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Luna County, NM Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Luna 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 follow, 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 office also performs marriages | 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 | Luna County Courthouse, 700 S. Silver Avenue, Deming, NM 88030. The Luna County Clerk's Office is in the same building and is the ex-officio clerk of the probate court in the county's own words | Luna County Judicial Complex, 855 S. Platinum Avenue, Deming, NM 88030. This is a staffed clerk's office that takes Luna County filings directly; nothing is routed to Silver City or Lordsburg |
| Mailing address | The county publishes two forms and they do not agree. The County Clerk's page gives 700 S. Silver Ave., Box 7, Deming, NM 88030; the Clerk's 2026 fee schedule gives P.O. Box 1838, Deming, New Mexico 88031. Call before you post an original will | Luna County District Court, Sixth Judicial District Court, 855 S. Platinum Ave., Deming, NM 88030. Luna is the only county in this district whose district court does not use a post office box |
| Phone | 575-546-0491, the number Luna County publishes both for scheduling an appointment with the probate judge and, on its 2026 fee schedule, for the County Clerk's Office. The county's general switchboard is a different number, (575) 546-0494 (verified July 2026) | 575-546-9611, Ext. 0. The county's own probate packets give the same number and tell an applicant to call it to check whether a demand for notice has been filed (verified July 2026) |
| Fax | (575) 543-6617, published by the County Clerk's Office. The county's site footer separately publishes a general county fax, (575) 544-4293. Neither office says it will take a probate application by fax | 575-543-1605. The district adds that faxes over ten pages are not accepted without prior approval of the District Court Clerk |
| Hours | Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., published by the county as the probate judge's regular office hours, with the county's own instruction to call 575-546-0491 to schedule an appointment. Luna County publishes no counter hours for the County Clerk's Office, so telephone before you drive in | 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 during the lunch hour |
| Filing fee | $30.00 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). The Luna County Clerk's Office fee schedule effective January 21, 2026 publishes it under its own PROBATE FILING FEE heading as Probate Cases $30.00, alongside a $10.00 probate packet. No payee and no payment methods are published, so ask when you call | $132.00, which the Sixth Judicial District publishes on its own fee page as the cost of a civil case; a probate is filed as a civil case and the district publishes no separate probate line. 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)). Personal checks are not accepted; cash, cashier's checks and money orders payable to the Sixth Judicial District Court are, and since January 3, 2022 so are credit and debit cards at the counter and online, with a non-refundable 2.25 per cent service fee |
| Local forms | Yes. Luna County publishes an Intestate (No Will) packet and a Testate (With A Will) packet as free PDFs, each opening with the county's own Checklist for Submitting Informal Probate, and sells a printed packet for $10.00 (2026 county fee schedule). Both reproduce the current statewide Form 4B set. Read the corrections in the forms section below | None of its own for probate. The statewide Form 4B set applies. The district's probate forms page holds only a Motion and Order to Continue Hearing and an Application and Order for Free Process |
| 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 counter in Deming 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) |
| Case search | None. Luna County Probate Court cases are county records, they are in no statewide system, and Luna County publishes no probate index of its own. Ask the county at 575-546-0491 for a case file or a certified copy. The county's online Luna County Lookup is an index of recorded documents and assessor and treasurer records, 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 county's packets accept a filing by mail with a self-addressed stamped envelope, so ask what the office will do by telephone and post | 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's own guidance is that it is best to be present in person |
| Website | https://www.lunacounty.gov/departments/probate_judge/index.php for the probate judge's office, its hours and its two packets, https://www.lunacounty.gov/government/probate_judge/probate_faqs.php for the county's probate questions and answers, and https://www.lunacounty.gov/departments/clerk/index.php for the Clerk's office, with the 2026 fee schedule at https://www.lunacounty.gov/Luna%20County%20Clerk%20Recording%20&%20Filing%20Fees%202026.pdf | 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 book the appointment. Which route fits, and which of the two Luna 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 recorded 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. Sorting it out first matters more in Luna County than in a city, because the probate court's published hours are two mornings a week and there is no e-filing in either forum, so an incomplete application costs a week rather than a resubmission.
