Back to New Mexico
Los Alamos County, NM Probate Information
Quick facts
| Detail | Los Alamos County Probate Court | First Judicial District Court |
|---|---|---|
| What it handles | Informal, uncontested probate only. The court's own authority statement covers admitting wills to informal probate, informally appointing personal representatives, appointing special administrators and issuing certificates of full administration of the estate (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(C)). Its page states that formal probates, determinations of heirship, contested cases and trust matters must be filed in district court. | Every formal and contested probate matter, exclusively: formal testacy and formal appointment, supervised administration, determination of heirs, will construction and will contests, title disputes between the estate and an adverse claimant, trusts and disclaimers (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). It may also take an informal probate (Section 45-1-302.1). It has no separate probate department; its own fee table carries probate as case type PB inside the civil filing line. |
| Courthouse address | Municipal Building, 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240 (second floor), Los Alamos, NM 87544. Not 2500 Trinity Drive, and not 2300 Trinity Drive. | The Los Alamos County District Courthouse is 2500 Trinity Drive, Suite D, Los Alamos, NM 87544, but it is not the filing counter. The staffed clerk's office for this district is the Santa Fe County District Courthouse, 225 Montezuma Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501. |
| Where filings are actually taken | On paper at 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240, and by appointment: the court reviews and submits cases by appointment only, so call (505) 663-1732 first, including to arrange a filing from out of the area. | In the district's own words, Los Alamos County filings can be filed in Santa Fe, through fax filing, or through the [email protected] email address. That is a filings intake address, not a help line. |
| Mailing address | Los Alamos County Probate Court, 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240, Los Alamos, NM 87544. The court publishes no PO Box. | First Judicial District Court, PO Box 2268, Santa Fe, NM 87504. The district publishes no mailing address for the Los Alamos courthouse. |
| Phone | (505) 663-1732, the probate court's own published office line. The County Clerk, who is the clerk of the probate court, is (505) 662-8010. | (505) 455-8250. Note what this number is: the district publishes the same line for the Los Alamos courthouse and for the Santa Fe courthouse, because Los Alamos business is handled from Santa Fe. There is no separate staffed Los Alamos district clerk line. |
| Fax | (505) 662-8008, the fax the probate court and the County Clerk both publish for Suite 240. Do not file a probate application by fax; the original will has to arrive physically. | (505) 455-8280, published by the district as its fax number for case filings and as the Los Alamos courthouse fax. |
| Hours | By appointment only. The court's own page says the probate court reviews and submits cases by appointment only, which is what Section 34-7-1(B) means in practice: the probate judge is a part-time county official. Call (505) 663-1732 to arrange a time. The County Clerk counter in the same suite is open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. | The Santa Fe courthouse, where the clerk's office is, is open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and stays open through the lunch hour. The district publishes no hours at all for the Los Alamos County District Courthouse, which is consistent with it not being a filing counter. |
| Filing fee | $30 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). The court publishes it as a $30.00 docket fee to file for informal probate. It publishes no payee, so confirm before you write a check. | $132 to open a civil case, which is what a formal probate is: $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus the $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)). The district's own fee table lists $132 for civil filings including PB (Probate). 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 | The probate court publishes no payment methods of its own. The County Clerk counter in the same suite takes cash, check, Mastercard or Visa in person and asks for a check payable to Los Alamos County by mail, and it does not take Discover or American Express. Confirm with the court before you pay the docket fee. | Cash, cashier's checks, approved company checks or money orders made payable to First Judicial District Court. Personal checks are not accepted, in the court's own words, so a filer who arrives with one is turned away. |
| Local forms | The court publishes two downloadable packets of its own, one for an estate with a will and one without. Both are the statewide Form 4B set with a Los Alamos cover sheet, including the Form 4B-101 flow chart, rather than locally drafted forms. | None of its own for probate. The statewide Form 4B series at nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate is the set to use. |
| E-filing | None. Probate court filing is on paper, at the counter or by mail. The electronic filing system is defined for the district courts only (Rule 1-005.2(A)(3) NMRA), and the Probate Court Rules, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA, contain no electronic filing rule. The original will has to arrive physically. | 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, by fax or by the district's filings email, after which the clerk converts the filing into electronic form (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) and (I)(2) NMRA). |
| Case search | Los Alamos is one of the few counties with its own online probate index: the court's page links the county's online records search at eaglerecorderselfservice.losalamosnm.us, with probate index information searchable back to February 1953. Document images are not available online, so the file itself or a certified copy is requested from the County Clerk, custodian of all probate court records, at (505) 662-8010 or [email protected]. These cases are not in the statewide Case Lookup. | 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. | Hearings are set by the assigned judge. The district's contacts page publishes remote-access details for the magistrate courts in the district but none for the district court's own divisions, so ask the clerk's office or the assigned judge's chambers how a Los Alamos County case will be heard. |
| Website | losalamosnm.gov/Government/Courts/Probate-Court | firstdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you book an appointment with the Los Alamos County Probate Court, 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: the court requires the application to be signed in front of a notary public, and by verifying it you submit personally to the court's jurisdiction in any later proceeding for fraud or perjury (Section 45-3-301(G)). Because the court sees cases by appointment rather than at a daily counter, arriving with an incomplete picture costs you a second appointment, not ten minutes in a queue.
