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Quay County, NM Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Quay County Probate Court | Tenth Judicial District Court |
|---|---|---|
| What it handles | Informal, uncontested probate only: informal probate of a will and informal appointment of a personal representative, with the letters testamentary or letters of administration that flow from it, plus informal appointment of a special administrator (NMSA 1978, Sections 45-1-302(C) and 45-3-301 to 45-3-309). An informal case is decided on the verified application without a hearing | 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 | 300 South Third Street, Tucumcari, NM 88401, the Quay County Courthouse. The County Clerk's Office in the same building is the filing counter, because the county clerk is the clerk of the probate court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)). Quay County publishes no floor or room number for either office | Quay District Court, 300 S. Third St., 2nd Floor, Room 200, Tucumcari, NM 88401, in the same building, one floor up. The Tenth Judicial District staffs a clerk's office here and makes no statement routing Quay County filings anywhere else |
| Mailing address | PO Box 1225, Tucumcari, NM 88401, published by both the probate judge's office and the County Clerk's Office | P.O. Box 1067, Tucumcari, NM 88401. Note that this is a different box from the probate court's, at the same street address |
| Phone | (575) 461-0510, the county line published for both the probate judge and the County Clerk's Office (verified August 2026) | 575-461-2764 for the clerk's office, which is the counter that takes a filing. The district separately publishes 575-461-4422 for the district judge's chambers (verified August 2026) |
| Fax | None published for the probate judge. The County Clerk's Office publishes (575) 461-0513. Neither office says it accepts a filing by fax, so do not send one without calling | 575-461-4498, published by the district and by the county |
| Hours | The probate judge's published public hours are 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or by appointment. The filing counter is the County Clerk's Office, open 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, including through the lunch hour, and closed on Friday. Call (575) 461-0510 before you drive in | 8 a.m. to 12:00 and 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, closed during the lunch hour |
| Filing fee | $30.00 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). Quay County publishes no fee schedule, no payee and no accepted payment methods, so ask when you call | $132.00. The Tenth Judicial District publishes it on its own fee page as Civil Cases $132.00, with no separate probate line, because a probate is docketed 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)). Personal checks are not accepted |
| Local forms | None. Quay County publishes no probate forms, no packet and no instructions of its own, and the statewide Form 4B set applies. The county's probate page does carry a Probate Forms and Instructions link, but its target no longer resolves; use the statewide library instead | None of its own for probate. The Tenth Judicial District hosts the full statewide Form 4B set on its own site, which is the same set the state library publishes |
| 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 Tucumcari 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. Quay County Probate Court cases are county records, they are in no statewide system, and Quay County publishes no probate index of its own. Ask the Quay County Clerk's Office for a case file or a certified copy | Case Lookup, the free statewide index, covers New Mexico's district courts, so a Tenth Judicial District case appears there. It is an index only, with no document images, and it offers no probate court option. The district also publishes a Quay County District Court docket page covering the current day plus six days ahead |
| Remote appearance | Nothing published. An informal probate is decided on the papers and needs no hearing, and the judge keeps two published mornings a week plus appointments, so ask what the office will do by phone or mail | Governed by the district's Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan dated March 12, 2024. Civil motion hearings and scheduling conferences are presumptively remote on Google Meet; jury selection, jury trials, bench trials, terminations of parental rights and guardianship hearings are in person. Any party may ask to appear either way and the assigned judge decides case by case. The test is the notice: a notice carrying a Google Meet link and a QR code is a remote hearing, and a notice without them is in person |
| No office mailbox is published. Every address Quay County publishes for the probate judge and the Clerk's Office belongs to a named individual, so use the telephone line or the post office box | [email protected], published by the district under Email Us as the clerk's email. It serves all three counties of the district, so name Quay County and your case number. It is a public enquiry box, not a filing address | |
| Website | https://www.quaycounty-nm.gov/elected-officals/probate-judge/ for the probate judge's office, and https://www.quaycounty-nm.gov/elected-officals/county-clerk/ for the filing counter, its hours and its contact details | https://tenthdistrict.nmcourts.gov/location-hours-contacts/ for locations, hours and contacts, and https://tenthdistrict.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 go to the courthouse. Which route fits, and which of the two Quay County forums you use, depends on whether there is a will, who is entitled to be appointed, whether anyone is likely to object, and what kind of property is involved. Some estates here never need a court at all, because the property passes by survivorship, by a transfer on death deed, by a payable on death designation or by a beneficiary designation, and some qualify for one of New Mexico's affidavit routes that are handled at a bank or at the County Clerk's recording counter rather than in a courtroom. Those statewide routes and their dollar limits are covered on the New Mexico state page. Sorting it out first matters in Tucumcari because the counters keep narrow and opposite hours: the Clerk's Office is closed on Fridays and the probate judge publishes two mornings a week, so a wrong or incomplete filing can cost you the better part of a week rather than an afternoon.