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. Luna County's own checklist is stricter than most about the detail it wants in the application, down to the current marital status, the children of deceased children, and the full mailing address of every heir and devisee, and it warns in its own words that failure to provide all the required information will delay the process. Within three months of appointment the personal representative must also 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 carry into the courthouse on Silver Avenue 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)). Within Luna County you have a choice of court: the Luna 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 Luna County Probate Court sits in the Luna County Courthouse at 700 S. Silver Avenue in Deming, the county seat, and serves the whole county: Deming itself, the village of Columbus on the international border, and the farming and ranching country and unincorporated settlements between them. 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), which Luna County describes on its own page as a part time county position. Its clerk is the Luna 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)); Luna County says so in its own words, listing among the Clerk's duties that the office serves as ex-officio clerk of the County Probate Court. Its hours are whatever the clerk sets and publishes on the county's website (Section 34-7-8), and here that is a published two mornings a week with appointments in between.
The Sixth Judicial District Court covers Grant, Luna and Hidalgo Counties, and for Luna County it sits at the Luna County Judicial Complex, 855 S. Platinum Avenue in Deming. A multi-county district is an administrative fact rather than a venue rule, and the question every New Mexico reader in a multi-county district has to ask is whether the courthouse in their own county actually takes filings. In Luna County it does. The district publishes a Luna County District Court clerk's office with its own counter hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, its own telephone extension, its own fax and its own mailing address at the same street address, and its fee page extends counter and online card payment by name to Grant, Hidalgo and Luna counties. Nothing routes to another county. The district numbers its judges by division, Division I through Division IV, which are judge assignments rather than subject-matter departments, and two of the four are based in Deming.
Two other Deming courthouses are not the place for an estate, and one of them is easy to confuse with the probate court. The Luna County Magistrate Court is at 912 S. Silver Street, 575-546-9321, on a street with almost the same name as the county courthouse's 700 S. Silver Avenue, and a magistrate court has no probate jurisdiction at all. The Deming Municipal Court handles municipal ordinance matters and has none either. Check whether the address says Avenue or Street before you set out, and note that the district court is a third building entirely, on Platinum Avenue.
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.
- Get the county's packet and read its checklist. Luna County publishes an Intestate (No Will) packet and a Testate (With A Will) packet as free PDFs on the probate judge's page, and its 2026 fee schedule prices a printed packet at $10.00 under the PROBATE FILING FEE heading. Each packet opens with the county's own Checklist for Submitting Informal Probate, which is the most useful single page of local guidance the county publishes, and then reproduces the current statewide Form 4B set together with the Probate Court Rules. Read the corrections in the forms section below before you rely on the checklist's form numbers.
- Fill in the opening forms. 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).
- Collect the consents and check for a demand for notice. Luna County's checklist asks for the written consent of anyone with equal or higher priority for appointment, and it makes that easier than most counties do: the court will accept e-mailed consents from heirs and devisees provided each is sent directly from the consenting person's own e-mail address. The same checklist tells you to contact the district court at (575) 546-9611 to find out whether anyone has filed a demand for notice about the person who died, which is worth doing before you file rather than after. If the heirs cannot agree on who serves, the county says plainly that the case cannot be filed in the probate court and the appointment has to be made in a formal proceeding in the district court, which matches Section 45-3-203(C) and (E).
- Assemble the proof of death and the original will. Luna County accepts more than one kind of proof of death: a death certificate, a letter from a funeral home, a letter from the Office of the Medical Investigator or a report of casualty, and whichever you use must show the name of the person who died, the date of birth, the date of death, marital status and domicile, meaning the county they lived in. The proof of death is returned to you. The original will is not: the county states that the original last will and testament will not be returned and is permanently retained by the court, which is consistent with the requirement that the original, duly executed and apparently unrevoked will be in the court's possession (Section 45-3-303(A)(5)). A will with the required signatures and an attestation clause showing proper execution is probated without further proof (Section 45-3-303(C)).
- File on paper and pay $30.00. 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 $30.00 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14), which the Luna County Clerk's Office fee schedule effective January 21, 2026 publishes as Probate Cases $30.00. Luna County publishes no payee and no accepted payment methods, so ask on 575-546-0491 before you write a check. File the original plus at least one set of copies, because the county will not return an original but will endorse and file stamp your copies, and if you are posting the papers in, enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope so the copies come back. 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.
- Time the visit to the court's hours. The Luna County Probate Court publishes regular office hours of Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and tells you to call 575-546-0491 to schedule an appointment. 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: the county charges $1.00 per page to photocopy and a certification fee of $1.00 plus $1 per page. 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, and the county's own packet correctly notes that Form 4B-401 must be filed within 30 days of appointment. Ignore the ten-day figure on the county's Probate FAQs web page, which is wrong; the statute and the county's packet both say thirty. 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, which is exactly how Luna County's own guidance describes it. Form 4B-601 NMRA is the inventory and Form 4B-602 NMRA is the accounting.
