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San Juan County, NM Probate Information
Quick facts
| Detail | San Juan County Probate Court | Eleventh Judicial District Court |
|---|---|---|
| What it handles | Informal, uncontested probate only: informal probate of a will, informal appointment of a personal representative, the letters that follow, and informal appointment of a special administrator, with no hearings (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(C)). | Every formal and contested probate matter, exclusively: formal testacy and formal appointment, supervised administration, determination of heirs, will construction and will contests, title disputes between the estate and an adverse claimant, trusts and disclaimers (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). It may also take an informal probate (Section 45-1-302.1). Probate is its own case-type family here, listed separately from civil cases on the court's own fee schedule. |
| Courthouse address | San Juan County Clerk, 100 South Oliver Drive, Suite 200, Aztec, NM 87410. The county clerk is the clerk of the probate court, so the clerk's counter is the probate filing counter. | Aztec District Court, 103 South Oliver Drive, Aztec, NM 87410, directly across from the county building. The district also staffs the Farmington District Court at 851 Andrea Drive, Farmington, NM 87401, and the Gallup District Court in McKinley County. |
| Mailing address | San Juan County Clerk, PO Box 550, Aztec, NM 87410. The county publishes this box itself on its clerk and recording pages. | Aztec District Court, 103 South Oliver Drive, Aztec, NM 87410. The court publishes no PO Box. |
| Phone | (505) 334-9471 is the number the county publishes for both the County Clerk and the Probate Judge. The clerk's office also publishes [email protected]. | The Aztec clerks' office is 505-334-6151. The Farmington courthouse is 505-326-2256. |
| Fax | (505) 334-3635, published by the county for both the clerk and the probate judge. | Aztec clerks' fax 505-334-1940. Farmington fax 505-326-1179. |
| Hours | 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. San Juan County runs a four-day week and the counter is closed on Fridays, which is a correction worth noting: several directories still show a five-day 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. week. In-person recording at the same counter closes half an hour earlier, at 5:00 p.m. | 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, at both the Aztec and the Farmington courthouse. |
| Filing fee | $30 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). The county publishes it in its own words: the docket fee to file for informal probate in the probate court is $30.00. | $132 for a probate case, which the court publishes as its own line item on the May 2025 fee schedule covering wills, estate miscellaneous, guardianship and conservatorship, adoption and trust. That is $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus the $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)). The same schedule says there are no miscellaneous fees. No second filing fee is charged if a case properly filed in the probate court is later transferred up (Section 34-7-10(B)). |
| Payment accepted | Not published for the probate fee. The clerk's recording page does tell people mailing documents in to enclose a check or money order payable to San Juan County Clerk, so ask the counter to confirm before you write anything on a check for a probate filing. | Cash, money orders, credit cards and in-state attorney checks. In the court's own words it does not accept personal or company checks, which turns filers away at the window. Cards can be used online or in person. |
| Local forms | Yes, four of them, free to download from the county's probate page: a Probate Packet With Will, a Probate Packet Without Will, a Small Estate Affidavit and a Proof of Authority. The county asks that they be printed single sided. The packets carry the county's own cover page and reproduce the Supreme Court's probate court rules and Form 4B set. | None of its own for probate. It publishes an Odyssey File & Serve user guide and points filers to the statewide Form 4B set. |
| E-filing | None. Probate court filing is on paper, at the counter or by mail. The electronic filing system is defined for the district courts only (Rule 1-005.2(A)(3) NMRA), and the Probate Court Rules, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA, contain no electronic filing rule. The original will has to arrive physically. | eFile & Serve, Tyler's Odyssey File & Serve, at newmexico.tylertech.cloud/ofsweb. It is mandatory for attorneys (Rule 1-005.2 NMRA). Self-represented parties are prohibited from e-filing and file on paper; the clerk converts the paper filing into electronic form (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) and (I)(2) NMRA). |
| Case search | None. San Juan County Probate Court cases are county records and appear in no statewide index. Ask the San Juan County Clerk's office for a case file or a certified copy. | New Mexico Courts Case Lookup, caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup, indexes district, magistrate, metropolitan and municipal court cases. There is no probate court option in its court-type filter, and it is an index only, with no document images. |
| Remote appearance | Not applicable. An informal probate is decided on the papers and there is no hearing to attend. | The district runs Justice Stations, staffed public rooms where people without a device or a connection can appear remotely, at the Aztec, Bloomfield and Farmington public libraries, at PATH in Farmington and at the Beclabito Chapter House near Shiprock. The court limits them to arraignments and pretrials in traffic, misdemeanor, DWI and civil case types, and does not name probate among them, so ask the clerk about a probate hearing. Interpreters are free in any language, spoken or signed. |
| Website | sjcounty.net/government/county-clerk/probate | eleventhdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you pick a form or a counter in San Juan County, work out what the estate actually holds and who is entitled to it. The verified application that opens an informal probate has to state the decedent's date of death, age, and county and state of domicile at death, and it has to name the surviving spouse, children, heirs and devisees with their addresses (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-301). You are swearing to it under penalty of perjury, in the words of the county's own packet, and by verifying the application you submit personally to the court's jurisdiction in any later proceeding for fraud or perjury (Section 45-3-301(G)). Getting the picture wrong at this stage is what sends a San Juan filer back to the clerk's window.