Then list every asset and every debt in detail. New Mexico requires the application for informal probate to be verified as accurate and complete (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-301), and by verifying it you submit personally to the court's jurisdiction in any later proceeding for fraud or perjury, so a missed account is not a small thing. Within three months of appointment the personal representative must prepare an inventory of everything the person owned at death, with a value for each item as of the date of death (Section 45-3-706). Sunset's asset discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step, so the application you take to the counter at 300 South Third Street 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 Quay County you have a choice of court: the Quay County Probate Court for an informal, uncontested probate, or the Tenth 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 Quay County Probate Court sits at 300 South Third Street in Tucumcari, the county seat, and serves the whole county: Tucumcari itself, San Jon, Logan, House, Nara Visa, Quay, Bard, Forrest, Ragland and the ranch country along Interstate 40 and the Canadian River. It is a county office within New Mexico's judicial branch, funded by the county (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-4), and the position of probate judge is a part-time, elected one (Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2). Its clerk is the Quay 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)), and Quay County says as much in its own words: the Clerk's Office is the repository for public documents including real estate records, marriage records, occupation licenses and informal probate. Its hours are whatever the clerk sets and publishes on the county's website (Section 34-7-8), and Quay County does publish them: 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or by appointment, with the Clerk's counter open 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
The Tenth Judicial District Court covers Quay, De Baca and Harding Counties, and Tucumcari is its home courthouse. One district judge, the district's chief judge, serves all three counties and has chambers here, travelling to Fort Sumner and Mosquero for the other two. A multi-county district is an administrative fact rather than a venue rule, and in Quay County it has no practical sting: the district staffs a clerk's office in the county at 300 S. Third St., 2nd Floor, Room 200, open 8 a.m. to 12:00 and 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and it makes no statement sending Quay County filings to another county. A formal or contested Quay County estate is filed one floor above the probate court, in the same building.
Two other things in Tucumcari are not the place for an estate. The Quay County Magistrate Court, at 122 W. Center St., 575-461-1700, is a separate building and a court of limited jurisdiction handling small civil claims, misdemeanors and traffic matters; it has no probate jurisdiction. And within the courthouse itself, three offices share one street address and three different post office boxes: PO Box 1225 for the County Clerk and the probate court, P.O. Box 1067 for the district court, and P.O. Box 1246 for Quay County Government generally. Address a mailed filing to the office by name and to the right box.
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 forms from the state, not from the county. Quay County publishes no probate packet, no local forms and no written instructions, so the statewide Supreme Court Form 4B set is what you use. It is free from the New Mexico Courts probate forms library and the Tenth Judicial District hosts the same set on its own site. Ignore the Probate Forms and Instructions link on the county's probate page: its target no longer resolves.
- Fill in the opening forms before you go to the counter. 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).
