant County publishes is the phrase by appointment. Estates are not the only thing the office does: the county also publishes that the probate judge officiates weddings within Grant County free of charge, which is the other job New Mexico gives a probate judge and the reason many residents have met the court before they ever need it for a death.
The Sixth Judicial District Court covers Grant, Luna and Hidalgo Counties, with courthouses in Silver City, Deming and Lordsburg. A multi-county district is an administrative fact rather than a venue rule, and in Grant County it has no practical consequence at all, which is worth saying plainly because it is not true everywhere in rural New Mexico. The district staffs a Grant County District Court at the Grant County Courthouse, 201 N. Cooper St., with its own counter hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., its own extension on 575-538-3250, its own fax and its own post office box at P.O. Box 2339, Silver City, NM 88062. A formal or contested Grant County estate is filed in Silver City, not in Deming or Lordsburg. You do not file in a district in any event: you file in the county where venue lies.
Two other courts in Grant County are not the place for an estate. The Grant County Magistrate Court sits in two divisions, Division I at 214 N. Black St. in Silver City and Division II at 701 Central Ave. in Bayard, and a magistrate court has no probate jurisdiction at all. No municipal court has probate jurisdiction either. Note also that the Grant County Probate Court and the Sixth Judicial District Court are in different buildings, one on Highway 180 East and one on North Cooper Street, so check which court your paperwork names before you set out.
The jurisdiction process
- Wait the five days, and check the three-year window. A New Mexico court cannot issue a written statement of informal probate or an order of informal appointment until at least 120 hours have elapsed since the death (NMSA 1978, Sections 45-3-302 and 45-3-307(A)), and if the person was not a New Mexico resident the court must wait 30 days before ordering an informal appointment unless the domiciliary personal representative is the applicant or the will directs New Mexico law. At the other end, a probate or appointment proceeding cannot be commenced more than three years after the death (Section 45-3-108(A)), although a limited late proceeding remains available after that, chiefly to confirm title to real property in the heirs. Grant County publishes both limits on its own probate page.
- Get the forms. The free statewide Form 4B set is published by the New Mexico Courts and is all most estates need. Grant County also sells a printed probate packet for $5 at the Grant County Clerk's Office, which the county describes as the packet for an estate with no will. Do not rely on the download link on the county's probate page: it points at a New Mexico Courts address that now lands on the judiciary's accessibility forms rather than the probate forms library. Use the statewide probate forms page linked in the forms section below.
- Fill in the opening forms before your appointment. With a will, that is Form 4B-302 NMRA, the application for informal probate of will and for informal appointment of personal representative, and Form 4B-304 NMRA, the order. With no will, it is Form 4B-301 NMRA, the application for informal appointment of personal representative, and Form 4B-303 NMRA, the order. Both routes then use Form 4B-305 NMRA, the acceptance of appointment, and the letters form, which is Form 4B-307 NMRA for letters testamentary where there is a will and Form 4B-306 NMRA for letters of administration where there is not. New Mexico's statutory term for the person who settles the estate is personal representative; executor and administrator are correct informal usages for the same office. The application has to be verified as accurate and complete (Section 45-3-301), and the priority order for who may be appointed is set by Section 45-3-203(A).
- Make the appointment and bring the originals. The Grant County Probate Court is by appointment: call 575-574-0071 and arrange a time. Bring the death certificate and, where there is a will, the original. The original, duly executed and apparently unrevoked will must be in the court's possession (Section 45-3-303(A)(5)), and a will with the required signatures and an attestation clause showing proper execution is probated without further proof (Section 45-3-303(C)). If you are mailing an original will from out of state to P.O. Box 898, Silver City, NM 88062, call first and ask how the office wants to receive it.
- File on paper and pay $30 to the Grant County Clerk. There is no electronic filing in a New Mexico probate court: the statewide system is approved for use by the district courts (Rule 1-005.2(A)(3) NMRA), the Probate Court Rules contain no electronic filing rule, and the original will has to be physically delivered in any event. The filing fee is $30 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14), which Grant County publishes both on the Probate Judge's page and under the probate heading on the County Clerk's Recording Fees Schedule. Grant County is one of the few New Mexico counties that publishes how to pay: the fees are paid to the Grant County Clerk in cash, checks, money orders or cashier's checks only, and checks are made payable to the Grant County Clerk. If the estate cannot afford the fee, ask for free process on Form 4B-201 NMRA, the affidavit of poverty and indigency, with Form 4B-202 NMRA as the order.
- Collect the letters and order certified copies. If the judge makes the findings the statute requires, the court issues a written statement of informal probate and letters (Sections 45-3-302, 45-3-307 and 45-3-103), and administration of the estate is commenced by the issuance of letters. Before receiving them the personal representative qualifies by filing any required bond and a statement of acceptance (Section 45-3-601). Order enough certified copies for the banks, title company and transfer agents you will deal with: Grant County publishes $2 for a certified copy of any document, which its fee schedule breaks down as $1 per page or image to copy plus a $1 certification fee. Note that the court may decline an application for informal appointment for any reason, which is not an adjudication and does not stop a formal appointment later (Section 45-3-309).