- Decide whether to publish a notice to creditors, and use the statute's numbers rather than the county web page's. 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). Luna County's Probate FAQs page describes publication as two weeks with two months to claim and marks written notice to known creditors as required; that is the pre-2016 version of the statute and following it would leave claims open. Form 4B-501 NMRA covers both kinds of notice, and the county's packet adds a practical point: the newspaper may want a copy endorsed by the court. Independently of any notice, claims arising before the death are barred one year after the death (Section 45-3-803(A)).
- 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 Luna County Probate Court therefore costs you nothing if the case has to move up, and the district court that receives it is four blocks away rather than in another county. 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 no earlier than six months. 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 Luna County can be conveyed by personal representative's deed, recorded with the Luna County Clerk at $25.00 for a document of one to ten indexing 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. 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, exactly as the county's own packet says; the three-month figure on the county's Probate FAQs web page has been out of date since 2016. If no proceeding is pending one year after the closing statement is filed, the appointment terminates.
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Luna County
Luna County publishes two probate packets of its own, which is more than most New Mexico counties of its size, and it also sells them over the counter. The Intestate (No Will) packet runs to 62 pages and the Testate (With A Will) packet to 64, both are free PDFs linked from the county's probate judge page, and the county's 2026 fee schedule prices the printed version at $10.00 under its PROBATE FILING FEE heading. Both are scanned documents with no searchable text, so plan to print rather than to type into them. Each opens with a one-page Checklist for Submitting Informal Probate on the Luna County Probate Court's own letterhead, then a table of contents, and then the statewide Supreme Court forms in their current numbering together with the Probate Court Rules, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-602 NMRA. The packets are organized in three stages separated by a cover sheet that says STOP HERE: the forms to open the probate, the forms to complete after appointment, and the single form that closes it.
The checklist is the most useful page the county publishes, and it contains four pieces of local practice you will not find in the statute. The court accepts e-mailed consents from heirs and devisees so long as each is sent directly from the consenting person's own e-mail address. Proof of death may be a death certificate, a letter from a funeral home, a letter from the Office of the Medical Investigator or a report of casualty, and whichever you use must show the name, date of birth, date of death, marital status and domicile. The original will is permanently retained and will not be returned to you, and no original of any document comes back, so file the original plus at least one copy set for the court to endorse and file stamp. And a filer who posts the papers in should enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope so the endorsed copies are returned.
Three defects in the packets are worth knowing before you follow them. First, both checklists cite the opening application as form 48-302 or 48-301; those are typographical slips for Form 4B-302 NMRA, the application where there is a will, and Form 4B-301 NMRA, the application where there is not. Second, the with-will checklist lists its final item as Letters of Administration (no will) (4B-307), which is the wrong way round: Form 4B-307 NMRA is letters testamentary, used where there is a will, and Form 4B-306 NMRA is letters of administration, used where there is not, and the closing line of the same page correctly tells a with-will filer to bring extra copies of the letters testamentary. The no-will packet has the pairing right, listing Form 4B-303 and Form 4B-306. Third, both checklists carry the typo that failure to provide all required information will deley the process, which is worth mentioning only because it is a reliable sign you are looking at the county's own document rather than a copy of the state forms.
Where the packets are right, they are right about the two deadlines that a reader is most likely to get wrong, and they are more reliable than the county's own web page. The Intestate packet's table of contents notes that Form 4B-401 is required to be filed with the court within 30 days of appointment as personal representative, which matches Section 45-3-705, and that Form 4B-701 can only be filed after at least six months have passed from the date of appointment and should only be filed after all matters concerning the estate have been fully settled, which matches Section 45-3-1003(A). The county's Probate FAQs web page contradicts both. Follow the packet and the statute. The packet also adds a practical note that a publisher may require a copy of the notice to creditors endorsed by the court.