- Bring the originals, and time your visit. Where there is a will, the original, duly executed and apparently unrevoked will must 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)). Bring a certified copy of the death certificate as well. The probate judge's published public hours are 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or by appointment, and the County Clerk's counter is open 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, so there is no counter at all on a Friday. Call (575) 461-0510 first, and if you are mailing an original will from out of state, call and ask how the office wants to receive it before you post it to PO Box 1225.
- 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). Quay County publishes no fee schedule, no payee and no accepted payment methods, so ask on the telephone what to make a payment out to before you write anything. If the estate cannot afford the fee, ask for free process on Form 4B-201 NMRA, the affidavit of poverty and indigency, with Form 4B-202 NMRA as the order.
- Collect the letters. 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). Ask for enough certified copies at the time for the banks, title company and transfer agents you will deal with, and ask what the office charges, because Quay County publishes no copy or certification price. Note that the court may decline an application for informal appointment for any reason, which is not an adjudication and does not stop a formal appointment later (Section 45-3-309).
- Give notice within 30 days, and file the proof. Not later than 30 days after appointment the personal representative must give notice of the appointment to the heirs and devisees, by delivery or ordinary mail, stating the personal representative's name and address, that the recipient has or may have an interest, whether a bond has been filed, and where the papers are on file, and must then file a statement with the court naming who was notified (Section 45-3-705). Form 4B-401 NMRA is the notice and Form 4B-402 NMRA is the proof. Note that in an informal case notice comes after the probate, not before: no other notice of informal probate is required (Section 45-3-306(A)).
- Prepare the inventory within three months. The personal representative prepares an inventory of the property owned at death, in reasonable detail, with an estimated value as of the date of death and any encumbrance noted, within three months of appointment (Section 45-3-706). It must be sent to interested persons who ask for it, and filing it with the court is permitted but not required. Form 4B-601 NMRA is the inventory.
- Decide whether to publish a notice to creditors. Publication is optional in New Mexico. A personal representative may publish notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the proceeding is pending, giving creditors four months from the first publication to present claims, and may also give written notice to a known creditor (Section 45-3-801). It is a tool for cutting claims off early rather than a required step, and the personal representative is not liable for giving or failing to give it. Independently of any notice, claims arising before the death are barred one year after the death (Section 45-3-803(A)). Form 4B-501 NMRA covers both kinds of notice.
- Know the fork upstairs, 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 Tenth 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). In Quay County that move is one floor up, to Room 200. 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 Quay County Probate Court therefore costs you nothing if the case has to move up. Note also that while a formal testacy proceeding is pending, the probate court cannot act on any informal application (Section 45-3-401(C)).
- Administer, then close. Pay the valid debts and the taxes, deal with the property, and distribute what is left. An informally appointed personal representative has the same power over the title to estate property that an absolute owner would have, exercisable without notice, hearing or court order (Section 45-3-711(A)), so real property in Quay County can be conveyed by personal representative's deed, recorded with the Quay County Clerk at the same counter that took the probate filing. What the probate court cannot do is decide a dispute about that title, which belongs to the district court in formal proceedings (Section 45-1-302(B)). Outside supervised administration there is no routine annual court accounting in New Mexico, though Form 4B-602 NMRA exists where one is needed. To close informally, file a verified closing statement no earlier than six months after the original appointment (Section 45-3-1003(A)), on Form 4B-701 NMRA, and if no proceeding is pending one year after it is filed the appointment terminates.
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Quay County
Quay County publishes no probate forms of its own, and this was checked affirmatively rather than assumed. The county's probate judge page carries a short description of probate and contact details and nothing else; the county's Forms page lists only a fairgrounds usage agreement and an employment application; and a search of the county's own site for probate returns only the probate judge page and the County Clerk page. There is no county packet, no cover letter, no checklist and no local cover sheet. Everything you file in the Quay County Probate Court comes from the statewide Supreme Court Form 4B set, which is free.