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 be able to record an affidavit with the Los Alamos County Clerk instead of opening a case at all (Section 45-3-1205). So list every bank and credit union account, retirement and brokerage account, life insurance policy, vehicle, business interest and parcel of Los Alamos 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)). The Los Alamos County Probate Court publishes the same rule in its own words: it handles informal probate where the decedent was domiciled in Los Alamos County at death, or owned property in the county while living elsewhere. Both courts on this page serve the whole county, which is the Los Alamos townsite and White Rock. Los Alamos County is a consolidated city-county, styled the Incorporated County of Los Alamos, with no separate town government inside it; that changes nothing about probate, which runs here exactly as it does in the other 32 counties.
Within Los Alamos County you have a choice of court. The Los Alamos County Probate Court takes an informal, uncontested probate, and the First 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 Los Alamos 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 paper filings locally, and Section 34-7-10(B) means there is no second filing fee if the case has to move up. The Los Alamos 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 County Clerk, in the county's own words, acts as the clerk of the probate court and is the custodian of all probate court records, which is exactly what Section 34-7-22(A) provides.
The First Judicial District Court is a state court covering Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties (Section 34-6-1(A)), and where it takes a Los Alamos filing matters. There is a Los Alamos County District Courthouse at 2500 Trinity Drive, Suite D, but the district states that Los Alamos County filings can be filed in Santa Fe, through fax filing or through its filings email address. It publishes no hours and no mailing address for the Los Alamos courthouse, and it publishes the Santa Fe phone and fax against it. The district's eleven judicial divisions are all based at the Santa Fe courthouse except Division VIII, which serves Rio Arriba County and splits time between Tierra Amarilla and Santa Fe. So plan on Santa Fe, at 225 Montezuma Ave., or on filing by fax or email, for anything that has to go to the district court. Three other courts sit in Los Alamos and none of them touches probate: the Los Alamos County Magistrate Court shares 2500 Trinity Drive, Suite D, the Los Alamos Municipal Court is next door at Suite C, and neither hears estate matters.
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm the case belongs in Los Alamos 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)). The court publishes both timing limits itself: no probate may be filed during the first 120 hours, that is five days, after the death (Sections 45-3-302 and 45-3-307(A)), and the application must be brought within three years following 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 Los Alamos County Probate Court, 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240. 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 First Judicial District Court (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)), and for a Los Alamos County case that means Santa Fe, fax filing or the district's filings email rather than the courthouse on Trinity Drive.
- Gather what the court asks 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)); an original death certificate, which the court says should accompany the application; and the names, addresses and, for minors, ages of the surviving spouse, children, heirs and devisees (Section 45-3-301).
- Get the forms. Download the Los Alamos County Probate Court's own packet, with a will or without a will, from losalamosnm.gov/Government/Courts/Probate-Court. Both packets are the statewide Supreme Court forms with a local cover sheet, so the equivalents at nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate are Form 4B-301 (no will) and Form 4B-302 (with will), with the Form 4B-101 flow chart at the front.
- Sign in front of a notary. The court requires the application to be signed by the applicant in the presence of a notary public before it is presented, because you are swearing the statements are accurate and complete.