The Sixth Judicial District Court publishes no probate forms of its own. Its probate forms page holds exactly two downloads, a Motion and Order to Continue Hearing and an Application and Order for Free Process, plus a link to the judiciary's self-help guide, so use the statewide Form 4B set for anything else. One statewide gap to plan around: 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, and in Luna County it may also arrive by e-mail from the consenting person), 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. One link on the county's own probate page is dead: its Supreme Court Probate Forms link points at a retired host and returns an error, so use the current statewide library in the table below.
| Resource | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Luna County Probate Judge (lunacounty.gov) | The county's own probate page: the office's published hours of Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., the number to call for an appointment, a short statement of what the court does, and links to both packets |
| Luna County Intestate (No Will) probate packet (PDF) | The county's 62-page packet for an estate with no will: the Checklist for Submitting Informal Probate, the Probate Court Rules, and Forms 4B-301, 4B-303, 4B-305 and 4B-306 NMRA to open, then the notice, inventory and accounting forms, then Form 4B-701 NMRA to close. A scanned PDF with no searchable text |
| Luna County Testate (With A Will) probate packet (PDF) | The county's 64-page packet for an estate with a will, built the same way around Forms 4B-302, 4B-304, 4B-305 and 4B-307 NMRA. Note that its checklist mislabels Form 4B-307 as letters of administration; it is letters testamentary |
| Luna County Probate FAQs (lunacounty.gov) | The county's own questions and answers on heirs, intestate shares, appointment priority and common misconceptions, which is useful background. Treat its deadlines with care: it is out of date on notice to heirs, on creditor notice and publication, and on when an estate may be closed |
| Luna County Clerk's Office (lunacounty.gov) | The ex-officio clerk of the probate court in the county's own words (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)), in the same building at 700 S. Silver Avenue, and the recording counter for a personal representative's deed |
| Luna County Clerk recording and filing fee schedule, effective January 21, 2026 (PDF) | The county's own published charges, including PROBATE FILING FEE Probate Cases $30.00 and the $10.00 packet, photocopies, certification and the recording fees for a deed |
| New Mexico Courts probate forms, the 4B set (nmcourts.gov) | The current statewide library and the correct destination for the dead link on the county's probate page: the Form 4B-101 flow chart for opening and closing a probate court case, 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 |
| Sixth Judicial District probate forms (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's probate page. Useful mainly to know its limits: it holds no Form 4B, only a Motion and Order to Continue Hearing and an Application and Order for Free Process |
Fees
Luna County publishes a current fee schedule with a probate heading on it, which most small New Mexico counties do not, and it is unusually fresh: the Luna County Clerk's Office Department of Recording & Filing Fee Schedule is marked effective January 21, 2026 on its own face. Nothing on it displaces the statute, and the probate filing fee it prints is the statewide figure in NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14. What it adds is the local pricing for the things a personal representative here actually buys, including the certified copies of letters that banks and title companies ask for, and the recording of a personal representative's deed.
| Item | Published fee and authority |
|---|---|
| Opening a probate case in the Luna County Probate Court | $30.00. The county's 2026 fee schedule prints it under PROBATE FILING FEE as Probate Cases $30.00. 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. No payee and no payment methods are published, so call 575-546-0491 before you write a check |
| Printed probate packet | $10.00, listed on the 2026 county fee schedule as a packet available to aid in filing an informal probate case. Optional: the Intestate (No Will) and Testate (With A Will) packets are both free PDFs on the county's probate judge page |
| Copies and certification from the Luna County Clerk's Office | Photocopy $1.00 per page and a certification fee of $1.00 plus $1 per page, so a certified copy runs to $2.00 per page. Faxing is $1.00 per page (2026 county fee schedule). The copy price sits at the ceiling New Mexico sets for a county clerk acting as probate clerk, which caps document copies at $1.00 per page and allows a reasonable certification fee (NMSA 1978, Section 14-8-14(B)) |
| Recording a personal representative's deed with the Luna County Clerk | $25.00 for a document of one to ten indexing entries, and a further $25.00 for each additional block of ten entries, which the county cites on the face of the sheet to NMSA 1978, Sections 14-8-15B and 14-8-15C. The sheet also carries a reduced Interested Party in-person rate of $10.00 for up to ten entries, cited by the county to Laws 2011, chapter 134, so ask about it if you are recording the deed at the counter yourself. 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 | $132.00. The district's own fee page lists Civil Cases $132.00 and publishes no separate probate line, so a formal probate is docketed and priced as 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)) |
| Sixth Judicial District Court copies and certification | Photocopies $.35 per page, certification $1.50 each, and tape or CD duplication $4.00 (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 Luna 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 it runs under Rule 23-114 NMRA, and the district publishes its own fillable Application and Order for Free Process and states that by order the court may grant free process or a fee reduction to any party upon a showing of indigency. A self-represented filer may submit the free process application to the district court by email or fax along with the petition |
How the Sixth Judicial District takes payment is worth knowing before you drive over, and it is unusual for New Mexico in one respect. In the district's own words: personal checks are not accepted, and acceptable forms of payment are cash, cashier's checks, or money orders made payable to Sixth Judicial District Court. Since January 3, 2022, credit cards and debit cards are also accepted at the counter and online for district court cases in Grant, Hidalgo and Luna counties, with a non-refundable service fee of 2.25 per cent whose rate the district says was modified on January 10, 2025. Several New Mexico districts take no cards at all, so this one is genuinely more flexible. Luna County publishes nothing equivalent for the probate court, so ask what that counter takes rather than assuming.