One trap on the county's own page. It offers a Probate Forms and Instructions link, and the address behind it is a New Mexico Supreme Court host that no longer exists: the domain does not resolve at all, so the link fails rather than redirecting. It is the same dead destination that the New Mexico courts' own July 2016 self-help guide still points at. Use the current statewide library at nmcourts.gov, linked below, or the Tenth Judicial District's copy of the same set.
The Form 4B set is genuinely good and it covers an informal Quay County probate end to end. Form 4B-101 NMRA is a flow chart for opening and closing a probate court case. With a will you use Form 4B-302 and Form 4B-304 NMRA; with no will, Form 4B-301 and Form 4B-303 NMRA. Both routes use Form 4B-305 NMRA for the acceptance and then Form 4B-307 NMRA for letters testamentary or Form 4B-306 NMRA for letters of administration. After appointment come Form 4B-401 and Form 4B-402 NMRA for the notice and its proof, Form 4B-501 NMRA for the optional notice to creditors, Form 4B-601 NMRA for the inventory, Form 4B-602 NMRA for an accounting where one is needed, and Form 4B-701 NMRA for the verified closing statement. Forms 4B-201 and 4B-202 NMRA cover free process, Forms 4B-901 to 4B-904 NMRA cover a special administrator, Forms 4B-801 and 4B-802 NMRA cover proof of authority for an out-of-state personal representative, and Form 4B-1001 NMRA is the order transferring a case from the probate court to the district court. The set is cited as Form 4B-302 NMRA and the matching rules as Rule 1B-102 NMRA.
Two gaps in the statewide set are worth planning around, because there is no county packet here to paper over them. There is no Form 4B for either of New Mexico's affidavit routes that avoid probate altogether, no renunciation or waiver form (consent is a signature block inside Forms 4B-301 and 4B-302), no proof of publication form (the newspaper supplies its own affidavit), and no notice of hearing form, because the 4B set is written for informal cases and a contested matter transfers out on Form 4B-1001 NMRA. The Tenth Judicial District publishes no probate forms of its own either; what it does is host the statewide set, and its clerks will print forms they have at 35 cents per page.
| Resource | What it provides |
|---|---|
| New Mexico Courts probate forms, the 4B set (nmcourts.gov) | The current statewide library and the source for everything you file in Quay County: the Form 4B-101 flow chart, the applications, orders, acceptances and letters, the notice and proof of notice, the notice to creditors, the inventory and accounting, the closing statements, proof of authority, the special administration set and Form 4B-1001 for transfer to the district court, plus a plain-language guide and a Dine translation |
| Tenth Judicial District probate forms (tenthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's own copy of the same statewide 4B set, listed for De Baca, Harding and Quay Counties. Useful if you are already on the district's site, and the clerks will print what they have at 35 cents per page |
| Quay County Probate Judge (quaycounty-nm.gov) | The county's own probate page: the street address, the post office box, the telephone line and the published Tuesday and Thursday hours. Note that its Probate Forms and Instructions link points at a host that no longer resolves |
| Quay County Clerk's Office (quaycounty-nm.gov) | The filing counter and the clerk of the probate court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)). The county's own description of the office says it is the repository for public documents including real estate records and informal probate. Counter hours, the fax line and the post office box are here |
| New Mexico Courts self-representation (nmcourts.gov) | The judiciary's self-representation site, with a probate page carrying the same 4B forms. Note that the free Guide & File document tool elsewhere on the site covers free process, divorce and orders of protection only, and has no probate interview |
Fees
Quay County publishes no fee schedule of any kind, which is worth saying plainly because it changes how you prepare. There is no county probate fee sheet, no published payee for the $30.00 filing fee, no published payment methods, and no published price for a copy or a certified copy of letters, so the only safe course on the county side is to telephone (575) 461-0510 and ask before you travel or write a payment. The Tenth Judicial District, by contrast, publishes a full fee page, and its payment rules are strict enough to turn a filer away at the counter.