The same inventory decides whether you need a probate at all, and in this county it also decides which government handles it. Accounts with a payable on death beneficiary, property held in joint tenancy and real estate covered by a recorded transfer on death deed pass outside probate entirely. Land held in trust or restricted status for an individual Indian owner, which is a live question across the western half of San Juan County, is not probated by any New Mexico court and goes through the federal process described further down this page. So list every bank and credit union account, retirement and brokerage account, life insurance policy, vehicle, business interest and parcel of San Juan County real estate, along with every debt, and note how each one is titled, before you file. Sunset's asset-discovery work, which searches more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step.
Which court handles jurisdiction
New Mexico probate is filed in the county where the person lived at the time of death (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-201(A)(1)). If the person was not a New Mexico resident, it is filed in any New Mexico county where they owned property at the time of death (Section 45-3-201(A)(2)). Both courts on this page serve the whole of San Juan County, which includes Farmington, Aztec, Bloomfield, Kirtland, Shiprock, Fruitland, Waterflow, Blanco and La Plata.
Within San Juan County you have a choice of court. The San Juan County Probate Court takes an informal, uncontested probate, and the Eleventh Judicial District Court takes anything formal or contested and may also take an informal probate (Sections 45-1-302 and 45-1-302.1). Almost everyone who handles a San Juan estate without a lawyer uses the probate court, because it costs $30 rather than $132 (Sections 34-7-14, 34-6-40 and 34-6-45), it takes walk-in paper filings, and Section 34-7-10(B) means there is no second filing fee if the case has to move up. The San Juan County Probate Court is a county office within New Mexico's judicial branch, funded by the county (Section 34-7-4), and the probate judge is an elected, part-time county official (Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2). Its clerk is the San Juan County Clerk, which is the statutory default (Section 34-7-22(A)) and which the county states in its own words: the clerk serves as the court clerk for the Probate Judge.
Know which building you are walking into, because there are three within a few hundred yards in Aztec and two more in Farmington. The probate filing counter is the County Clerk at 100 South Oliver Drive, Suite 200. The Aztec District Court is across the way at 103 South Oliver Drive. The Aztec Magistrate Court at 200 Gossett Drive has no probate jurisdiction at all and nothing about an estate is filed there. In Farmington, the Eleventh Judicial District Court sits at 851 Andrea Drive and the Farmington Magistrate Court at 950 W. Apache St., and again only the district court touches probate. The Eleventh Judicial District covers San Juan and McKinley counties (Section 34-6-1), so its third courthouse is in Gallup; a San Juan estate is not filed there.
One more jurisdictional line matters more in San Juan County than almost anywhere else in New Mexico. Land and funds held in trust or restricted status for an individual Indian owner are probated under federal law, not state law. The Department of the Interior says plainly that it will not probate property other than trust or restricted land or trust personalty: the Bureau of Indian Affairs assembles the case and the Interior Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals decides who inherits it. A New Mexico probate still handles the decedent's other property, so an estate that holds both a trust allotment and a bank account or a fee parcel runs through both systems at once.
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm the case belongs in San Juan County and check the timing. Venue is the county of domicile at death, or a county where a non-resident owned property (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-201(A)). Nothing can be granted for the first 120 hours after the death (Sections 45-3-302 and 45-3-307(A)), and a probate is normally opened within three years of the death (Section 45-3-108). Check separately whether the estate includes land held in trust or restricted status, which is handled federally rather than here.
- Choose your forum. If nobody is fighting, there is a will or a clear set of heirs, and you only need authority to act, file informally at the San Juan County Probate Court, whose counter is the County Clerk at 100 South Oliver Drive, Suite 200, Aztec. If you need a determination of heirs, a ruling on whether a will is valid, a court order about who owns something, supervised administration, or anything with a hearing, that is exclusively the Eleventh Judicial District Court (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)).
- Check for a demand for notice before you file. The county's own probate packet reproduces the Supreme Court's instruction on this point: before you file the application you must contact the district court clerk in the district where the decedent was domiciled or owned real property and ask whether anyone has filed a demand for notice (Rule 1B-306(A)(1) NMRA). In San Juan County that is the Eleventh Judicial District Court clerks' office in Aztec on 505-334-6151. Anyone who has filed a demand is entitled to a copy of everything you file.
- Gather the documents the counter will ask for: the original will if there is one, which must be in the court's possession before it can be probated (Section 45-3-303(A)(5)); a death certificate; and the names, addresses and, for minors, ages of the surviving spouse, children, heirs and devisees (Section 45-3-301).
- Get the forms. Download the San Juan County Probate Packet With Will or Probate Packet Without Will free from the county's probate page at sjcounty.net/government/county-clerk/probate, and print them single sided, which is what the county asks for. The statewide equivalents are Form 4B-301 (no will) and Form 4B-302 (with will) at nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate.
- Sign where the forms tell you to. The application and the acceptance of appointment are affirmed in writing under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of New Mexico. The county's Small Estate Affidavit, which is a separate route and not part of a probate filing, carries a notary block instead.
- File on paper and pay the fee. Take the application, order, acceptance and proposed letters to the County Clerk's counter at 100 South Oliver Drive, Suite 200 between 7:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, or mail them to PO Box 550, Aztec, NM 87410, and pay the $30 docket fee (Section 34-7-14). Remember the county is closed on Fridays. There is no e-filing at any New Mexico probate court. Bring an original and as many copies as you want endorsed, because the county's own packet warns that the clerk stamps copies as endorsed only at the time of filing, and a copy obtained later costs $1.00 a page. If you cannot afford the fee, ask for free process on Form 4B-201 with the order at Form 4B-202 (Section 34-6-27(B)).