- Give notice within 30 days, and file the proof. Not later than 30 days after appointment the personal representative must give notice of the appointment to the heirs and devisees, by delivery or ordinary mail, stating the personal representative's name and address, that the recipient has or may have an interest, whether a bond has been filed, and where the papers are on file, and must then file a statement with the court naming who was notified (Section 45-3-705). Form 4B-401 NMRA is the notice and Form 4B-402 NMRA is the proof. Note that in an informal case notice comes after the probate, not before: no other notice of informal probate is required (Section 45-3-306(A)).
- Prepare the inventory within three months. The personal representative prepares an inventory of the property owned at death, in reasonable detail, with an estimated value as of the date of death and any encumbrance noted, within three months of appointment (Section 45-3-706). It must be sent to interested persons who ask for it, and filing it with the court is permitted but not required. Form 4B-601 NMRA is the inventory.
- Decide whether to publish a notice to creditors. Publication is optional in New Mexico. A personal representative may publish notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the proceeding is pending, giving creditors four months from the first publication to present claims, and may also give written notice to a known creditor (Section 45-3-801). It is a tool for cutting claims off early rather than a required step, and the personal representative is not liable for giving or failing to give it. Independently of any notice, claims arising before the death are barred one year after the death (Section 45-3-803(A)). Form 4B-501 NMRA covers both kinds of notice.
- Know the fork to the district court, and that it costs nothing extra. If anyone contests the will, if the heirs are in dispute, if the estate needs a court order about who owns something, if a formal appointment or formal closing is asked for, or if a hearing is required, the case goes to the Sixth Judicial District Court, which has exclusive jurisdiction over those matters (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(A) and (B); Rule 1B-101(B)(2) NMRA; Rule 1B-701 NMRA). Form 4B-1001 NMRA is the transfer order, and Section 34-7-10(B) provides that where a case was properly filed within the probate court's jurisdiction and is later transferred, no filing fee shall be charged in the district court. Starting in the Grant County Probate Court therefore costs you nothing if the case has to move up. In the district court a hearing is not automatic either: the Sixth Judicial District has its own Request for Setting, LR6-Form 701, and once it is filed the court sends either a notice with the date and time or a denial of the request. Note also that while a formal testacy proceeding is pending, the probate court cannot act on any informal application (Section 45-3-401(C)).
- Administer, then close. Pay the valid debts and the taxes, deal with the property, and distribute what is left. 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)), so real property in Grant County can be conveyed by personal representative's deed, recorded with the Grant County Clerk at $25 per document of ten or fewer index entries. What the probate court cannot do is decide a dispute about that title, which belongs to the district court in formal proceedings (Section 45-1-302(B)). Outside supervised administration there is no routine annual court accounting in New Mexico, though Form 4B-602 NMRA exists where one is needed. To close informally, file a verified closing statement no earlier than six months after the original appointment (Section 45-3-1003(A)), on Form 4B-701 NMRA, and if no proceeding is pending one year after it is filed the appointment terminates.
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Grant County
Grant County publishes almost no probate forms of its own, and what it does have is sold rather than posted. The county sells a printed probate packet for $5 at the Grant County Clerk's Office, which the Probate Judge's page describes as the intestate packet, for an estate with no will, and which the Clerk's Recording Fees Schedule prices as Probate Packet $5. It is not published as a download, so the contents cannot be described here beyond the county's own label. Everything else a Grant County estate needs is the free statewide Form 4B set approved by the New Mexico Supreme Court, and that is the set the probate court works from.
Use the state library rather than the county's link. The invitation on the county's probate page to download forms points at a New Mexico Courts address that now redirects to the judiciary's accessibility and accommodations forms, which is not what a probate filer wants. The current library is the New Mexico Courts probate forms page in the table below, and it carries the whole 4B set: the Form 4B-101 flow chart for opening and closing a probate court case, the applications and orders for informal probate with a will (Forms 4B-302 and 4B-304 NMRA) and without one (Forms 4B-301 and 4B-303 NMRA), the acceptance of appointment (Form 4B-305 NMRA), letters testamentary and letters of administration (Forms 4B-307 and 4B-306 NMRA), the notice of appointment and proof of notice (Forms 4B-401 and 4B-402 NMRA), the notice to creditors (Form 4B-501 NMRA), the inventory and accounting (Forms 4B-601 and 4B-602 NMRA), the closing statements (Forms 4B-701 and 4B-702 NMRA), proof of authority (Forms 4B-801 and 4B-802 NMRA), the special administration set (Forms 4B-901 to 4B-904 NMRA), free process (Forms 4B-201 and 4B-202 NMRA) and the order transferring a case to the district court (Form 4B-1001 NMRA), plus a plain-language guide and a Dine translation. Cite them as Form 4B-302 NMRA and so on; the matching rules are the Probate Court Rules, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA.
Know the gaps in the statewide set before you go looking for a form that does not exist. There is no Form 4B for the affidavit routes that avoid probate altogether, no renunciation or waiver 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 written for informal cases and a contested matter transfers out on Form 4B-1001 NMRA. Grant County's own probate page is candid about the boundary the forms sit on: neither the probate judge nor the staff can give legal advice of any kind, fill out the forms for you, help you fill them out, or prepare a deed for real property that has to be transferred, and they cannot recommend an attorney (see also Rule 23-113 NMRA).