| Item | Published fee and authority |
|---|---|
| Opening a probate case in the Quay County Probate Court | $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. Quay County publishes no fee sheet confirming it locally, no payee and no accepted payment methods, so call (575) 461-0510 first |
| Copies and certified copies from the Quay County Clerk's Office | Not published. New Mexico caps what a county clerk acting as probate clerk may charge for document copies at $1.00 per page and allows a reasonable certification fee (NMSA 1978, Section 14-8-14(B)), so that is the ceiling, but the county's own price is unpublished. Ask at the counter |
| Opening a probate case in the Tenth Judicial District Court | $132.00. The district's own fee page lists it as Civil Cases $132.00, with no separate probate line, because a probate is docketed 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)) |
| How the Tenth Judicial District takes payment | In the court's own words, personal checks are not accepted, and the acceptable forms of payment are cash, money order or cashier's check. Money orders are made payable to the 10th Judicial District Court. If you pay in cash the clerk's office requires the exact amount, because change is not provided. The court also accepts debit and credit cards |
| Tenth Judicial District copies and certification | Photocopies $.35 per page; certification and seal $1.50 per pleading; exemplified copies $4.50 per pleading; tape or CD duplication $4.00. These are the district's own published figures, verified August 2026. The same 35 cents per page is what the district's clerks charge for the forms they hand out |
| 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)). In Quay County the transfer is one floor up in the same building |
| If you cannot afford the fee | New Mexico calls it free process, not a fee waiver. In the Quay 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 Tenth Judicial District Court it runs under Rule 23-114 NMRA on Forms 4-222, 4-223 and 4-224 NMRA, and Form 4-223 lets the court leave the $15 alternative dispute resolution fee in place and excludes certification, publication and copy charges unless they are granted too. The district's own self-help page says the same thing about its forms: if you are unable to pay for them you may apply for free process |
One caution on the exemplification line. The $4.50 per pleading charge is the district's own published figure and is printed here as that and nothing more; no statute or rule setting it could be located. The district court's certified copies of letters run under Rule 1-099(C) NMRA at $0.35 per page plus $1.50 for the certificate and seal authenticating a paper as a true copy, which matches the district's published photocopy and certification lines.
Local nuance
Quay County-specific considerations
Two filing counters share one building and keep opposite hours, and this is the single most useful local fact in Quay County. The Quay County Clerk's Office, which is the clerk of the probate court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)) and the counter for a $30.00 informal probate, is open 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and stays open through the lunch hour. The Tenth Judicial District's clerk's office, one floor above in Room 200 and the counter for a $132.00 formal probate, is open 8 a.m. to 12:00 and 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and closes for lunch. So at lunchtime only the probate side is open, on a Friday only the district side is open, and before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m. from Monday to Thursday only the probate side is open. Add the probate judge's own published public hours, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays or by appointment, and a wasted trip is easy to make. Call (575) 461-0510 for the probate side and 575-461-2764 for the district side before you drive in from San Jon, Logan, House or Nara Visa.
One street address, three post office boxes. Everything is at 300 South Third Street, Tucumcari, NM 88401, but the mail is not. PO Box 1225 is the County Clerk and the probate court, P.O. Box 1067 is the Quay District Court, and P.O. Box 1246 is Quay County Government generally, on a different telephone line. A probate application posted to the wrong box reaches the wrong office in the same building, and an original will is not a document you want going astray. Address it to the office by name.
The county and the district court do not keep the same holiday calendar. Quay County publishes its own holiday schedule, which moves Juneteenth to the day before Thanksgiving and Indigenous People Day to the day before Christmas Eve, consistent with the Clerk's four-day week. The county's own notice of closure for Independence Day 2026 shows the split in action: the courthouse closed on Thursday, July 2, 2026, while the notice recorded that the District Court Clerk's Office would instead close on Friday, July 3, with both offices resuming on Monday, July 6. Check the county's notices and call the office you actually need before travelling around a holiday.