Local nuance
Luna County-specific considerations
The probate court is open four hours a week, and it says so. 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). Most small New Mexico counties publish nothing and leave a filer guessing. Luna County publishes regular office hours of Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and tells you to call 575-546-0491 to schedule an appointment, which is a real and usable answer. The gap runs the other way here: the county publishes no counter hours at all for the County Clerk's Office, even though the Clerk is the ex-officio clerk of the probate court in the county's own words and prices the $30.00 fee on its own sheet. Telephone before you drive in from Columbus or from the far side of the county, and do not assume the courthouse switchboard number, (575) 546-0494, reaches the probate office; the number the county publishes for probate business is 575-546-0491.
The county's own probate web page and the county's own probate packets disagree, and the packets are the ones to follow. Luna County publishes a detailed Probate FAQs page covering heirs, appointment priority, common misconceptions and a personal representative's duties, and much of it is accurate and genuinely helpful. Four things on it are not. It says notice of appointment goes to the heirs within ten days, where Section 45-3-705 says not later than thirty days. It marks written notice to known creditors as required, where Section 45-3-801 says a personal representative may give it. It describes publication as once a week for two weeks with two months for creditors to claim, where the statute has provided three successive weeks and four months since Laws 2016, chapter 69 reenacted the section. And it says an estate can be closed once at least three months have passed, where Section 45-3-1003(A) has required six months since the same 2016 legislation. The county's two packets are current on the two deadlines that matter most, noting in their own margins that Form 4B-401 must be filed within 30 days of appointment and that Form 4B-701 can only be filed after at least six months have passed. The page also tells readers to file estate tax returns if the estate exceeds one million dollars, a figure that no longer reflects federal law and that New Mexico's own phased-out estate tax does not turn on; the current position is on the New Mexico state page.
The district court counter is in Deming and it takes Luna County filings, which is not true everywhere in rural New Mexico. Eleven of New Mexico's thirteen judicial districts cover more than one county, and in some of them the courthouse in a smaller county is a building that holds hearings but takes no paper, so filings travel to a clerk in another county. Luna is not one of those. The Sixth Judicial District publishes a Luna County District Court at the Luna County Judicial Complex, 855 S. Platinum Avenue, with its own clerk's counter open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and open through the lunch hour, its own extension on 575-546-9611, its own fax on 575-543-1605 and its own mailing address at the same street. It also takes a card, which several New Mexico district courts do not: counter and online card payment was extended on January 3, 2022 to district court cases in Grant, Hidalgo and Luna counties, with a 2.25 per cent service fee. Personal checks are still refused. The district also runs an email and fax filing procedure for self-represented litigants, revised August 14, 2025, but read its second condition before relying on it for a probate: where a filing fee is required to open or reopen a case, the pleadings must be mailed or hand-delivered to the court along with the fee. Ask the clerk's office for the current address before sending anything electronically.
Nothing about a Luna 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. Luna County publishes no probate index of its own. It does publish an online Luna County Lookup with Assessor, Clerk and Treasurer tabs, but the Clerk tab 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, call 575-546-0491. A Sixth Judicial District Court case, by contrast, does appear in Case Lookup, as an index entry without documents.
Deming has three courthouses and two of them are on a street called Silver. The Luna County Courthouse, with the probate court and the County Clerk, is at 700 S. Silver Avenue. The Luna County Magistrate Court is at 912 S. Silver Street, 575-546-9321, and a magistrate court has no probate jurisdiction at all. The Sixth Judicial District Court is at the Luna County Judicial Complex, 855 S. Platinum Avenue. Read Avenue or Street before you address an envelope or set a route, and note one more local practicality: the district publishes that its Luna County courts may follow Deming Public Schools announcements for weather delays and closures.