- Book an appointment and file on paper. The Los Alamos County Probate Court reviews and submits cases by appointment only, so call (505) 663-1732 to arrange a time rather than turning up at a counter. The estate papers, the original will if any, and payment are presented together for review, and the docket fee is $30 (Section 34-7-14). There is no e-filing at any New Mexico probate court. Bring copies of anything you want back, or pay $0.10 a page. 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). 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 newspaper of general circulation in Los Alamos County 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. 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 Los Alamos County house is conveyed by a personal representative's deed recorded with the Los Alamos County Clerk in the same Suite 240, at $25 for the first ten indexed entries. Documents handed in after 4:30 p.m. are processed the next business day. What the probate court cannot do is decide a dispute about that title; that is the district court's, in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)).
- If it turns contested, the case moves up. If anyone contests the will, if the heirs are in dispute, if a formal appointment or formal closing is requested, if a determination of testacy or heirship is needed, or if any hearing is required, the matter goes to the First Judicial District Court (Section 45-1-302; Rule 1B-101(B)(2) NMRA), on Form 4B-1001, order transferring case from probate court to district court. A disqualified or interested probate judge transfers the proceeding the same way (Section 34-7-9). Section 34-7-10(B) is the reason starting locally 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 small-estate version). If no proceedings involving the personal representative are pending in the district court one year after the closing statement is filed, the appointment terminates. Outside supervised administration, which is district court only, there is no routine annual accounting to the court in New Mexico.
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Los Alamos County
The Los Alamos County Probate Court publishes two probate packets of its own at losalamosnm.gov/Government/Courts/Probate-Court, one for an estate with a will and one for an estate without. It is worth knowing exactly what they are before you download them: each packet is the statewide Supreme Court Form 4B set with a Los Alamos cover sheet on the front, not a set of locally drafted forms. The with-will packet read for this page opens with the Form 4B-101 flow chart and then runs through Forms 4B-302, 4B-304, 4B-305, 4B-307, 4B-401, 4B-402 and the later administration forms in order. So if you already have the statewide forms you have the packet, and if you want the packet you get the statewide forms.
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, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA.
| Form | What it does |
|---|---|
| Form 4B-101 | Opening and closing a probate court case, as a flow chart. It is the first page of the Los Alamos packets, and its first step is choosing whether to file in probate court or district court. |
| Forms 4B-301 and 4B-302 | The application for informal appointment of a personal representative with no will, and the application for informal probate of a will and informal appointment with a will. Consent of anyone with equal or higher priority is a signature block inside these forms; there is no separate waiver form. |
| Forms 4B-303 and 4B-304 | The orders of informal appointment, without and with a will. |
| Form 4B-305 | Acceptance of appointment as personal representative. |
| Forms 4B-306 and 4B-307 | Letters of administration and letters testamentary, the documents that prove your authority to a bank or a title company. |
| Forms 4B-401 and 4B-402 | Notice of informal appointment to the heirs and devisees, and the proof of notice filed with the court (Section 45-3-705). |
| Forms 4B-501, 4B-601 and 4B-602 | Notice to creditors, inventory and accounting. |
| Forms 4B-701 and 4B-702 | The verified closing statement and the small-estate closing statement. |
| Forms 4B-201 and 4B-202 | Affidavit of poverty and indigency, and the order allowing free process, if you cannot afford the $30 fee (Section 34-6-27(B)). |
| Form 4B-1001 | Order transferring a case from probate court to district court, the form used when a Los Alamos matter has to move to the First Judicial 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. There is no statewide 4B form for the small-estate affidavit or for the surviving spouse's homestead affidavit, 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. The First Judicial District Court publishes no probate forms of its own; its self-representation pages sell packets for divorce, parentage, name changes and restraining orders, and probate is not among them.