- Let the judge review and the clerk docket the case. An informal probate is decided on the papers and does not require a hearing; the judge signs the order and the court issues Letters Testamentary where there is a will (Form 4B-307) or Letters of Administration where there is not (Form 4B-306). Administration of the estate begins with the issuance of letters (Section 45-3-103). The court may also decline an informal appointment for any reason, which is not an adjudication and does not stop you filing formally (Section 45-3-309).
- Tell the family within 30 days. Not later than 30 days after appointment the personal representative must give written notice of the appointment to the heirs and devisees, by delivery or ordinary mail, and must file a statement with the court naming who was notified (Section 45-3-705). Use Form 4B-401 for the notice and Form 4B-402 for the proof.
- Prepare an inventory within three months of appointment, listing each item with its date-of-death value and any encumbrance (Section 45-3-706); the Probate Court Rules put the same duty at ninety days (Rule 1B-501(A) NMRA). You must send a copy to any interested person who asks for one. Inventories and accountings are prepared but are not required to be filed with the probate court (Rule 1B-501 NMRA). Form 4B-601.
- Deal with creditors. Publishing a notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks in a San Juan County newspaper of general circulation is permitted, not required, and it starts a four-month claim window (Section 45-3-801, Form 4B-501). Whether or not you publish, claims that arose before the death are barred one year after the death (Section 45-3-803).
- Transfer any real estate at the county clerk, not the court. An informally appointed personal representative has the same power over the title to estate property that an absolute owner would have, exercisable without notice, hearing or court order (Section 45-3-711(A), and Section 45-3-715(A)(23) for sales), so a San Juan County house is conveyed by a personal representative's deed recorded with the San Juan County Clerk's recording counter, the same Suite 200 window where the probate was filed, at $25 for the first ten entries. What the probate court cannot do is decide a dispute about that title; that is the district court's, in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)).
- If it turns contested, the case moves up. If anyone contests the will, if the heirs are in dispute, if a formal appointment or formal closing is requested, if a determination of testacy or heirship is needed, or if any hearing is required, the matter goes to the Eleventh Judicial District Court (Section 45-1-302; Rule 1B-101(B)(2) NMRA), on Form 4B-1001, order transferring case from probate court to district court. Objections to an inventory or an accounting transfer the case the same way unless the probate judge can resolve them without an evidentiary hearing (Rule 1B-501(C) NMRA), and a disqualified or interested probate judge transfers the proceeding under Section 34-7-9. Section 34-7-10(B) is the reason this is safe: if the case was properly filed in the probate court and is later transferred, no filing fee is charged in the district court. A pending formal case also freezes the probate court, which may not act on an informal application while it is pending (Section 45-3-401(C)).
- Close the estate. File a verified closing statement with the appointing court no earlier than six months after the original appointment (Section 45-3-1003, Form 4B-701; Form 4B-702 is the small-estate version). The county's packet states the practical version of the same rule: you may close once at least six months have passed since appointment if notice to creditors was given, or one year if it was not. If no proceedings involving the personal representative are pending in the district court one year after the closing statement is filed, the appointment terminates. Outside supervised administration, which is district court only, there is no routine annual accounting to the court in New Mexico.
Forms and documents
Probate forms in San Juan County
San Juan County is one of the New Mexico counties that publishes probate documents of its own, and they are free to download from the county's probate page at sjcounty.net/government/county-clerk/probate. The county asks that they be printed single sided.
| Document | What it is |
|---|---|
| Probate Packet With Will | The county's own testate packet. Its cover page is headed San Juan County Probate Court with the judge, the Suite 200 address and the (505) 334-9471 phone number, and it reproduces the Supreme Court's probate court rules and the Form 4B set a testate filer needs, including the eight-step overview of an informal probate. |
| Probate Packet Without Will | The intestate equivalent, for an estate with no will. |
| Small Estate Affidavit | A San Juan County form headed Small Estate Affidavit, Collection of Personal Property, NMSA 45-3-1201. This one is genuinely useful because the New Mexico Supreme Court publishes no statewide 4B form for that affidavit, so many counties have nothing to hand out. It is notarized and presented to whoever holds the property, not filed with either court. |
| Proof of Authority | The county's version of the statewide Form 4B-801, used to show authority granted in another proceeding. |
The statewide set is the Supreme Court's Form 4B series at nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate, cited as Form 4B-302 NMRA and used with the Probate Court Rules, Rules 1B-101 to 1B-701 NMRA. The ones a San Juan filer meets are 4B-301 and 4B-302 (application, without and with a will), 4B-303 and 4B-304 (the orders), 4B-305 (acceptance of appointment), 4B-306 and 4B-307 (letters of administration and letters testamentary), 4B-401 and 4B-402 (notice of appointment and proof of notice), 4B-501 (notice to creditors), 4B-601 (inventory), 4B-602 (accounting), 4B-701 and 4B-702 (closing statements), 4B-801 and 4B-802 (proof of authority), 4B-901 to 4B-904 (special administration), 4B-201 and 4B-202 (free process) and 4B-1001 (order transferring a case to the district court). The whole set was renumbered by Supreme Court Order No. 18-8300-014, effective for cases pending or filed on or after December 31, 2018, so older numbering you find elsewhere is superseded. The county's packets use the current numbering.