The Sixth Judicial District Court publishes no Form 4B either, and its probate forms page is thinner than its name suggests: it holds the judiciary's self-help guide, a Motion and Order to Continue Hearing and the Application and Order for Free Process, Form 4-222 NMRA. Two of the district's other self-representation forms matter if a case moves up: LR6-Form 701, the Request for Setting, which is how a hearing is asked for, and the Motion and Order for Telephonic Appearance, which is the only published route to attending by telephone. The self-help guide the district hosts is the same July 2016 Administrative Office of the Courts guide the county hosts, with the same stale closing period and superseded form numbers described in the considerations section above.
| Resource | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Grant County Probate Judge (grantcountynm.gov) | The county's own probate page: the office's post office box, telephone, fax and appointment-only hours, its statement of what the court can and cannot do, the 120-hour and three-year limits, and the fee paragraph with the payee and payment methods |
| Grant County Clerk's Office (grantcountynm.gov) | The filing counter and the clerk of the probate court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)): counter hours, the physical address at 1400 Highway 180 East, the mailing address at P.O. Box 1286, Silver City, NM 88062, and the $5 printed probate packet |
| Grant County recording fees schedule (grantcountynm.gov) | The county's own published charges, with a probate heading citing Section 34-7-14 NMSA 1978 for the $30 filing fee and the $5 packet, plus copying, certification and recording prices |
| New Mexico Courts probate forms, the 4B set (nmcourts.gov) | The current statewide library: the Form 4B-101 flow chart, the applications, orders, acceptances and letters, the notice and proof of notice, the notice to creditors, the inventory and accounting, the closing statements, proof of authority, the special administration set and Form 4B-1001 for transfer to the district court, plus a plain-language guide and a Dine translation. Use this rather than the link on the county's page |
| Sixth Judicial District probate forms (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's probate page. Useful to know its limits: it holds the judiciary's self-help guide, a Motion and Order to Continue Hearing and the Application and Order for Free Process, Form 4-222 NMRA, and no Form 4B |
| Sixth Judicial District self-representation forms (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's own forms, including LR6-Form 701, the Request for Setting, the Motion and Order for Telephonic Appearance, the Request for Copies and the Free Process packet |
| New Mexico Courts self-representation (nmcourts.gov) | The judiciary's self-representation site, with a probate page carrying the same 4B forms. Note that the free Guide & File document tool elsewhere on the site covers free process, divorce and orders of protection only, and has no probate interview |
Fees
Grant County publishes more about the cost of a probate than most small New Mexico counties, and it publishes it in two places that have to be read together. The Probate Judge's Office page carries a short fees paragraph that gives the docket fee, the death certificate recording fee, the certified copy price, the payee and the accepted payment methods. The Grant County Clerk's Recording Fees Schedule carries a heading of its own for probate, citing Section 34-7-14 NMSA 1978, and prices the copying, certification and recording a personal representative meets afterwards. Nothing on either sheet displaces the statute: the $30 is the statewide figure in Section 34-7-14, and the $132 in the district court is the statewide figure in Sections 34-6-40(A) and 34-6-45(A). What is genuinely local is the payee, the payment methods and the copy prices.
| Item | Published fee and authority |
|---|---|
| Opening a probate case in the Grant County Probate Court | $30. The county's probate page states that the docket fee to file for informal probate in the probate court is $30, and the Grant County Clerk's Recording Fees Schedule prints Filing Fee $30 under its probate heading. The statute is NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14: clerks of the probate courts shall receive a filing fee of thirty dollars ($30.00) for each probate case. The county's sheet cites Section 34-7-14 correctly and also cites Section 34-7-15, which was repealed by Laws 2023, chapter 44; the live authority is Section 34-7-14 and the amount is right |
| Who to pay, and how | The Grant County Clerk. The county publishes that the fees are paid to the Grant County Clerk in cash, checks, money orders or cashier's checks only, and that checks are made payable to the Grant County Clerk. This is one of the few published payees in New Mexico, and it matches the statute, which makes the county clerk the clerk of the probate court and deposits the fee in the county clerk recording and filing fund (Section 34-7-22(A)) |
| Printed probate packet | $5 at the Grant County Clerk's Office, listed on the county's fee schedule as Probate Packet $5 and described on the probate page as the packet for an estate with no will. Optional: the statewide Form 4B set is free online |
| Certified copy from the Grant County Clerk's Office | $2 per document, as the probate page puts it. The Clerk's fee schedule shows the build: a photocopy is $1 per page or image and the certification fee is $1, both cited by the county to Section 14-8-14 NMSA 1978. Copies supplied by fax or by email are $5 plus $1 per page. The Clerk provides certified copies of recorded documents by mail where the request is in writing with sufficient information and a check for the correct fee, sent to P.O. Box 1286, Silver City, NM 88062 |
| Recording a death certificate | $25, published on both the probate page and the Clerk's fee schedule |
| Recording a personal representative's deed with the Grant County Clerk | $25 for a document of one to ten index entries, and a further $25 for each additional block of ten entries. The county cites NMSA 1978, Section 14-8-15.1 on the face of the sheet. This is the same office and the same counter, and it is also where a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit is recorded |
| Opening a probate case in the Sixth Judicial District Court | $132. The district's own fee page lists Civil Cases $132.00, and a formal probate is a civil case. The statutory build is $117 for docketing a civil cause (NMSA 1978, Section 34-6-40(A)) plus $15 in a judicial district running an alternative dispute resolution program (Section 34-6-45(A)) |