Fees
Los Alamos publishes charges beyond the two statutory filing fees in three different places, and two of them are in the same suite of the same building. All figures below were read from the offices' own pages on July 27, 2026.
| Charge | Amount | Office and authority |
|---|---|---|
| Probate case, docket fee | $30 | Los Alamos County Probate Court, published as the docket fee to file for informal probate (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14) |
| Copies at the probate court | $0.10 per page | Los Alamos County Probate Court. The statutory ceiling for a probate clerk's document copies is $1.00 per page (Section 14-8-14(B)) |
| Certifying a document at the probate court | $0.50 per document | Los Alamos County Probate Court |
| Civil case filing, which is what a formal probate is | $132 | First Judicial District Court fee table, which lists civil filings including PB (Probate). 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 a settlement conference program |
| Copies at the district court | $0.35 per page | First Judicial District Court fee table |
| Certification at the district court | $1.50 each | First Judicial District Court fee table |
| Recording a personal representative's deed or a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit | $25 for up to ten indexed entries, then $25 per additional ten | Los Alamos County Clerk, Recording and Filing, 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240 |
| Copies and certification at the recording counter | $1.00 per page, $1.00 per certified document | Los Alamos County Clerk, Recording and Filing |
Two things about paying. First, the counters take different things and neither court publishes the same list. The First Judicial District Court takes cash, cashier's checks, approved company checks or money orders made payable to First Judicial District Court and states that personal checks are not accepted. The Los Alamos County Probate Court publishes no payment methods and no payee at all; the County Clerk's recording counter in the same suite takes cash, check, Mastercard or Visa and asks for mailed checks to be made out to Los Alamos County, but that is the recording counter's rule, not the court's, so confirm the probate payee on (505) 663-1732 before you write anything on a check.
If you cannot afford the fee, New Mexico's route is called free process, not a fee waiver motion. At the probate court it is Form 4B-201, affidavit of poverty and indigency, with Form 4B-202, order allowing free process. At the district court it runs under Rule 23-114 NMRA on Forms 4-222 to 4-224, and the First Judicial District publishes that the court may grant free process or a fee reduction in any civil or criminal action on a showing of indigence (Section 34-6-27(B)). 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
Los Alamos County-specific considerations
| Local fact | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| The Los Alamos County District Courthouse does not take filings | This is the most important local fact on the page and it is the district's own statement: Los Alamos County filings can be filed in Santa Fe, through fax filing, or through the [email protected] email address. The building at 2500 Trinity Drive, Suite D exists, but the First Judicial District publishes no hours for it, no mailing address for it, and gives it the Santa Fe phone and fax. If a Los Alamos estate has to go to district court, plan on Santa Fe at 225 Montezuma Ave., or on fax or email filing, not on a drive down Trinity Drive. |
| The district phone you will find published is the Santa Fe line | (505) 455-8250 appears against both the Los Alamos and the Santa Fe courthouses because the same clerk's office answers for both. Calling it reaches Santa Fe. There is no separate staffed Los Alamos district clerk number to find, and a directory that shows you one is guessing. |
| The probate court is by appointment only | The court's own page says it reviews and submits cases by appointment only. That is Section 34-7-1(B) in practice: the probate judge is a part-time elected county official, and Section 34-7-8 leaves the court's hours to the clerk of the probate court. Call (505) 663-1732 and book. The County Clerk counter in the same suite keeps ordinary weekday hours, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but the clerk cannot review your case for you. |
| The probate court and the County Clerk share Suite 240 | Both are at 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240, in the Municipal Building. The County Clerk, in the county's own words, acts as the clerk of the probate court and is the custodian of all probate court records (consistent with Section 34-7-22(A)), and the same counter records deeds. So the probate appointment, the request for a copy of an old probate file, and the recording of a personal representative's deed all happen in one suite, on three different sets of rules and three different fee lists. |
| Four courts, one small town, and only one of them does probate | Los Alamos County Probate Court is at 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240. The Los Alamos County District Courthouse and the Los Alamos County Magistrate Court share 2500 Trinity Drive, Suite D. The Los Alamos Municipal Court is next door in Suite C and hears traffic, driving under the influence, animal control and municipal code cases. Neither the magistrate court nor the municipal court has any probate jurisdiction, and nothing about an estate is filed at either. The 2300 Trinity Drive address that circulates for the probate court is not the probate court. |
| No district judge sits in Los Alamos | New Mexico district judges sit in numbered divisions, which are judge slots rather than subject-matter departments, and the First Judicial District's eleven divisions are all based at the Santa Fe courthouse except Division VIII, which serves Rio Arriba County and splits time between Tierra Amarilla and Santa Fe. None is based in Los Alamos. The district's own fee table carries probate as case type PB inside the civil filing line, so a formal Los Alamos probate is a civil case assigned to a Santa Fe civil division. |
Small-estate Alternatives
The New Mexico small-estate routes are statewide and are covered on the New Mexico state page. One of them has a Los Alamos County step worth knowing, because it is finished at a county counter rather than at either court.