One link on the county's probate page needs a workaround. The page sends readers to the Supreme Court Law Library for individual probate forms, but the address it uses is a retired one that returned an error when checked on July 27, 2026. Go straight to nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate instead, where the live Form 4B set sits alongside a plain-language probate guide and a Diné (Navajo) translation of the probate materials.
The Eleventh Judicial District Court publishes no probate forms of its own. Its forms library points to the statewide New Mexico Courts set, and it separately publishes an Odyssey File & Serve user guide, which matters only to attorneys, because self-represented parties are prohibited from e-filing (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) NMRA). There is no statewide 4B form for the surviving spouse's homestead affidavit, no waiver or renunciation form (consent is a signature block inside Forms 4B-301 and 4B-302), no proof-of-publication form (the newspaper supplies its own affidavit) and no notice-of-hearing form, because the 4B set is informal-only and contested matters transfer out on Form 4B-1001.
Fees
Both offices publish charges beyond the statutory filing fee, and in San Juan County the probate counter and the recording counter are the same window, so the county clerk's price list is the one a personal representative meets most often. All figures below were read from the offices' own pages on July 27, 2026.
| Charge | Amount | Office and authority |
|---|---|---|
| Probate case, docket fee | $30 | San Juan County Probate Court, published by the county as the docket fee to file for informal probate (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14) |
| Copy of a document at the county clerk | $1.00 per page | San Juan County Clerk. That is also the statutory ceiling for a probate clerk's document copies (Section 14-8-14(B)) |
| Certifying a copy at the county clerk | $1.00 | San Juan County Clerk |
| Recording a personal representative's deed or a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit | $25 for the first ten entries, and $25 for each additional ten entries | San Juan County Clerk, Recording Department, 100 South Oliver Drive, Suite 200 |
| Maps and plats at the county clerk | $5.00 per page | San Juan County Clerk, Recording Department |
| Probate case at the district court | $132 | Eleventh Judicial District Court fee schedule, May 2025, which lists a separate probate line covering wills, estate miscellaneous, guardianship and conservatorship, adoption and trust. It is $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus the $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)) |
| Civil case at the district court | $132 | Eleventh Judicial District Court fee schedule, May 2025 |
| Miscellaneous fees at the district court | None | The Eleventh Judicial District Court fee schedule says in terms that there are no miscellaneous fees |
| Reopening a district court case closed for 90 days | The same as the original filing fee | Eleventh Judicial District Court fee schedule, May 2025 |
Two things about paying. First, the two counters take different things. The county clerk publishes no accepted-payment list for the $30 probate fee, although it does tell people mailing in a recording to enclose a check or money order payable to San Juan County Clerk, so call (505) 334-9471 and confirm before you make out a check for a probate filing. The district court is explicit and strict: in its own words it does not accept personal or company checks, and it does accept cash, money orders, credit cards and in-state attorney checks, with cards usable online or in person.
If you cannot afford the fee, New Mexico's route is called free process, not a fee waiver motion. At the probate court it is Form 4B-201, affidavit of poverty and indigency, with Form 4B-202, order allowing free process, and the county's own packet points filers to both. At the district court it runs under Rule 23-114 NMRA on Forms 4-222 to 4-224, with presumptive indigency for public-assistance recipients or income at or below 185 per cent of the federal poverty guidelines (Section 34-6-27(B)). And if the probate court transfers a properly filed case up to the district court, no filing fee is charged in the district court at all (Section 34-7-10(B)).
Local nuance
San Juan County-specific considerations
| Local fact | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| The county runs a four-day week, so the probate counter is closed on Fridays | San Juan County publishes 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, on its probate page, its probate judge page and its county clerk page. That is an early start and a late finish, but a three-day weekend for the counter. In-person recording at the same window stops at 5:00 p.m. Several directories still show a five-day 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. week; do not plan a Friday trip on that basis. Probate court hours are set by the clerk of the probate court and published on the county's website under Section 34-7-8, which is why they can differ from a courthouse's hours: the Eleventh Judicial District Court across the street is open Monday through Friday. |
| The county clerk is the probate filing counter, and the county says so | In most New Mexico counties the county clerk is the clerk of the probate court by statutory default (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A)), and San Juan is one of them. The County Clerk's own page lists probate among its services and states that the clerk serves as the court clerk for the Probate Judge. There is no separate probate court office to find: the filing window is Suite 200 at 100 South Oliver Drive, the same counter that records deeds and issues marriage licenses. |
| Two district courthouses sit inside this one county | The Eleventh Judicial District Court staffs Aztec at 103 South Oliver Drive, 505-334-6151, and Farmington at 851 Andrea Drive, 505-326-2256, both open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Three district judges sit in Aztec and two in Farmington, alongside the district's domestic violence commissioner. The district's own contacts page labels the Aztec line as the clerks' office, with a clerks' fax, but the district does not publish a rule allocating case types between the two buildings. Call the Aztec clerks' office before you drive to either one. |
| The district court publishes a separate probate fee line, and refuses personal checks | Most New Mexico districts fold probate into the civil line. The Eleventh's own fee schedule, dated May 2025, gives probate its own heading at $132, covering wills, estate miscellaneous, guardianship and conservatorship, adoption and trust, and it states that there are no miscellaneous fees. The same sheet opens with a warning in capitals that the court does not accept personal or company checks. Bring cash, a money order, a card or an in-state attorney check. |