Nothing about a Quay County probate case is online. 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. Quay County publishes no probate index of its own, and no online records search at all. To find out what is on file in an estate, ask the Quay County Clerk's Office at (575) 461-0510. A Tenth Judicial District case is different: it appears in Case Lookup as an index entry without documents, and the district also publishes a Quay County District Court docket page covering the current day plus six days ahead.
The district court has a published remote-hearing policy and a self-help kiosk here, but no self-help center. The Tenth Judicial District's Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan, dated March 12, 2024, runs all remote proceedings on Google Meet, treats civil motion hearings and scheduling conferences as presumptively remote, and lists jury selection, jury trials, bench trials, terminations of parental rights and guardianship hearings as in person, with district court jury trials and jury selection for this county held at the Quay County Courthouse. The plan's practical test is the notice of hearing: a notice carrying a Google Meet link and a QR code is a remote hearing, and one without them is in person. The same plan records that the district keeps self-help kiosks at all of its court facilities except the Harding County District Courthouse, so there is one here. What there is not is a staffed self-help center: the district says in its own words that currently none of its court locations offer self help centers, and that its clerks will provide available forms at 35 cents per page but cannot give legal advice.
Recent updates
| Item | What it means in Quay County |
|---|---|
| Every New Mexico probate judgeship is on the ballot on November 3, 2026, with the winner taking office January 1, 2027 | The probate judge is an elected county official and the position is part-time (NMSA 1978, Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2). The current cohort's terms were extended to December 31, 2026 by Laws 2023, chapter 44, Section 15(B), so the Quay 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 counter and its $30.00 fee do not change with the election |
| The Quay County Clerk's counter runs a four-day week | The Clerk's Office, which is the clerk of the probate court, publishes 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, including through the lunch hour (verified August 2026). There is no probate filing counter on a Friday, while the Tenth Judicial District's clerk one floor up is open Monday through Friday and closed at lunch. Directories that give a single set of courthouse hours for 300 South Third Street are describing neither office |
| The county's probate forms link no longer works | Quay County's probate page offers a Probate Forms and Instructions link pointing at an old New Mexico Supreme Court address; the host does not resolve, so the link fails outright (verified August 2026). The current statewide Form 4B library is at nmcourts.gov and the Tenth Judicial District hosts the same set |
| The Tenth Judicial District's remote hearing policy is dated March 12, 2024 | The district's Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan is a real published policy with that revision date on its face, and it is the authority for which civil proceedings are presumptively remote on Google Meet and for the notice test, that a notice with a Google Meet link and a QR code is a remote hearing (verified August 2026). The same plan records a self-help kiosk at the Quay County courthouse |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Quay County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | If the home in Tucumcari, San Jon 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 Quay County Clerk's recording counter rather than in court; that route and its assessed-value limit are covered on the New Mexico state page, and the counter is the same one at 300 South Third Street. Where assets stood in the deceased person's sole name, the spouse applies informally in the Quay County Probate Court on Form 4B-302 NMRA with a will or Form 4B-301 NMRA without one. A surviving spouse who is a devisee ranks second in the appointment priority, behind only a person named in a probated will (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-203(A)). | Asset discovery to establish how the home and the accounts are actually titled and how much really has to reach a court. Packet generation for the application, the acceptance and the notices, ready to take to the counter in Tucumcari. A vetted attorney referral if title or a claim turns out to be disputed, which would move the matter one floor up to the Tenth 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 Quay 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. Call (575) 461-0510 before posting anything to PO Box 1225, and remember that the counter is closed on Fridays. | 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 Tucumcari 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 Quay County Probate Court can convey by personal representative's deed, recorded with the Quay County Clerk at the same counter. With no will the parent applies on Form 4B-301 NMRA and receives letters of administration on Form 4B-306 NMRA, ranking behind any surviving spouse and any children in the priority order of Section 45-3-203(A), so obtain the renunciations or consents of anyone ahead. Notice follows within 30 days (Section 45-3-705) and the inventory within three months (Section 45-3-706). What does move the case to the Tenth 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, Quay 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 |