A surviving spouse's homestead affidavit for a community-property homestead is recorded with the county clerk in the county where the home is, six months after the death, and no probate or administration is needed (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-1205). In Los Alamos County that is the County Clerk's recording counter at 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240, open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday with documents handed in after 4:30 p.m. processed the next business day, at $25 for the first ten indexed entries. The value cap in that statute is measured as assessed for property taxation purposes, not market value.
The small-estate affidavit for personal property under Section 45-3-1201 is not filed with any court and carries no court fee. You present it to the bank, transfer agent or other holder of the property. Neither court on this page takes it, there is no statewide 4B form for it, and the New Mexico courts' own guide calls it an affidavit of successor in interest. It cannot be used to perfect title to real estate (Section 45-3-1201(C)).
Recent updates
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| November 3, 2026 and January 1, 2027 | The Los Alamos 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, Los Alamos 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 2026 is the Honorable Perry Klare, and the county itself publishes that the current term ends December 31, 2026. Address correspondence to the office rather than the person, and expect the name to change. | NMSA 1978, Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2; losalamosnm.gov/Government/Courts/Probate-Court |
| Current practice | The First Judicial District publishes that Los Alamos County filings can be filed in Santa Fe, through fax filing, or through its filings email address, and publishes no hours or mailing address for the Los Alamos County District Courthouse at 2500 Trinity Drive, Suite D. Treat Santa Fe at 225 Montezuma Ave. as the district counter for a Los Alamos case. | Location, Hours and Contacts, firstdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
| Current practice | The Los Alamos County Probate Court reviews and submits cases by appointment only, on (505) 663-1732. The County Clerk in the same Suite 240 acts as clerk of the probate court and custodian of its records, and keeps ordinary weekday counter hours. | losalamosnm.gov/Government/Courts/Probate-Court and losalamosnm.gov/Government/Leadership/County-Clerk |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Los Alamos County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | A Los Alamos townsite or White Rock home held in joint tenancy passes to the survivor outside probate, and title is cleared at the Los Alamos County Clerk's recording counter at 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240 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 books an appointment with the Los Alamos County Probate Court and applies informally for $30 (Section 34-7-14); a surviving spouse who is a devisee has priority for appointment, and one 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 application, order, acceptance and letters in the form the court expects, ready to notarize and take to the appointment. Guidance on the recording step at the clerk in the same suite. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | If the parent was domiciled in Los Alamos 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 goes straight 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 Los Alamos County Probate Court reviews and submits cases by appointment only, so call (505) 663-1732 to arrange how to get the application, the $30 fee and the original documents to the court from a distance; the court asks for a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want copies of the filed documents returned. There is no e-filing at any New Mexico probate court and no hearing to attend, but the original will has to physically reach the court. | Asset discovery to establish whether the estate clears the affidavit route or needs letters. Packet generation for a mail-in Los Alamos filing, including the Section 45-3-705 notice to heirs and devisees due within 30 days of appointment and the proof of notice on Form 4B-402. Help requesting the case file afterwards from the County Clerk, who is the custodian of Los Alamos probate court records. |
| 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 Los Alamos 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 Los Alamos County Clerk. If a sibling, a co-owner or a creditor disputes who owns the house, only the First Judicial District Court can decide it, in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)), and that filing goes to Santa Fe, by fax or by the district's filings email, not to the Trinity Drive courthouse. 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 Los Alamos 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 Los Alamos County probate attorney if the title question goes to the district court. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Los Alamos County Probate Court (losalamosnm.gov/Government/Courts/Probate-Court, 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240, (505) 663-1732) | The court's own page: what probate is, the court's jurisdiction and authority, the 120 hours and three years limits (Sections 45-3-302 and 45-3-108), the notarization and death certificate requirements, the $30 docket fee with the copy and certification charges, and the two downloadable probate packets. Cases are reviewed by appointment only. |