| How the district court takes payment | Personal checks are not accepted. The district publishes that acceptable payment is cash, cashier's checks or money orders made payable to the Sixth Judicial District Court, and that since January 3, 2022 credit and debit cards are accepted at the counter and online, with a non-refundable service fee of 2.25 per cent whose rate was modified January 10, 2025. Cards make this district unusual: several New Mexico districts take none |
| Sixth Judicial District Court copies and certification | Photocopies $.35 per page; certification $1.50 each; tape or CD duplication $4.00 each (district fee page, verified July 2026) |
| No second fee if the case moves up | Nothing. Where a case was properly filed within the probate court's jurisdiction and is later transferred to the district court, no filing fee shall be charged in the district court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-10(B)) |
| If you cannot afford the fee | New Mexico calls it free process, not a fee waiver. In the Grant County Probate Court, ask on Form 4B-201 NMRA, the affidavit of poverty and indigency, with Form 4B-202 NMRA as the order. In the Sixth Judicial District Court the court may grant free process or a fee reduction on a showing of indigency, and the district publishes the form itself: the Application and Order for Free Process, Form 4-222 NMRA, for use with Rule 23-114 NMRA. A self-represented filer may send that application to the district by email or fax |
One planning point that follows from all of this. The two counters take money differently, and in opposite directions from what a reader might expect. The Grant County Clerk takes a check for the $30 probate filing fee but no card for it: cash, checks, money orders or cashier's checks only. The Sixth Judicial District Court takes cards but refuses personal checks. If you are making a single trip to Silver City for both, carry more than one way to pay.
Local nuance
Grant County-specific considerations
The probate court is by appointment, and the county says so in as many words. New Mexico makes the position of probate judge a part-time one (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-1(B)) and provides that the probate court shall be open at such times as determined by the clerk of the probate court and published on the county's website (Section 34-7-8). What Grant County publishes under Office Hours for the Probate Judge's Office is the phrase by appointment. That is the real answer rather than missing information, and it is different from the county's other counters: the Grant County Clerk's Office, which is the clerk of the probate court and the place the fee is paid and the packet is bought, is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, in the same building at 1400 Highway 180 East. Call 575-574-0071 for the appointment and 575-574-0042 for the counter.
The district court here takes its own filings, which is not true everywhere in rural New Mexico and is worth knowing before you assume a drive. The Sixth Judicial District covers Grant, Luna and Hidalgo Counties from three courthouses, and for Grant County it staffs a clerk's office at the Grant County Courthouse, 201 N. Cooper St. in Silver City, with its own counter hours, its own extension on 575-538-3250, its own fax on 575-388-5439 and its own mailing address at P.O. Box 2339, Silver City, NM 88062. Watch one detail: the courthouse is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but the clerk's counter closes at 4 p.m., although it does stay open through the lunch hour. Arriving at half past four to file is arriving after the counter has shut.
The Sixth Judicial District lets self-represented people file some things by email or fax, and that is unusual enough to be worth reading carefully. Under a notice revised August 14, 2025, self-represented litigants and attorneys may file documents by email or fax in case types that are not eligible for electronic filing, giving the filer's name, email or fax number, case caption and number, telephone number and address, with conformed copies returned on request. The notice itself carries the Grant County District Court's email address for these filings, and the court's fax is 575-388-5439, with faxes over ten pages needing the District Court Clerk's prior approval. Two limits matter to an estate. First, the notice itself says that if a filing fee is required to open or reopen a case, the pleadings must be mailed or hand delivered along with the fee, so the document that opens a formal probate is not an email. Second, probate is a case type the district does handle electronically, so ask the clerk whether a particular probate document qualifies rather than assuming. A free process application, the notice says expressly, may be sent by email or fax.
Getting in front of a district judge takes two steps here, and appearing by telephone takes a third. The Sixth Judicial District publishes its own Request for Setting, LR6-Form 701, and the form's own notice explains what follows: after the request is filed the court sends either a notice with the date and time of the hearing or a denial of the request. The district also runs a trailing docket, so several matters may be set for the same time and the court takes them one at a time; it asks people to arrive fifteen minutes early and to bring three copies of any exhibit. And telephonic appearances are allowed only if requested in writing for good cause and approved by the court in advance, on the district's own Motion and Order for Telephonic Appearance form. None of this touches an informal probate, which has no hearing at all, but all of it applies the moment a case moves to the district court.
Two links on the county's own probate page will send you somewhere unhelpful. The page's invitation to download forms points at a New Mexico Courts address that now redirects to the judiciary's accessibility and accommodations forms rather than to the probate forms library; the working library is linked in the forms section below. And the self-help guide the county hosts is the Administrative Office of the Courts' District Court Self Help Guide of July 2016, which is genuinely useful on the shape of a probate and stale in three places: it says an estate must be open a minimum of three months before it can be closed, where the 2016 amendment to Section 45-3-1003 made it six; it cites the probate form numbers used before the Supreme Court renumbered the whole set in 2018; and it sends readers to two state web addresses that no longer answer.