|---|---|
| Quay County Probate Judge (quaycounty-nm.gov), (575) 461-0510, 300 South Third Street or PO Box 1225, Tucumcari, NM 88401 | The informal probate forum for the county. Published public hours are 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or by appointment. Court staff can explain procedure but cannot give legal advice (Rule 23-113 NMRA) |
| Quay County Clerk's Office (quaycounty-nm.gov), (575) 461-0510, fax (575) 461-0513 | The filing counter and the clerk of the probate court (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)), at 300 South Third Street, open 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, including through the lunch hour, and closed on Friday. This is where the $30.00 fee is paid, where case files and certified copies are requested, and where a personal representative's deed or a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit is recorded |
| Tenth Judicial District, location, hours and contacts (tenthdistrict.nmcourts.gov), 575-461-2764, [email protected] | The formal and contested forum for Quay, De Baca and Harding Counties. The Quay District Court is at 300 S. Third St., 2nd Floor, Room 200, mailing to P.O. Box 1067, Tucumcari, NM 88401, open 8 a.m. to 12:00 and 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, closed at lunch. The clerk's email serves all three counties, so name Quay County |
| Tenth Judicial District fees, costs and filing (tenthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's own fee page: Civil Cases $132.00, photocopies $.35 per page, certification and seal $1.50 per pleading. Personal checks are not accepted, debit and credit cards are, money orders are payable to the 10th Judicial District Court, and cash must be the exact amount because the clerk's office does not give change |
| Tenth Judicial District self help (tenthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's own statement of what it can and cannot do: currently none of its court locations offer self help centers, its clerks will provide available forms at 35 cents per page, free process is available if you cannot pay for them, and clerks cannot give legal advice or tell you how to proceed |
| Tenth Judicial District remote and hybrid hearings (tenthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan of March 12, 2024, and its remote appearance standards. The plan is the authority for which civil proceedings are presumptively remote on Google Meet and for the rule that a notice of hearing carrying a Google Meet link and a QR code is a remote hearing while one without them is in person |
| Quay County District Court docket (tenthdistrict.nmcourts.gov) | The district's published hearing schedule for the Tucumcari courthouse, covering the current day plus six days ahead. It reaches district court hearings only; a probate court matter never appears on it |
| 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 single most useful statewide resource for a self-represented probate filer in a county with no self-help center |
| New Mexico Courts probate forms (nmcourts.gov) | The free statewide Form 4B library, which is the whole of the paperwork for a Quay County informal probate, plus a plain-language guide and a Dine translation |
| 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 Tenth Judicial District case and it does not reach a Quay 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 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 Quay 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 Quay County estates are uncontested, and the informal route is built for families doing this themselves: an informal probate is decided on the papers for $30.00 (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14) with no hearing, and the statewide Form 4B set covers it from application to closing statement. But nobody at either counter can help you decide anything. Court staff in both forums are barred from giving legal advice (Rule 23-113 NMRA), the Tenth Judicial District states outright that none of its court locations offer self help centers and that its clerks cannot tell you how to proceed, and Quay County publishes no instructions of its own at all. Consider counsel when a will is likely to be contested or the heirs disagree, when someone outside the family claims an interest in ranch ground, water rights, grazing leases 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 (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 Tenth Judicial District Court, which is the only forum that can decide any of it. The local bar in a county this size is very small, so start looking early. Sunset can connect families to a vetted New Mexico probate attorney serving Quay 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, Quay County real property and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds for estate settlement 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 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 counter at 300 South Third Street in Tucumcari or to post to PO Box 1225.
Find a local probate attorney. When a matter is contested, when title is disputed, or when it otherwise has to go to the Tenth Judicial District Court, Sunset connects families to a vetted New Mexico probate attorney serving Quay 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 Quay County Probate Court or the Tenth Judicial District Court?