| Los Alamos County Clerk (1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240, (505) 662-8010, [email protected]) | The clerk of the probate court and, in the county's own words, the custodian of all probate court records, so this is where you ask for a case file or a certified copy; the county's online records search shows probate index information back to February 1953, but no document images. The same office is the recording counter for a personal representative's deed and a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit, open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday with a 4:30 p.m. cutoff for same-day processing. |
| First Judicial District Court (firstdistrict.nmcourts.gov, 225 Montezuma Ave., Santa Fe, (505) 455-8250) | Location, Hours and Contacts, which is where the district states that Los Alamos County filings can be filed in Santa Fe, by fax filing or through its filings email address; the Fees, Costs and Filing page with the full fee table and the no-personal-checks rule; the judges list; and the court's forms library. Mail goes to PO Box 2268, Santa Fe 87504. |
| First Judicial District Self Help Center (225 Montezuma Ave., first floor, next to the Court Clerk's Office, (505) 455-8250 or (505) 455-8166, [email protected]) | The district's own walk-in forms and procedure desk, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday excluding holidays. It gives forms and procedural information and space to complete them, and staff can explain what a form is asking for. It cannot give legal advice, recommend which forms to file or tell you how to complete them, and it is a Santa Fe counter, not a Los Alamos one. |
| 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 Dine (Navajo) translation. This is the set the Los Alamos packets are built from. |
| New Mexico Courts Case Lookup (caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup) | The free public index for First Judicial District Court cases, along with magistrate, metropolitan and municipal courts. It has no probate court option, so a Los Alamos County Probate Court case will not appear there. |
| 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. |
| 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, with the Santa Fe office the nearest to Los Alamos. 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
Court staff on both sides of a Los Alamos probate are barred from helping you decide anything, and that line is a good guide to when you need a lawyer. The First Judicial District publishes it plainly for its own counter: court staff cannot give legal advice, cannot explain how the law applies to your case, cannot recommend which forms to file and cannot tell you how to complete them (Rule 23-113 NMRA), and the same limit binds the probate court and the County Clerk. So counsel makes particular sense in Los Alamos County when a will's validity or the identity of the heirs is in doubt, because only the First Judicial District Court can decide either (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(A)); when someone claims an interest in estate property adverse to the estate, which is again district court only in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)); when the estate holds a business, out-of-state property or a Los Alamos parcel whose sale terms are disputed; 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). There is a practical Los Alamos reason too: once a case is in the district court it is handled out of Santa Fe, and an attorney brings e-filing with them, since attorneys must e-file while self-represented parties are prohibited from doing so (Rule 1-005.2 NMRA). Sunset can connect families to a vetted Los Alamos 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, Los Alamos County real estate, business interests and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds before you file during estate settlement. In New Mexico that picture does real work: it decides whether a probate is needed at all, which often turns on how the assets were titled; it fills the verified application you have to swear to in front of a notary (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 Los Alamos 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 take to your appointment at 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240 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 against the estate, or when the case has to move to the First Judicial District Court on Form 4B-1001 and be handled out of Santa Fe, Sunset connects families to a vetted Los Alamos 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 Los Alamos County?
An informal, uncontested probate is filed on paper with the Los Alamos County Probate Court in the Municipal Building at 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240, Los Alamos 87544. The court reviews and submits cases by appointment only, so call (505) 663-1732 first. Anything formal or contested goes to the First Judicial District Court, and for a Los Alamos County case that means Santa Fe: the district states that Los Alamos County filings can be filed in Santa Fe at 225 Montezuma Ave., through fax filing on (505) 455-8280, or through the [email protected] email address, with mail to PO Box 2268, Santa Fe 87504. You file in Los Alamos 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 Los Alamos County Probate Court or the First Judicial District Court?