| Trust and restricted land is probated by the federal government, not by either court on this page | A large part of western San Juan County lies within the Navajo Nation. Land and funds held in trust or restricted status for an individual Indian owner do not pass through a New Mexico probate at all. The Department of the Interior says it will not probate property other than trust or restricted land or trust personalty: the Bureau of Indian Affairs assembles the file and the Interior Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals decides the distribution, with the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration paying out any Individual Indian Money account. An estate holding both a trust allotment and ordinary property runs through both systems, so open the New Mexico probate for the rest of the estate and start the federal probate separately. |
| The district's free legal clinics do not cover probate | The Eleventh Judicial District Court runs free legal advice clinics for self-represented San Juan County residents out of the Farmington courthouse, once a month, conducted by telephone until further notice: sign-ups start at 1 p.m. on the day of the clinic by calling 505-326-2256, and an attorney calls you back between 2:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Interpreters are provided on request. The published topic list is divorce and custody, child support, guardianship and kinship, landlord and tenant, bankruptcy, and creditor and debtor. Probate is not on it, so use the New Mexico Courts HelpLine or the State Bar's elderly law helpline instead. |
| Endorsed copies are cheap at the window and cost money afterwards | The county's own probate packet warns that the clerk stamps copies as endorsed only at the time of filing, and that if you do not get an endorsed copy then you will likely pay a fee for a copy later. At this clerk that is $1.00 a page, with $1.00 to certify. Take an original plus as many copies as you think you will need, and if you are filing by mail enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. |
Small-estate Alternatives
The New Mexico small-estate routes are statewide and are covered on the New Mexico state page. Two of them have a San Juan County step worth knowing about, and one of them is a form this county publishes when most do not.
San Juan County hands out its own Small Estate Affidavit, headed Collection of Personal Property and citing NMSA 45-3-1201, free from the same probate page as its probate packets. That matters because the New Mexico Supreme Court publishes no statewide 4B form for this affidavit, so in many counties there is nothing to download. The county's version tracks the statute: the affiant swears that the value of the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), that at least thirty days have elapsed since the death, that no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted anywhere, and that the claiming successor is entitled to the property, with the death certificate attached and a notary block at the foot (Section 45-3-1201). It is not filed with either court and there is no court fee: you present it to the bank, transfer agent or other holder of the property. It cannot be used to perfect title to real estate (Section 45-3-1201(C)).
A surviving spouse's homestead affidavit for a community-property homestead is a different instrument and it is recorded, not filed. It goes to the county clerk in the county where the home is, six months after the death, and no probate or administration is needed (Section 45-3-1205). In San Juan County that is the same Suite 200 recording counter at 100 South Oliver Drive, at $25 for the first ten entries, open for in-person recording 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The value cap in that statute is measured as assessed for property taxation purposes, not market value. The clerk requires the original document with complete notary information, a legal description, and a one-inch by four-inch clear space on each page for the recording label.
Recent updates
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| November 3, 2026 and January 1, 2027 | The San Juan County probate judge is an elected county official and the position is part-time (NMSA 1978, Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2). Every New Mexico probate judgeship, San Juan's included, is on the ballot on November 3, 2026, and the winner takes office on January 1, 2027. The judge named on the county's own probate pages and on the cover of its probate packets as of July 27, 2026 is Gary Risley. Address correspondence to the office rather than the person, and expect the name to change. | NMSA 1978, Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2; sjcounty.net/government/county-clerk/probate |
| May 2025 | The Eleventh Judicial District Court's current fee schedule is dated May 2025. It gives probate cases their own $132 line, separate from the civil line, covering wills, estate miscellaneous, guardianship and conservatorship, adoption and trust; states that there are no miscellaneous fees; and warns in capitals that the court does not accept personal or company checks, taking cash, money orders, credit cards and in-state attorney checks instead. | Fee schedule, eleventhdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
| Current practice | San Juan County operates a four-day week. The County Clerk's office, which is the probate court's filing counter, publishes hours of 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, with in-person recording ending at 5:00 p.m. Directory listings showing a five-day week for the probate court are out of date. | sjcounty.net county clerk, probate and recording pages |
| Current practice | The Eleventh Judicial District Court's free legal advice clinics for self-represented San Juan County residents are conducted by telephone until further notice, once a month out of the Farmington courthouse, with same-day sign-ups from 1 p.m. on 505-326-2256. Probate is not one of the published topics. | Self Help Center, eleventhdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in San Juan County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | A Farmington, Aztec or Bloomfield home held in joint tenancy passes to the survivor outside probate, and title is cleared at the San Juan County Clerk's recording counter in Suite 200 at 100 South Oliver Drive rather than at either court. Where the home was community property and the other conditions are met, a surviving spouse can record a homestead affidavit six months after the death and skip probate altogether (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-1205). Accounts and property in the deceased spouse's sole name may still need a probate. Where they do, the surviving spouse applies informally at the San Juan County Probate Court for $30 (Section 34-7-14) at the same Suite 200 window; a surviving spouse who is a devisee has priority for appointment, and a surviving spouse who is not still ranks ahead of other heirs (Section 45-3-203(A)). There is no hearing. | Asset discovery to separate survivorship and beneficiary property from sole-name assets, which is what decides whether a probate is needed at all. Packet generation for the San Juan application, order, acceptance and letters, ready to sign and walk into Suite 200 on a Monday through Thursday. Guidance on the recording step at the same counter. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | If the parent was domiciled in San Juan County, that is where the case belongs (Section 45-3-201(A)(1)), even though the child is not. If the whole estate is small enough and there is no real estate, San Juan County's own Small Estate Affidavit is presented directly to the bank or transfer agent 30 days after the death, with no court, no filing and no fee. Where a probate is needed, the informal application can be mailed to the San Juan County Clerk at PO Box 550, Aztec, NM 87410 with the $30 fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope for endorsed copies back. There is no e-filing at any New Mexico probate court and no hearing to attend, so the trip is usually avoidable, but the original will has to physically reach the court, so it is mailed or carried. Build in the Friday closure when you time a phone call. | Asset discovery to establish whether the estate clears the affidavit route or needs letters. Packet generation for a mail-in San Juan filing, including the Section 45-3-705 notice to heirs and devisees due within 30 days of appointment and the proof of notice on Form 4B-402. Help getting a case file or certified copy back from the county clerk, since San Juan probate cases are in no online index. |
| Parent settling a predeceased child's estate, home must be sold | A parent is an heir where the child left no spouse or descendants, and ranks after any devisees and the surviving spouse in the appointment order (Section 45-3-203(A)). If nobody objects, the parent applies informally at the San Juan County Probate Court and, once letters issue, has the same power over the title to the house that an absolute owner would have, exercisable without notice, hearing or court order (Sections 45-3-711(A) and 45-3-715(A)(23)), so the sale closes on a personal representative's deed recorded with the San Juan County Clerk at $25 for the first ten entries. If the parcel turns out to be trust or restricted land, no New Mexico court can distribute it and the federal route applies instead. If a sibling, a co-owner or a creditor disputes who owns the house, only the Eleventh Judicial District Court can decide it, in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)), and the probate court transfers the case up on Form 4B-1001 with no second filing fee (Section 34-7-10(B)). | Asset discovery to surface the mortgage, liens, unpaid property tax and any recorded interest against the San Juan County parcel, and to flag the title status, before the sale is agreed. Packet generation for the informal application and for the closing statement due no earlier than six months after appointment (Section 45-3-1003). A vetted San Juan County probate attorney if the title question goes to the district court. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| San Juan County Probate Court, through the County Clerk (sjcounty.net/government/county-clerk/probate, 100 South Oliver Drive, Suite 200, Aztec, (505) 334-9471, [email protected]) | The filing counter and the county's own probate page, with the $30 docket fee stated and four downloadable documents: the Probate Packet With Will, the Probate Packet Without Will, the Small Estate Affidavit and the Proof of Authority. Open 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The clerk serves as the court clerk for the Probate Judge, and the same counter records deeds and homestead affidavits. |
| Eleventh Judicial District Court (eleventhdistrict.nmcourts.gov, 103 South Oliver Drive, Aztec, 505-334-6151, and 851 Andrea Drive, Farmington, 505-326-2256) | Location, Hours and Contacts for every courthouse in San Juan and McKinley counties; the Fees, Costs and Filing page with the May 2025 fee schedule and its separate probate line; the Self Help Center; Public Records; the Justice Stations list; and free interpreter services in any language, spoken or signed. |
| Free legal advice clinics, Farmington District Court (505-326-2256) | The district's own monthly clinic for self-represented San Juan County residents, conducted by telephone until further notice. Sign-ups start at 1 p.m. on the day of the clinic and an attorney calls you back between 2:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Interpreters on request. The published topics are divorce and custody, child support, guardianship and kinship, landlord and tenant, bankruptcy, and creditor and debtor; probate is not among them. |
| New Mexico Courts HelpLine (1-855-268-7804) | The judiciary's own information service, Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in English and Spanish with interpreters available. It provides court-approved forms and explains what a form is asking for, and points to free or low-cost legal services. It cannot tell you what to write on a form (Rule 23-113 NMRA). |
| New Mexico Courts statewide probate forms (nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate) | The Supreme Court's complete Form 4B series, plus a plain-language probate guide and a Diné (Navajo) translation. Use this address rather than the retired law-library link on the county's probate page, which returned an error when checked on July 27, 2026. |
| New Mexico Courts Case Lookup (caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup) | The free public index for Eleventh Judicial District Court cases, along with magistrate, metropolitan and municipal courts. It has no probate court option, so a San Juan County Probate Court case will not appear there; ask the county clerk instead. |
| DNA-People's Legal Services, Farmington (709 North Butler Ave., Farmington, (505) 325-8886; centralized intake 1-833-362-1102) | The legal aid provider for most of San Juan County. New Mexico Legal Aid says in its own words that the majority of San Juan County is covered by its partner agency DNA-People's Legal Services, which provides free civil legal services in tribal, state and federal courts to eligible clients and publishes its own plain-language Understanding Probate guide, including the probate process in the Navajo Nation courts. Start with the intake line. |
| Legal Resources for the Elderly Program, State Bar of New Mexico (505-797-6005 or 1-800-876-6657) | A free statewide helpline for New Mexico residents aged 55 and older with no income restrictions, whose published advice areas expressly include probate, powers of attorney, transfer on death deeds and general estate planning. Phone lines are open and accepting voicemails Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Mountain Time. |