Recent updates
| Item | What it means in Luna County |
|---|---|
| The Luna County Clerk's recording and filing fee schedule is effective January 21, 2026 | The sheet carries that date on its own face and publishes PROBATE FILING FEE, Probate Cases $30.00, with a probate packet at $10.00, photocopies at $1.00 per page and a certification fee of $1.00 plus $1 per page. The $30.00 matches the statutory fee in NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14. It is one of the most current county fee sheets in New Mexico, but confirm the smaller items at the counter before you rely on them (verified July 2026) |
| 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). The current cohort's terms were extended to December 31, 2026 by Laws 2023, chapter 44, Section 15(B), so the Luna County seat, like all 33, turns over at the start of 2027. This page names the office rather than the officeholder for that reason. The court, its address, its published hours and its $30.00 fee do not change with the election |
| Card payment at the Sixth Judicial District counter, effective January 3, 2022, service fee rate modified January 10, 2025 | The district publishes that members of the public may use a credit or debit card at the counter and online for district court cases in Grant, Hidalgo and Luna counties, including filing fees for new or reopened cases, with a non-refundable 2.25 per cent service fee. Personal checks are still not accepted. Several New Mexico districts take no cards at all (verified July 2026) |
| The district's email and fax filing procedure was revised August 14, 2025 | Self-represented litigants and attorneys may file by email or fax in case types not eligible for electronic filing, but where a filing fee is required to open or reopen a case the pleadings must be mailed or hand-delivered with the fee. Free process applications may be submitted with the petition and conformed copies returned on request (verified July 2026) |
| The county's Probate FAQs page has not kept up with the 2016 changes to the Probate Code | Its ten-day notice deadline, its mandatory creditor notice, its two-week publication with two months to claim, and its three-month closing period are all wrong against Sections 45-3-705, 45-3-801 and 45-3-1003 as they now stand. The county's own packets carry the correct thirty-day and six-month figures. Its Supreme Court Probate Forms link is also dead. Use the county's packets and the statewide library at nmcourts.gov (verified July 2026) |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Luna County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | If the home in Deming, Columbus 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 Luna 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 applies informally to the Luna County Probate Court on Form 4B-302 NMRA with a will or Form 4B-301 NMRA without one, timing the visit to the court's Tuesday and Thursday morning hours. 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 for the counter at 700 S. Silver Avenue. 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 Luna County Probate Court costs $30.00 (Section 34-7-14) against $132.00 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 either forum and the original will has to reach the court physically and will not be returned. Luna County's packet expects a mailed filing and asks for a self-addressed stamped envelope so the endorsed copies come back, and consents from other heirs may be e-mailed by each heir directly. Call 575-546-0491 first, and check which of the county's two published mailing addresses to use. | 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 Deming 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 Luna County Probate Court can convey by personal representative's deed, recorded with the Luna County Clerk at $25.00 for a document of one to ten indexing 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 consents of anyone ahead; Luna County will accept those by e-mail from each person consenting, and says that if the heirs cannot agree the case has to be filed formally in the district court instead. 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. | Asset discovery for the accounts, insurance, vehicles, Luna 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 |
|---|---|
| Luna County Probate Judge (lunacounty.gov), 575-546-0491, Luna County Courthouse, 700 S. Silver Avenue, Deming, NM 88030 | The informal probate forum for the county, with published office hours of Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and appointments arranged by telephone. Court staff can explain procedure and supply probate court forms but cannot give legal advice; the county says so in its own words, and the statewide rule is Rule 23-113 NMRA |
| Luna County Clerk's Office (lunacounty.gov), fax (575) 543-6617 | The ex-officio clerk of the probate court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)), in the same building at 700 S. Silver Avenue. This is where the $30.00 fee and the $10.00 printed packet are priced, where case files and certified copies are requested, and where a personal representative's deed is recorded. The county publishes no counter hours, so call 575-546-0491 |
| Luna County Clerk recording and filing fee schedule (PDF) | The county's own charges for docketing a probate, the packet, copies, certification and recording, effective January 21, 2026 and citing NMSA 1978, Sections 14-8-15B and 14-8-15C on its face |
| Sixth Judicial District, location, hours and contacts (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov), 575-546-9611, Ext. 0 | The formal and contested forum for Grant, Luna and Hidalgo Counties. For Luna County it publishes the Luna County District Court at the Luna County Judicial Complex, 855 S. Platinum Avenue, Deming, NM 88030, court hours 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and a clerk's counter open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday including the lunch hour, with fax 575-543-1605 |
| Sixth Judicial District fees, costs and filing (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's own fee page: $132.00 for a civil case, which is how a formal probate is docketed, no personal checks, cash and cashier's checks and money orders payable to the Sixth Judicial District Court, and cards at the counter or online with a 2.25 per cent service fee |