Both courts can open an informal probate (Section 45-1-302.1), so you have a genuine choice, but only the district court can do anything formal or contested (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). Use the probate court if nobody is objecting, there is a will or a clear set of heirs, and you just need the legal authority to act: it costs $30 rather than $132, it takes paper filings in Los Alamos itself, and there is no hearing. Use the district court if you need a determination of heirs, a ruling on whether a will is valid, a court order about who owns something, supervised administration, or any hearing. If you start in the probate court and it turns contested, the case transfers up on Form 4B-1001 and no second filing fee is charged (Section 34-7-10(B)), which is why starting locally is low-risk.
Can I file at the Los Alamos County District Courthouse on Trinity Drive?
No, and this trips people up. The Los Alamos County District Courthouse at 2500 Trinity Drive, Suite D is a real building, but the First Judicial District states that Los Alamos County filings can be filed in Santa Fe, through fax filing or through its filings email address. The district publishes no hours and no mailing address for the Los Alamos courthouse, and the phone and fax it lists against it, (505) 455-8250 and (505) 455-8280, are the Santa Fe clerk's own numbers. The Los Alamos County Magistrate Court shares that building and the Los Alamos Municipal Court is next door in Suite C; neither has any probate jurisdiction.
How much does it cost to file probate in Los Alamos County?
$30 for a probate case at the Los Alamos County Probate Court, which the court publishes as the docket fee to file for informal probate (Section 34-7-14). At the First 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)), and the district's own fee table publishes that total for civil filings including probate. Beyond the filing fee the probate court charges $0.10 a page for copies and $0.50 a document to certify, and the district court charges $0.35 a page and $1.50 per certification and 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.
Do I need an appointment at the Los Alamos County Probate Court?
Yes. The court's own page says it reviews and submits cases by appointment only, so call (505) 663-1732 rather than turning up at a counter. That is normal in New Mexico: the probate judge is an elected, part-time county official (Section 34-7-1), and the court's hours are set by the clerk of the probate court (Section 34-7-8). The County Clerk's office in the same Suite 240 is open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, but the clerk keeps the records and records deeds; the judge reviews the case.
Can I e-file a probate case in Los Alamos 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 Los Alamos County Probate Court filing is paper, at the appointment or by mail, and the original will has to arrive physically. At the First 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 (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) NMRA). A self-represented Los Alamos filer uses the district's published routes instead: in person in Santa Fe, fax filing, or the district's filings email address, after which the clerk converts the filing into electronic form (Rule 1-005.2(I)(2) NMRA).
How do I look up a Los Alamos County probate case?
The index is online; the documents are not. The Los Alamos County Probate Court's own page links the county's online records search at eaglerecorderselfservice.losalamosnm.us, where probate index information is searchable back to February 1953, and states that images are not available online. Los Alamos probate court cases are county records: the County Clerk is, in the county's own words, the custodian of all probate court records, so ask for a case file or a certified copy from the Clerk's office at 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 240, on (505) 662-8010 or at [email protected], at $0.10 a page and $0.50 a certification. The statewide New Mexico Courts Case Lookup at caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup covers district, magistrate, metropolitan and municipal courts, and its court-type filter has no probate court option, so a probate court case is not in it. First Judicial District Court probate cases do appear in Case Lookup, as an index with no document images.
What happens if someone contests the will in Los Alamos County?
The probate court cannot decide it, and the case moves to the First 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, 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)). Expect the case to be handled out of Santa Fe, where all the district's civil divisions sit.
Is there a hearing in a Los Alamos County probate, and do I have to travel?
An informal probate at the Los Alamos 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)). The court reviews and submits cases by appointment only, so call (505) 663-1732 to arrange how to file from a distance; the original will and death certificate must physically reach the court, and the court asks for a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want copies of the filed documents back. If the case ends up in the First Judicial District Court, hearings are set by the assigned judge; the district's contacts page publishes remote-access details for the magistrate courts in the district but none for the district court's own divisions, so ask the clerk's office how your hearing will be held.
Does the Los Alamos County Probate Court have its own forms?
It publishes two packets, one for an estate with a will and one without, and it is worth knowing what they contain: each is the statewide Supreme Court Form 4B set with a Los Alamos cover sheet, starting with the Form 4B-101 flow chart, rather than locally drafted forms. So you can work from the packet or from nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate and end up with the same documents. The court requires the application to be signed in front of a notary public and says it should include an original death certificate, and staff cannot help you fill any form in (Rule 23-113 NMRA).
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.