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Santa Fe County, NM Probate Information
Quick facts
| Detail | Santa Fe County Probate Court | First Judicial District Court |
|---|---|---|
| What it handles | Informal, uncontested probate only: admitting a will to probate, appointing a personal representative and appointing a special administrator, decided on the papers with no hearing (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(C)). The county puts the limit in its own words: the probate court can only be used for simple proceedings, and if a question arises about the heirs, about who is entitled to the property or about the value of the property, the case must be filed in the district court. | Every formal and contested probate matter, exclusively: formal testacy and formal appointment, supervised administration, determination of heirs, will construction and will contests, title disputes between the estate and an adverse claimant, trusts and disclaimers (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). It may also take an informal probate (Section 45-1-302.1). There is no separate probate department; the court's own fee table books probate as the civil case type PB. |
| Courthouse address | Santa Fe County Probate Court, 240 Grant Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501. The Santa Fe County Clerk's office, which is the probate filing counter, is in the same building. | Santa Fe County District Courthouse, the Steve Herrera Judicial Complex, 225 Montezuma Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501. The Court Clerk's Office is on the first floor. |
| Mailing address | Santa Fe County Probate, Attn: Probate Judge, PO Box 1985, Santa Fe, NM 87504. The county clerk uses the same box for probate records requests. | Santa Fe County District Courthouse, P.O. Box 2268, Santa Fe, NM 87504. |
| Phone | (505) 992-1636 for the probate judge's office and for appointments. The Santa Fe County Clerk's office, which takes the filing and the fee, is (505) 986-6280. | (505) 455-8250 is the main court and clerk's office line. The Self Help Center is (505) 455-8250 or (505) 455-8166. |
| Fax | The county publishes no fax number for the probate court. Use the counter or mail. | (505) 455-8280, published by the court as the fax number for case filings. |
| Hours | Probate office hours are Wednesday and Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the county states that scheduled appointments are recommended. The probate judge's position is a part-time one by statute (Section 34-7-1(B)), and the county's own packets say the first step is to make an appointment with the judge. The Santa Fe County Clerk's counter, where the filing and the fee are taken, is open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; walk-ins are welcome but the clerk recommends booking an appointment on (505) 986-6280 for faster service. | Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the court states that the Santa Fe courthouse stays open during the lunch hour. The Court Clerk's Office keeps the same hours. The Self Help Center is staffed 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. |
| Filing fee | $30 for each probate case (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14). The county clerk's own fee schedule, dated as of July 10, 2025, publishes it as "OPENING A PROBATE $30.00" and heads that block with the Section 34-7-14 cite. The probate page adds a caveat for late filings: $30 where the death was less than three years ago, and call about exceptions (Section 45-3-108). | $132 to open a civil case, which is what a formal probate is: $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus the $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)), and the First Judicial District runs an alternative dispute resolution program. The court's own fee table lists civil filings "including PB (Probate), PQ (Guardianship/Conservatorship)" at $132.00. 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 | Cash, check or money order for a probate filing, in the county clerk's own words. Neither office publishes a payee, so ask at the counter before you write anything on a check. Recording fees at the same clerk's counter may also be paid by credit card with a 2.65 per cent processing fee. | Cash, cashier's checks, approved company checks or money orders made payable to First Judicial District Court. Personal checks are not accepted, which turns filers away at the window. |
| Local forms | Yes. The county publishes its own PROBATE With Will and PROBATE No Will forms packets, both revised May 1, 2026, which wrap the statewide Form 4B documents in local instructions. They are free to download from santafecountynm.gov/probate or $10 a copy from the county clerk. The county also publishes four plain-language guides: Duties of the Personal Representative, Claims Against Probate Estates in New Mexico, Real Property As Part of Probate Cases in New Mexico, and What is an Heir. | None of its own for probate. Its forms library carries the statewide Supreme Court set, including Forms 4B-101, 4B-201, 4B-202, 4B-301 to 4B-307, 4B-401, 4B-402, 4B-501, 4B-601, 4B-602, 4B-701, 4B-702, 4B-901 to 4B-904 and 4B-1001, plus the New Mexico courts' plain-language probate guide and its Dine (Navajo) translation. |
| 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 and an original or certified copy of the death certificate have 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). The court also publishes a fax filing number, (505) 455-8280. |
| Case search | Yes, and Santa Fe is one of only two New Mexico counties with one. The county publishes a Probate Case Look-Up at santafecountynm.gov/probate/probate-case-lookup covering Santa Fe County Probate Court docket information from 1922 through the present. The county warns on the same page that a Santa Fe probate may instead have been filed in the First Judicial District Court. Official records may be viewed in person at 240 Grant Ave. during normal business hours, or call (505) 992-1636 for copies. | New Mexico Courts Case Lookup, caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup, indexes district, magistrate, metropolitan and municipal court cases. Santa Fe County district cases carry the county code 101 and a probate case is the PB category, so a case number looks like D-101-PB-2026-00000. It is an index only, with no document images. |
| Remote appearance | Not applicable. An informal probate is decided on the papers and there is no hearing to attend. | Hearings are set by the assigned judge, who sits in one of the district's eleven numbered divisions. Alongside its hearing schedules the court publishes the New Mexico Judiciary Remote Proceedings and Meeting Standards and a Google Meet help page. |
| Website | santafecountynm.gov/probate, with the filing counter at santafecountynm.gov/clerk/divisions/probate-info | firstdistrict.nmcourts.gov |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
Before you choose a form or a counter in Santa Fe 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 full addresses (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-301). The county's own guidance is blunt about who counts: heirs must be listed even if they were left out of the will or expressly disinherited, and if you do not know where an heir is you have a duty to make a reasonably diligent search. You are swearing to the list, because the application and the acceptance of appointment are notarized 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)).