Both can open an informal probate, and only the district court can do anything else. The Quay 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 Tenth 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, and because Section 34-7-10(B) means there is no second filing fee if the case has to be transferred up. In Quay County the two counters are in the same building, so the choice costs you no extra travel either way.
Where exactly do I file a probate in Quay County?
At the Quay County Clerk's Office in the Quay County Courthouse, 300 South Third Street, Tucumcari, NM 88401, mailing to PO Box 1225, Tucumcari, NM 88401. 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 Quay County describes its Clerk's Office as the repository for public documents including informal probate. A formal or contested case goes instead to the Tenth Judicial District Court on the second floor of the same building, Room 200, which mails to a different box, P.O. Box 1067. File in Quay 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 Quay County Probate Court's hours?
The county publishes 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or by appointment, for the probate judge. That is four public hours a week, which is normal rather than a sign of a problem: 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). The filing counter is wider: the Quay County Clerk's Office is open 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, including through the lunch hour, and closed on Friday. Call (575) 461-0510 before you make the drive, especially around a holiday, because the county keeps its own holiday calendar.
How much does it cost to file probate in Quay County?
$30.00 in the Quay County Probate Court and $132.00 in the Tenth Judicial District Court. The probate court fee is set by statute at thirty dollars for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). Quay County publishes no fee schedule, no payee and no accepted payment methods, so telephone and ask before you write anything. The district court figure is what the Tenth Judicial District publishes on its own fee page as Civil Cases $132.00, 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: it takes cash in the exact amount, money orders payable to the 10th Judicial District Court, cashier's checks, and debit and credit cards. 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 Quay 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)). So you file on paper at the counter or by post in both forums, and the original will has to be physically delivered.
What happens if someone contests the will in Quay County?
The case moves one floor up. 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 Quay County probate case?
By asking the Quay County Clerk's Office at (575) 461-0510 or at the counter at 300 South Third Street. 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. Quay County publishes no probate index of its own and no online records search. A Tenth Judicial District Court case is different: it appears in Case Lookup as an index entry without documents, and the district publishes a Quay County District Court docket page for hearings scheduled from today through the next six days.
Are there local Quay County probate forms?
No. Quay County publishes no probate forms, no packet, no checklist and no written instructions, which was checked across the county's probate page, its Forms page and a search of its own site. The statewide Supreme Court Form 4B set is what you file, free from the New Mexico Courts probate forms library, and the Tenth Judicial District hosts the same set. One warning about the county's page: it offers a Probate Forms and Instructions link whose target is an old New Mexico Supreme Court address that no longer resolves, so the link simply fails. Use the current library instead.
Can I appear remotely in a Quay County probate matter?
In the probate court there is usually nothing to appear at: an informal probate is decided on the verified application without a hearing, and the county publishes no remote-appearance rule, so ask what the office will do by telephone or post. In the Tenth Judicial District Court there is a real published policy. Its Remote and Hybrid Hearings Plan of March 12, 2024 runs remote proceedings on Google Meet and treats civil motion hearings and scheduling conferences as presumptively remote, while jury selection, jury trials, bench trials, terminations of parental rights and guardianship hearings are in person. Any party may ask to appear either way and the assigned judge decides case by case. The practical test is your notice of hearing: if it carries a Google Meet link and a QR code the hearing is remote, and if it does not, it is in person.
Do I have to travel to Tucumcari to settle an estate in Quay County?
Usually at least once, because the original will and a certified death certificate have to reach the court physically and there is no e-filing in either forum. Beyond that, most of an uncontested estate here runs on post and telephone: the application and the later filings can be posted to PO Box 1225, Tucumcari, NM 88401 for the probate court, or to P.O. Box 1067 for the district court. Call (575) 461-0510 before you post an original will and ask how the office wants to receive it. If you are coming in person, plan around the hours rather than the distance: the Clerk's counter is closed on Fridays and the probate judge's published public hours are two mornings a week.
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.