| Sixth Judicial District Self Help Center and Pro Se Clinic (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | Each District Court Clerk's Office keeps legal forms and packets, and a pro se attorney meets self-represented parties by appointment only, scheduled through the Court Clerk's Office. The attorney reviews paperwork before it goes to a District Judge, gives no legal advice and is not your attorney |
| Sixth Judicial District general court information (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | What to expect at a hearing if the case becomes formal: a trailing docket with several cases set at one time, arrive fifteen minutes early, bring at least three copies of any exhibit, and telephonic appearances only if requested in writing for good cause and approved in advance |
| Sixth Judicial District emailing and faxing (sixthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's procedure, revised August 14, 2025, for filing documents by email or fax in case types not eligible for electronic filing. Read its second condition first: where a filing fee is required to open or reopen a case, the pleadings must be mailed or hand-delivered along with the fee. Free process applications may be sent with the petition |
| 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. The most useful statewide resource for a self-represented probate filer in a county with no walk-in self-help center |
| New Mexico Courts probate forms (nmcourts.gov) | The free statewide Form 4B library, the same forms bound into the county's packets, plus a plain-language guide and a Dine translation |
| 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 |
| 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 Luna 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, as published on the Sixth Judicial District resources page, 575-388-0091 | The Legal Aid office covering this judicial district. Its staff practice areas do not include probate; it reaches probate through its Volunteer Attorney Program clinics, which offer free one-time consultations on wills, probate and powers of attorney. The district publishes its own caveat that Legal Aid's services are not the same as the court's pro se attorneys |
| 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 Luna 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 Luna County estates are uncontested, and the county has built its process around families doing this themselves: it publishes two free packets, a filing checklist and a page of questions and answers, and an informal probate is decided on the papers for $30.00 (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14) without a hearing. The county is also clear about the limit, saying in its own words that the court can provide information and probate court forms but not legal services or legal advice, and court staff in both forums are barred from giving legal advice (Rule 23-113 NMRA). Consider counsel when a will is likely to be contested or the heirs disagree about who should serve, which Luna County says outright cannot be handled in the probate court at all; when someone outside the family claims an interest in farm ground, water rights or mineral interests; when the estate is insolvent or a creditor is pressing; when a personal representative's deed or a sale has to be drafted, since the courts' own guide warns that deeds can be tricky to draft and execute properly; 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. The district's own guidance to self-represented parties is that hiring an attorney should be your first choice, and it warns that a hearing sits on a trailing docket that can take several hours. Sunset can connect families to a vetted New Mexico probate attorney serving Luna 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, Luna County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds before you file. 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 estate settlement 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 the Luna County Courthouse at 700 S. Silver Avenue during the court's Tuesday and Thursday morning hours, or to post in with a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Find a local probate attorney. When a matter is contested, when the heirs cannot agree on who serves, 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 Luna 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 Luna 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 Luna County Probate Court handles informal, uncontested probate: admitting a will informally, appointing a personal representative informally, and issuing letters (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(C)). The Sixth Judicial District Court has exclusive jurisdiction over formal proceedings, determinations of testacy and of heirs, will construction, will contests, 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 $30.00 rather than $132.00, because it is designed for people without lawyers, and because Section 34-7-10(B) means there is no second filing fee if the case has to be transferred up. Luna County adds one rule of its own worth knowing: if the heirs cannot all agree on who will serve as personal representative, the county says the case cannot be filed in the probate court and the appointment must be made in a formal proceeding in the district court.
Where exactly do I file a probate in Luna County?
At the Luna County Courthouse, 700 S. Silver Avenue, Deming, NM 88030, which houses both the Luna County Probate Court and the Luna County Clerk's Office. 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)), and Luna County states in its own words that the Clerk serves as ex-officio clerk of the County Probate Court, which is why the Clerk's fee schedule is where the $30.00 probate fee is published. Call 575-546-0491 before you go, because the probate court's published hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the county publishes no counter hours for the Clerk. If you are posting the papers in, ask which mailing address to use: the Clerk's page publishes 700 S. Silver Ave., Box 7, Deming, NM 88030 and the Clerk's 2026 fee schedule publishes P.O. Box 1838, Deming, New Mexico 88031. File in Luna 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 Luna County Probate Court's hours?