Nothing about a Grant County probate case is online, and one county search will mislead you. County probate court cases are not in any statewide system: the free statewide Case Lookup tool offers District, Magistrate, Metropolitan and Municipal as its court types and has no probate court option, and no probate court appears in the New Mexico Courts locator either. Grant County publishes no probate index of its own. The Grant County Clerk's Online Document Search, linked from the Clerk's pages, is the index of recorded documents, the place a personal representative's deed or a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit ends up, and finding nothing there tells you nothing about whether a probate case exists. To find out what is on file in an estate, ask the Clerk's Office at 575-574-0042.
Recent updates
| Item | What it means in Grant County |
|---|---|
| Every New Mexico probate judgeship is on the ballot on November 3, 2026, with the winner taking office January 1, 2027 | The probate judge is an elected county official and the position is part-time (NMSA 1978, Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2). Grant County publishes the sitting judge's term as running January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2026, which matches the statewide extension of the current cohort's terms by Laws 2023, chapter 44, Section 15(B). This page names the office rather than the officeholder for that reason. The court, its address, its appointment-only practice and its $30 fee do not change with the election |
| The Sixth Judicial District has taken credit and debit cards since January 3, 2022, and the service fee rate changed on January 10, 2025 | Card payment at the counter and online for district court fees is available in all three counties of the district, Grant, Luna and Hidalgo, with a non-refundable service fee of 2.25 per cent. Personal checks are still not accepted. This makes the Sixth unusual among New Mexico districts, several of which take no cards at all (verified July 2026) |
| The district's email and fax filing notice was revised August 14, 2025 | Self-represented litigants and attorneys may file some documents with the Grant County District Court by email, at the address the notice carries, or by fax to 575-388-5439, in case types not eligible for electronic filing. The notice's own limit matters for an estate: if a filing fee is required to open or reopen a case, the pleadings must be mailed or hand delivered along with the fee (verified July 2026) |
| Two links on the county's probate page no longer go where they say | The page's download forms link now redirects to the New Mexico Courts' accessibility and accommodations forms rather than to the probate forms library, and the self-help guide the county hosts is the Administrative Office of the Courts' guide of July 2016, which still says an estate must be open a minimum of three months before it can be closed where Section 45-3-1003 has required six since 2016, still cites the probate form numbers superseded when the Supreme Court renumbered the set in 2018, and still points at two state web addresses that no longer answer (verified July 2026) |
| The county's probate fee heading cites a repealed companion statute | The Grant County Clerk's recording fees schedule prints its probate heading with two citations, Sections 34-7-14 and 34-7-15 NMSA 1978. Section 34-7-14 is the live authority for the $30 fee. Section 34-7-15 was repealed by Laws 2023, chapter 44, in the overhaul that rewrote New Mexico's probate court statutes with effect from July 1, 2023. The amount on the sheet is correct (verified July 2026) |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Grant County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | If the home in Silver City, Bayard, Santa Clara or elsewhere in the county was held with a right of survivorship or passes by a recorded transfer on death deed, it goes to the survivor with no court involved, and accounts with payable on death or beneficiary designations do the same. Where the home was community property and passes to the survivor, New Mexico has a recorded affidavit route that avoids probate entirely and is handled at the Grant County Clerk's recording counter rather than in court; that route and its assessed-value limit are covered on the New Mexico state page. Where assets stood in the deceased person's sole name, the spouse calls 575-574-0071 for an appointment with the Grant County Probate Court and applies informally on Form 4B-302 NMRA with a will or Form 4B-301 NMRA without one. A surviving spouse who is a devisee ranks second in the appointment priority, behind only a person named in a probated will (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-203(A)). | Asset discovery to establish how the home and the accounts are actually titled and how much really has to reach a court. Packet generation for the application, the acceptance and the notices, ready to take to the appointment at 1400 Highway 180 East. A vetted attorney referral if title or a claim turns out to be disputed, which would move the matter to the Sixth Judicial District Court. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | Start by checking whether a court is needed at all: New Mexico lets a claiming successor collect personal property from a bank or transfer agent on an affidavit thirty days after the death, with no court filing and no fee, where the whole estate is under the statewide limit and no real estate is involved. That route is covered on the New Mexico state page. Where a probate is needed, the informal route in the Grant County Probate Court costs $30 (Section 34-7-14) against $132 in the district court, and it is decided on the papers with no hearing. Doing it from out of state means post and telephone: there is no e-filing in the probate court, the original will has to reach the court physically, and the probate court is by appointment, so call 575-574-0071 before mailing anything to P.O. Box 898, Silver City, NM 88062. Check the ZIP: the box is 88062 even though the street address is 88061. | Asset discovery to value the estate from out of state and work out which route it qualifies for before anyone books a flight. Packet generation for the affidavit or the application, assembled so it can be posted to Silver City and accepted the first time. |
| Parent settling a predeceased child's estate, home must be sold | Selling real property does not by itself force the case into the district 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)), so a parent appointed by the Grant County Probate Court can convey by personal representative's deed, recorded with the Grant County Clerk at $25 per document of ten or fewer index entries. With no will the parent applies on Form 4B-301 NMRA and receives letters of administration on Form 4B-306 NMRA, ranking behind any surviving spouse and any children in the priority order of Section 45-3-203(A), so obtain the renunciations or consents of anyone ahead. Notice follows within 30 days (Section 45-3-705) and the inventory within three months (Section 45-3-706). What does move the case to the Sixth Judicial District Court is a dispute about who owns the property, because determining title as between the estate and an adverse claimant is exclusively a district court matter in formal proceedings (Section 45-1-302(B)), and Section 34-7-10(B) means that transfer costs no second filing fee. Note that the county's own page says the probate judge and staff cannot prepare a deed for you. | Asset discovery for the accounts, insurance, vehicles, Grant County real property and debts. Packet generation for the application, the notices and the inventory. Attorney referral where the sale, a mortgage payoff, a dispute among heirs or a title question makes counsel worthwhile. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Grant County Probate Judge (grantcountynm.gov), 575-574-0071, fax 575-574-0076, P.O. Box 898, Silver City, NM 88062 | The informal probate forum for the county, at 1400 Highway 180 East, seen by appointment. The county's page is unusually informative for a small New Mexico county and is candid about the limits: neither the judge nor the staff may give legal advice, fill out or help fill out a form, prepare a deed, or recommend an attorney (see also Rule 23-113 NMRA) |