| Modest Means Helpline, State Bar of New Mexico (505-797-6013 or 888-857-9935) | Advice by phone for New Mexico residents of modest means, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. The Eleventh Judicial District Court lists it on its own self-help pages. Callers aged 55 or older are directed to the elderly program instead. |
| Bureau of Indian Affairs regional probate contacts (Navajo Region, Gallup, (505) 863-8436) and the Interior Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals, Probate Hearings Division, Albuquerque field office (1011 Indian School Road NW, Room 322, 505-563-5330) | The federal route for land and funds held in trust or restricted status for an individual Indian owner, which no New Mexico court can distribute. The Bureau compiles the inventory of trust assets and the family and heirship information and refers the case; a judge or attorney decision maker at the Office of Hearings and Appeals decides who inherits. The Bureau publishes a probate phone line for each of its regions: the Navajo Region line, which serves the Navajo Nation, is (505) 863-8436 in Gallup, and the Southwest Region line is (505) 563-3334 in Albuquerque. The Bureau asks families to notify it immediately when a person who owned trust or restricted land or funds dies. |
| San Juan County Clerk, Recording Department (100 South Oliver Drive, Suite 200, Aztec, (505) 334-9471, [email protected]) | The recording counter for a personal representative's deed and a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit, in person 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, or by mail to PO Box 550 with a check or money order payable to San Juan County Clerk. Recording is $25 for the first ten entries; copies are $1.00 a page and certification $1.00. The office publishes its document requirements, including the original or a court certified copy, a complete legal description and complete notary information. |
When to hire an attorney
The line the San Juan County counter will not cross is a good guide to when you need a lawyer, and the county's own probate packet draws it for you more than once: it tells filers to seek a lawyer's advice if a formal proceeding in district court becomes necessary, if there is any question about the form of a deed or how to prepare one, if a creditor's claim has to be objected to, and if there is doubt whether an estate qualifies as a small estate. Court and clerk staff cannot give legal advice at all (Rule 23-113 NMRA). So counsel makes particular sense in San Juan County when a will's validity or the identity of the heirs is in doubt, because only the Eleventh Judicial District Court can decide either (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(A)); when someone claims an interest in estate property adverse to the estate, which is again district court only in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)); when a person with equal or higher priority to serve will not consent to your appointment, which the county's packet says forces a formal proceeding and puts the 4B forms out of reach; when the estate holds a business, out-of-state property, oil and gas interests or a Farmington or Aztec parcel whose sale terms are disputed; when trust or restricted land is involved and the federal probate has to run alongside the state one; when the estate looks insolvent or creditors are pressing; and whenever the probate judge declines an informal appointment, which the judge may do for any reason without deciding anything (Section 45-3-309). An attorney also brings e-filing with them, since attorneys must e-file at the district court while self-represented parties are prohibited from doing so (Rule 1-005.2 NMRA). Sunset can connect families to a vetted San Juan County probate attorney when the situation calls for counsel.
How Sunset helps
Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, San Juan County real estate, business interests and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds before you file for estate settlement. In New Mexico that picture does real work: it decides whether a probate is needed at all, which turns on how each asset is titled; it fills the verified application the court requires you to swear to (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-301); and it is the basis of the inventory due within three months of appointment (Section 45-3-706).
Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the San Juan County filing: the application, order, acceptance and proposed letters in the form the county's own packets expect, with the heirs and devisees named and addressed, ready to sign and file at the County Clerk's Suite 200 counter or mail to PO Box 550 with the $30 fee (Section 34-7-14), plus the notice of appointment and proof of notice due within 30 days (Section 45-3-705) and the closing statement due no earlier than six months in (Section 45-3-1003).
Find a local probate attorney. When a will is contested, when the heirs are in dispute, when someone claims the house against the estate, or when the case has to move to the Eleventh Judicial District Court on Form 4B-1001, Sunset connects families to a vetted San Juan County probate attorney who can file, e-file and appear.
Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).
Frequently asked questions
Where do I file probate in San Juan County?
At one of two counters, depending on the case. An informal, uncontested probate is filed on paper with the San Juan County Clerk, who is the clerk of the probate court, in Suite 200 at 100 South Oliver Drive, Aztec 87410, open 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, or mailed to PO Box 550, Aztec, NM 87410. Anything formal or contested is filed at the Eleventh Judicial District Court, whose San Juan County courthouses are 103 South Oliver Drive in Aztec and 851 Andrea Drive in Farmington, both open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. You file in San Juan County if the person who died lived here at the time of death, or lived outside New Mexico but owned property here (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-201(A)).
Do I file in the San Juan County Probate Court or the Eleventh Judicial District Court?
Both courts can open an informal probate (Section 45-1-302.1), so you have a genuine choice, but only the district court can do anything formal or contested (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). Use the probate court if nobody is objecting, there is a will or a clear set of heirs, and you just need the legal authority to act: it costs $30 rather than $132, it takes walk-in paper filings at the county clerk's window, and there is no hearing. Use the district court if you need a determination of heirs, a ruling on whether a will is valid, a court order about who owns something, supervised administration, or any hearing. If you start in the probate court and it turns contested, the case transfers up on Form 4B-1001 and no second filing fee is charged (Section 34-7-10(B)), which is why starting in the probate court is low-risk.
Is the San Juan County Clerk really the probate court?