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., which the county publishes as the probate judge's regular office hours, with the county's own instruction to call 575-546-0491 to schedule an appointment. That is four hours a week, so plan around it: the position of probate judge in New Mexico 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). Do not use the county's general switchboard number, (575) 546-0494, for probate business; 575-546-0491 is the number the county publishes both on the probate judge's page and on the County Clerk's 2026 fee schedule. One conflict to be aware of: the Sixth Judicial District's own resources page lists a different Luna County probate number, 575-544-0491, which the county's own site does not corroborate.
How much does it cost to file probate in Luna County?
$30.00 in the Luna County Probate Court and $132.00 in the Sixth Judicial District Court. The probate court fee is set by statute at thirty dollars for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14), and Luna County publishes it on the County Clerk's fee schedule effective January 21, 2026 under a PROBATE FILING FEE heading, alongside a printed probate packet at $10.00. The district court figure is what the Sixth Judicial District publishes on its own fee page for a civil case, which is how a formal probate is docketed, 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 does not accept personal checks but does take cash, cashier's checks and money orders payable to the Sixth Judicial District Court, and since January 3, 2022 credit and debit cards at the counter or online with a 2.25 per cent service fee. Luna County publishes no payee and no payment methods for the probate court, so ask. If the estate cannot afford it, ask for free process on Form 4B-201 NMRA in the probate court or under Rule 23-114 NMRA in the district court.
Can I e-file a probate case in Luna County?
Not in the probate court, and not as a self-represented filer in the district court either. 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. And 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 run its own email and fax filing procedure for self-represented litigants in case types not eligible for electronic filing, but its own notice provides that where a filing fee is required to open or reopen a case the pleadings must be mailed or hand-delivered along with the fee, which is what opening a probate is. So plan on paper in both forums, and note that the original will has to be physically delivered and is permanently retained by the Luna County Probate Court.
What happens if someone contests the will in Luna County?
The case leaves the probate court, and it does not travel far: the Sixth Judicial District Court sits at 855 S. Platinum Avenue in Deming, a few blocks from the county courthouse. 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 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 also the point at which counsel is worth having.
How do I look up a Luna County probate case?
By asking the county at 575-546-0491 or at the counter at 700 S. Silver Avenue. 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. Luna County publishes no probate index of its own. Do not be misled by the county's online Luna County Lookup: its Clerk tab 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 Luna County probate forms?
Yes, two packets and a county checklist, and they are worth having with a short list of corrections. Luna County publishes an Intestate (No Will) packet and a Testate (With A Will) packet as free PDFs on the probate judge's page, and sells a printed packet for $10.00. Both open with the county's own Checklist for Submitting Informal Probate and then reproduce the current statewide Form 4B set and the Probate Court Rules. Three slips to know: both checklists cite the opening application as 48-302 or 48-301 where the forms are Form 4B-302 and Form 4B-301 NMRA; the with-will checklist labels Form 4B-307 as letters of administration when Form 4B-307 NMRA is letters testamentary and Form 4B-306 NMRA is letters of administration; and both carry a spelling error in the warning about incomplete applications. The packets are right where it counts, noting correctly that Form 4B-401 is due within 30 days of appointment and that Form 4B-701 can only be filed after at least six months. The Sixth Judicial District publishes no probate forms of its own, only a motion to continue a hearing and an application for free process. One caution about the county's other publication: its Probate FAQs web page is useful on who counts as an heir, on intestate shares and on appointment priority, but it is out of date on the notice deadline, on creditor notice and publication, and on when an estate may be closed, and it refers to estate tax returns for estates over one million dollars, a figure that no longer reflects federal law. Where the web page and the packet disagree, the packet and the statute are right.
Do I have to travel to Deming to settle an estate in Luna County?
Usually at least once, because the original will has to reach the court physically and is permanently retained, and because the proof of death goes in with the application. Beyond that, most of an uncontested estate here runs on post and telephone. The county's packet expects mailed filings and asks you to enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope so the endorsed copies are returned, and it will accept consents from other heirs by e-mail provided each is sent directly from the consenting person's own address. What you cannot do is e-file, in either forum, so plan around the post and call 575-546-0491 first. If the case becomes formal, the Sixth Judicial District allows telephonic appearances only if requested in writing for good cause and approved in advance, and says it is best to be present in person.
How long does an informal probate take in Luna County?
The statutory clock, rather than any local docket, sets the shape of it, and neither Luna County nor the Sixth Judicial District publishes a hearing schedule or a processing time for probate. 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)). 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 court's published hours of two mornings a week are worth building into the plan. 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, driven by those periods rather than by any queue in Deming.
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