| Grant County Clerk's Office (grantcountynm.gov), 575-574-0042 | The filing counter and the clerk of the probate court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)), at 1400 Highway 180 East, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. This is where the $30 fee is paid, where the $5 printed packet is sold, where case files and certified copies are requested, and where a personal representative's deed is recorded |
| Grant County recording fees schedule (grantcountynm.gov) | The county's own charges for opening a probate, the packet, copies, certification and recording, with the county's citations to Sections 34-7-14, 14-8-14 and 14-8-15.1 NMSA 1978 on its face |
| Sixth Judicial District, location, hours and contacts (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov), 575-538-3250, ext. 2 | The formal and contested forum for Grant, Luna and Hidalgo Counties. The Grant County District Court is at the Grant County Courthouse, 201 N. Cooper St., Silver City, mailing to P.O. Box 2339, Silver City, NM 88062. Courthouse hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the clerk's counter is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through the lunch hour |
| Sixth Judicial District fees, costs and filing (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's own fee page: $132 for a civil case, no personal checks, cash, cashier's checks and money orders payable to the Sixth Judicial District Court, and credit and debit cards at the counter and online with a 2.25 per cent service fee |
| Sixth Judicial District self help center (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | Each District Court Clerk's Office stocks forms and packets for people representing themselves, and the district runs a pro se clinic: a pro se attorney meets self-represented parties by appointment only, reviews paperwork before it goes to a District Judge, gives no legal advice and does not act as anyone's attorney. Appointments are scheduled through the Grant County District Court clerk's office |
| Sixth Judicial District emailing and faxing (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's notice, revised August 14, 2025, allowing self-represented litigants and attorneys to file some documents by email or fax. The notice carries the Grant County District Court's email address for these filings, and its fax is 575-388-5439. Anything that needs a filing fee to open a case must be mailed or hand delivered with the fee |
| Sixth Judicial District general court information (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | How the district runs a hearing if a case moves up: a trailing docket, arrive fifteen minutes early, three copies of exhibits, and telephonic appearances only if requested in writing for good cause and approved in advance |
| New Mexico Courts HelpLine (nmcourts.gov), 1-855-268-7804 | The judiciary's own information service, Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in English and Spanish with interpreters available. It can provide court-approved forms and explain what a form is asking for and point you to free or low-cost legal services, but it cannot tell you what to write on a form or apply any law to your situation |
| New Mexico Courts probate forms (nmcourts.gov) | The free statewide Form 4B library, plus a plain-language guide and a Dine translation. This is the working link; the one on the county's probate page no longer reaches it |
| New Mexico Courts Case Lookup (nmcourts.gov) | The free statewide case index, covering the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, district, magistrate and municipal courts. It reaches a Sixth Judicial District case and it does not reach a Grant County Probate Court case, because it has no probate court option. It is an index only, with no documents |
| Legal Resources for the Elderly Program, State Bar of New Mexico (sbnm.org), 505-797-6005 or 1-800-876-6657 | A free statewide legal helpline for New Mexico residents aged 55 and older, with no income restrictions, in English and Spanish. Phone lines are open and accepting voicemails Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Mountain Time. It names probate and transfer on death deeds among the areas it advises on, which makes it the strongest probate-specific free resource in the state |
| Modest Means Helpline, State Bar of New Mexico (sbnm.org), 505-797-6013 or 888-857-9935 | Advice by telephone for New Mexico residents of modest means, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Time, with referrals to pro bono attorneys in limited cases. Callers aged 55 or older should use the elderly program instead |
| New Mexico Legal Aid, Silver City office, 575-388-0091 | Published on the Sixth Judicial District's own resources page, with the district's caveat that its services are not the same as the court's pro se attorneys. Probate is not one of New Mexico Legal Aid's staff practice areas; it reaches wills and probate through the Volunteer Attorney Program's free one-time consultations at scheduled clinics, so ask about a clinic rather than expecting representation |
| New Mexico Free Legal Answers (nm.freelegalanswers.org) | Free written answers to civil legal questions from volunteer New Mexico attorneys, for people who qualify. Useful for a single question about a Grant County estate rather than for representation |
| New Mexico Compilation Commission (nmonesource.com) | The official free text of NMSA 1978 and the rules and forms, published by the state's own compiler. The place to read Sections 34-7-14, 45-1-302 and 45-3-201 for yourself |
When to hire an attorney
Most Grant County estates are uncontested, and both forums are built on the assumption that families will do this themselves: an informal probate is decided on the papers for $30 (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14) with no hearing, and the Sixth Judicial District stocks forms and packets at its clerk's counter and runs a pro se clinic. The limits are published too. Grant County states that neither the probate judge nor the staff can give legal advice of any kind, fill out the forms for you or help you fill them out, prepare a deed for real property that has to be transferred, or recommend an attorney, and the Sixth Judicial District says that court staff, judges and special masters cannot give legal advice and that hiring an attorney should be your first choice (see also Rule 23-113 NMRA). Consider counsel when a will is likely to be contested or the heirs disagree, when someone outside the family claims an interest in ranch ground, water rights, grazing permits, mining claims or mineral interests, which are ordinary property in this county, when the estate is insolvent or a creditor is pressing, when a personal representative's deed or a sale has to be drafted, when heirs cannot be located, when a guardianship or conservatorship has to run alongside the estate, or whenever the matter has to move to the Sixth Judicial District Court, which is the only forum that can decide any of it. Sunset can connect families to a vetted New Mexico probate attorney serving Grant County.