The clerk is not the judge, but the clerk's office is the counter. New Mexico designates the county clerk of each county as the clerk of that county's probate court unless the county has created a separate probate clerk by ordinance (Section 34-7-22), and San Juan uses the default. The County Clerk's own page lists probate among its services and says the clerk serves as the court clerk for the Probate Judge, and the county's probate page sits inside the clerk's section of its website. The elected probate judge signs the orders; the clerk takes the filing, collects the $30, dockets the case and issues the letters.
How much does it cost to file probate in San Juan County?
$30 for a probate case at the San Juan County Probate Court, which the county publishes as the docket fee to file for informal probate (Section 34-7-14). At the Eleventh Judicial District Court a probate case costs $132, which the court gives its own line on its May 2025 fee schedule: that is $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus a $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)), and the same sheet says there are no miscellaneous fees. Beyond the filing fee the county clerk charges $1.00 a page for copies, $1.00 to certify and $25 to record a deed or affidavit for the first ten entries. The district court does not accept personal or company checks; it takes cash, money orders, credit cards and in-state attorney checks. If you cannot afford the fee, ask for free process (Section 34-6-27(B)), which is Forms 4B-201 and 4B-202 at the probate court.
Can I e-file a probate case in San Juan County?
Not at the probate court, ever: New Mexico's electronic filing system is defined for the district courts only (Rule 1-005.2(A)(3) NMRA) and the Probate Court Rules contain no electronic filing rule, so every San Juan County Probate Court filing is paper, at the clerk's counter or by mail, and the original will has to arrive physically. At the Eleventh Judicial District Court e-filing runs on eFile & Serve, Tyler's Odyssey File & Serve, and the court publishes its own user guide for it, but it is mandatory only for attorneys: self-represented parties are prohibited from e-filing and must file on paper, after which the clerk scans the filing into the system (Rule 1-005.2(B)(1) and (I)(2) NMRA).
How do I look up a San Juan County probate case?
For a probate court case, you ask the county. San Juan County Probate Court records are county records held by the county clerk as clerk of the probate court (Section 34-7-7), and they are in no statewide system: the New Mexico Courts Case Lookup covers district, magistrate, metropolitan and municipal courts and has no probate court option at all. Call the San Juan County Clerk on (505) 334-9471 or email [email protected] for a case file or a certified copy, remembering the office is closed on Fridays. Eleventh Judicial District Court probate cases are in Case Lookup at caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup, which is an index only, with no document images.
What happens if someone objects or contests the will in San Juan County?
The probate court cannot decide it, and the case moves to the Eleventh Judicial District Court, which has exclusive original jurisdiction over formal proceedings, will contests, will construction and determination of heirs (Section 45-1-302(A)). An objection to an appointment can only be made in a formal proceeding (Section 45-3-203(B)). The move is made on Form 4B-1001, order transferring case from probate court to district court, and the triggers are set out in Rule 1B-101(B)(2) NMRA: a formal appointment or formal closing is requested, a contest arises, testacy or heirship has to be determined, a hearing is required, or any interested party or the judge asks for the transfer. Objections to an inventory or an accounting transfer the case the same way unless the probate judge can resolve them without an evidentiary hearing (Rule 1B-501(C) NMRA). No filing fee is charged in the district court on a transfer of a case properly filed in the probate court (Section 34-7-10(B)).
Is there a hearing, and do I have to travel to Aztec?
An informal probate at the San Juan County Probate Court is decided on the papers and does not require a hearing, because informal proceedings in New Mexico are conducted without notice to interested persons (Section 45-1-201(25)). You can mail the application, the fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope to PO Box 550, Aztec, NM 87410, so an out-of-state family often never appears, although the original will must physically reach the court. If the case is in the Eleventh Judicial District Court, ask the clerk about appearing remotely: the district runs Justice Stations at the Aztec, Bloomfield and Farmington public libraries, at PATH in Farmington and at the Beclabito Chapter House, but it limits them to arraignments and pretrials in traffic, misdemeanor, DWI and civil case types and does not name probate among them.
Does San Juan County have its own probate forms?
Yes, four of them, free from sjcounty.net/government/county-clerk/probate: a Probate Packet With Will, a Probate Packet Without Will, a Small Estate Affidavit and a Proof of Authority. The county asks for single sided printing. The Small Estate Affidavit is the useful one, because the New Mexico Supreme Court publishes no statewide form for the Section 45-3-1201 collection of personal property and many counties have nothing to hand out. The packets carry the county's own cover page and reproduce the Supreme Court's probate court rules and Form 4B set. Note that the law-library link on the county's page for individual forms is a retired address that returned an error on July 27, 2026; use nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate instead.
What if the estate includes land on the Navajo Nation?
Land and funds held in trust or restricted status for an individual Indian owner are not probated by the San Juan County Probate Court or by the Eleventh Judicial District Court. They go through a federal process: the Bureau of Indian Affairs compiles the inventory of trust assets and the family and heirship information and refers the case, and a judge or attorney decision maker at the Interior Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals decides how the trust or restricted land and funds are distributed, after which the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration pays out any Individual Indian Money account. The Department of the Interior says it will not probate property other than trust or restricted land or trust personalty, so the rest of the estate still needs a New Mexico probate. The Bureau's Navajo Region probate line, which serves the Navajo Nation, is (505) 863-8436 in Gallup, its Southwest Region line is (505) 563-3334 in Albuquerque, and the Office of Hearings and Appeals Probate Hearings Division field office is at 1011 Indian School Road NW, Room 322, Albuquerque, 505-563-5330.
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.