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, Grant County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds before you file for estate settlement. New Mexico requires the application for informal probate to be verified as accurate and complete (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-301), and requires an inventory with date of death values within three months of appointment (Section 45-3-706).
Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the paperwork for your route, whether an informal application on Form 4B-302 or Form 4B-301 NMRA or one of New Mexico's affidavit routes, ready to take to an appointment at 1400 Highway 180 East in Silver City or to post to P.O. Box 898, Silver City, NM 88062.
Find a local probate attorney. When a matter is contested, when title is disputed, or when it otherwise has to go to the Sixth Judicial District Court, Sunset connects families to a vetted New Mexico probate attorney serving Grant County.
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
Do I file in the Grant County Probate Court or the Sixth Judicial District Court?
Both can open an informal probate, and only the district court can do anything else. The Grant County Probate Court handles informal, uncontested probate: admitting an original will informally, appointing a personal representative informally without a hearing, appointing a special administrator, and issuing letters (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(C)). The county states its own limits the same way and adds that it cannot take formal probates, determinations of heirship, contested cases, disputes over the validity of a will, the removal of a personal representative or trust matters. The Sixth Judicial District Court has exclusive jurisdiction over all of those, along with will construction, supervised administration, disputes about who owns property as between the estate and an adverse claimant, disclaimers and tax apportionment (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)), and it also has concurrent jurisdiction over informal matters (Section 45-1-302.1). In practice almost everyone starts in the probate court, because it costs $30 rather than $132 and because Section 34-7-10(B) means there is no second filing fee if the case has to be transferred up.
Where exactly do I file a probate in Grant County?
In person at the Grant County Probate Court, 1400 Highway 180 East, Silver City, NM 88061, by appointment, or by mail to P.O. Box 898, Silver City, NM 88062. Check that ZIP: the post office box is 88062 even though the street address is 88061, and the county's own page publishes it that way. The fee is paid at the Grant County Clerk's Office in the same building, because the county clerk of each county is designated as the clerk of the probate court in that county (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)). A formal or contested case goes instead to the Sixth Judicial District Court at the Grant County Courthouse, 201 N. Cooper St., mailing to P.O. Box 2339, Silver City, NM 88062. File in Grant County if the person who died lived here (Section 45-3-201(A)(1)), or if they lived out of state and owned property here (Section 45-3-201(A)(2)).
What are the Grant County Probate Court's hours?
By appointment. That is the county's own published answer for the Probate Judge's Office, and it is what New Mexico law contemplates: the position of probate judge is a part-time one (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-1(B)) and the probate court is open at such times as the clerk of the probate court determines and publishes on the county's website (Section 34-7-8). Call 575-574-0071 to arrange a time. The counter you will also need, the Grant County Clerk's Office at the same address, is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, on 575-574-0042, and that is where the $30 fee is paid and the $5 printed packet is sold. The Sixth Judicial District Court keeps different hours again: the courthouse is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but the clerk's counter closes at 4 p.m., staying open through lunch.
How much does it cost to file probate in Grant County, and who do I make the check out to?
$30 in the Grant County Probate Court and $132 in the Sixth Judicial District Court, and Grant County is one of the few New Mexico counties that publishes the payee. The probate court fee is set by statute at thirty dollars for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14), and the county publishes that the fees are paid to the Grant County Clerk in cash, checks, money orders or cashier's checks only, with checks made payable to the Grant County Clerk. The district court figure is what the Sixth Judicial District publishes for a civil case, and it is built from $117 for docketing a civil cause (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus $15 in a judicial district running an alternative dispute resolution program (Section 34-6-45(A)). The district refuses personal checks and takes cash, cashier's checks or money orders payable to the Sixth Judicial District Court, or a credit or debit card with a 2.25 per cent service fee. If the estate cannot afford it, ask for free process on Form 4B-201 NMRA in the probate court, or on the district's Application and Order for Free Process, Form 4-222 NMRA, under Rule 23-114 NMRA.
Can I e-file or email a probate filing in Grant County?
Not in the probate court, and only partly in the district court. New Mexico's electronic filing system, Tyler's Odyssey File & Serve branded by the courts as eFile & Serve, is defined by rule as the system approved for use by the district courts (Rule 1-005.2(A)(3) NMRA); no probate court appears in any e-filing authority, and the Probate Court Rules contain no electronic filing rule. Even at the district court, self-represented parties are prohibited from electronically filing documents and shall continue to file documents through traditional methods (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) NMRA), with the clerk converting a paper filing into electronic format (Rule 1-005.2(I)(2)). The Sixth Judicial District does go further than most: under a notice revised August 14, 2025 it accepts some documents from self-represented litigants by email, at the court address printed in the notice itself, or by fax to 575-388-5439, in case types not eligible for electronic filing, but it says that if a filing fee is required to open or reopen a case the pleadings must be mailed or hand delivered with the fee. Ask the clerk whether your particular document qualifies. In the probate court, plan on paper: the original will has to be physically delivered.
What happens if someone contests the will in Grant County?
The case leaves the probate court. A probate court case must be transferred to the district court when a contest arises, when a formal appointment or formal closing is requested, when a determination of testacy or heirship is requested, when a hearing is required, or when any interested party or the judge asks for it (Rule 1B-101(B)(2) NMRA, with the procedure in Rule 1B-701 NMRA), and the Sixth Judicial District Court has exclusive original jurisdiction over all of it (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(A)). Form 4B-1001 NMRA is the transfer order, and the transfer costs nothing: where a case was properly filed within the probate court's jurisdiction and later transferred, no filing fee shall be charged in the district court (Section 34-7-10(B)). Note also that a probate judge may decline an application for informal appointment for any reason, which is not an adjudication and does not prevent a formal appointment later (Section 45-3-309), and that while a formal testacy proceeding is pending the probate court cannot act on any informal application (Section 45-3-401(C)). A contest is the point at which counsel is worth having.
How do I look up a Grant County probate case?
By asking the Grant County Clerk's Office at 575-574-0042 or at the counter at 1400 Highway 180 East. Case Lookup, the free statewide index, covers New Mexico's district, magistrate, metropolitan and municipal courts and has no probate court option at all; the New Mexico Courts locator lists no probate courts either. Each county probate court keeps its own records, and other counties' probate court records are not available online. Grant County publishes no probate index of its own. Do not be misled by the Clerk's Online Document Search: that is the index of recorded documents, where a personal representative's deed or a homestead affidavit is found, and it says nothing about whether a probate case exists. A Sixth Judicial District Court case, by contrast, does appear in Case Lookup, as an index entry without documents.
Are there local Grant County probate forms?
Essentially one, and it is sold rather than posted. The county sells a printed probate packet for $5 at the Grant County Clerk's Office and describes it as the packet for an estate with no will; the Clerk's recording fees schedule prices it the same way. Everything else is the free statewide Form 4B set approved by the New Mexico Supreme Court. One warning about the county's page: its invitation to download forms points at a New Mexico Courts address that now lands on the judiciary's accessibility forms rather than the probate library, so use the probate forms page at nmcourts.gov instead. The Sixth Judicial District publishes no Form 4B either; its probate page holds only the judiciary's self-help guide, a motion to continue a hearing and the free process application.
Do I have to travel to Silver City to settle an estate in Grant County?
At least once for the probate court, because the original will and the death certificate have to reach the court physically and the office is seen by appointment. Beyond that, much of an uncontested estate here runs on post and telephone: filings can be posted to P.O. Box 898, Silver City, NM 88062, and the Grant County Clerk will supply certified copies of recorded documents by mail where the request is in writing with the correct fee, sent to P.O. Box 1286, Silver City, NM 88062. What you cannot do is e-file in the probate court. On the district court side, Silver City is the right town: the Sixth Judicial District staffs its own Grant County clerk's counter at 201 N. Cooper St. and does not route Grant County filings to Deming or Lordsburg. If a hearing is set there and you cannot attend, telephonic appearance has to be requested in writing for good cause and approved in advance.
How long does an informal probate take in Grant County?
The statutory clock, rather than any local docket, sets the shape of it, and neither Grant County nor the Sixth Judicial District publishes a processing time or a probate hearing schedule. Nothing can be granted until at least 120 hours have passed since the death (NMSA 1978, Sections 45-3-302 and 45-3-307(A)), which the county publishes on its own page as five days. An informal case is decided on the verified application without a hearing, so once the judge has the complete papers, letters can issue quickly, though the appointment-only schedule means the pace depends on when you can be seen. After appointment, notice to the heirs and devisees goes out within 30 days and the proof is filed (Section 45-3-705), the inventory is prepared within three months (Section 45-3-706), and the estate cannot be closed informally earlier than six months after the original appointment (Section 45-3-1003(A)). Claims arising before the death are barred one year after the death whether or not anything was published (Section 45-3-803(A)). Six to twelve months is therefore the realistic span for a straightforward estate.
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.