The same inventory decides whether you need a probate at all, and which court you belong in. Santa Fe County says on its own clerk pages that where a property deed is held in joint tenancy no probate is required, and its guides list the assets that pass outside probate: joint tenancy real estate, a recorded transfer on death deed, payable on death accounts, life insurance and retirement plans with a named beneficiary. It also warns that if the heirs cannot all agree on who serves as personal representative, the case cannot be filed in the probate court at all and the appointment has to be made formally in the district court. So list every bank and credit union account, retirement and brokerage account, life insurance policy, vehicle, business interest and parcel of Santa Fe County real estate, along with every debt, before you file. Sunset's asset-discovery work, which searches more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for exactly this step.
Which court handles jurisdiction
New Mexico probate is filed in the county where the person lived at the time of death (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-201(A)(1)). If the person was not a New Mexico resident, it is filed in any New Mexico county where they owned property at the time of death (Section 45-3-201(A)(2)), and Santa Fe County's own guidance says the same thing in plain words: where someone lived in another state but owned New Mexico real property and no administration has been started elsewhere, an original probate can be opened in the county where the property is. Both courts on this page serve all of Santa Fe County, which includes the city of Santa Fe, Eldorado, Edgewood, Pojoaque, Nambe, Tesuque, La Cienega, Cerrillos, Madrid, Galisteo, Glorieta, Lamy, Stanley and the Santa Fe County side of Espanola.
Within Santa Fe County you have a choice of court. The Santa Fe County Probate Court takes an informal, uncontested probate, and the First Judicial District Court takes anything formal or contested and may also take an informal probate (Sections 45-1-302 and 45-1-302.1). The county states the concurrency itself: an informal probate can be filed in either the probate court or the district court in the county where the person was domiciled. Almost everyone handling a Santa Fe estate without a lawyer uses the probate court, because it costs $30 rather than $132 (Sections 34-7-14, 34-6-40 and 34-6-45), it takes paper filings at a county counter, and Section 34-7-10(B) means there is no second filing fee if the case has to move up. The Santa Fe 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).
Two buildings, and inside the first one, two counters. The Santa Fe County Probate Court and the Santa Fe County Clerk are both at 240 Grant Ave., and the clerk is the county's Ex-Officio Probate Clerk, which is the arrangement Section 34-7-22(A) sets as the default statewide. You bring the completed packet to an appointment with the probate judge and you pay the $30 at the clerk's window, where the originals are kept. The First Judicial District Court is a state court about half a mile away at 225 Montezuma Ave., and it is the district's main courthouse: it serves Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties (Section 34-6-1(A)), and the district publishes that Los Alamos County filings are made in Santa Fe, by fax, or through the Santa Fe filings email address, so the Santa Fe clerk's counter carries work from across the district. The Santa Fe County Magistrate Court at 2056 Galisteo St. has no probate jurisdiction at all; nothing about an estate is filed there.
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm the case belongs in Santa Fe 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). The county publishes the three-year limit on its own probate page beside the fee and tells late filers to call about exceptions.
- Choose your forum. If nobody is fighting, there is a will or a clear set of heirs, and everyone with equal or higher priority agrees on who serves, file informally at the Santa Fe County Probate Court, 240 Grant Ave. If you need a determination of heirs, a ruling on whether a will is valid, a court order about who owns something or what it is worth, supervised administration, or anything with a hearing, that is exclusively the First Judicial District Court at 225 Montezuma Ave. (Section 45-1-302(A) and (B)). The county says the same in its own guidance: if the heirs cannot all agree on who will serve, the case cannot be filed in the probate court.
- Gather the documents the counter will ask for. The Santa Fe County Clerk publishes the list: an original or certified copy of the death certificate, and the original will of the decedent if a will exists (Section 45-3-303(A)(5)). You also need the names, full addresses and, for minor children, ages of the surviving spouse, children, heirs and devisees (Section 45-3-301).
- Get the county's packet. Download the PROBATE With Will Forms or PROBATE No Will Forms packet, both revised May 1, 2026, free from santafecountynm.gov/probate, or buy a printed copy from the county clerk for $10. Each packet contains the statewide forms you need with local instructions: Forms 4B-302, 4B-304, 4B-305 and 4B-307 for an estate with a will, and Forms 4B-301, 4B-303, 4B-305 and 4B-306 for one without. The packet tells you to fill the paperwork out only as far as its stop-sign page before you see the judge.
- Make an appointment with the probate judge and have the application notarized. The county's own packets set this out as the first step: call (505) 992-1636, and bring the death certificate and the completed forms to the appointment. Probate office hours are Wednesday and Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the county recommends a scheduled appointment. The application and the acceptance of appointment both have to be signed in front of a notary before they are submitted.
- File on paper and pay the fee at the county clerk. The $30 filing fee is paid at the Santa Fe County Clerk's office in the same building at 240 Grant Ave., in cash, by check or by money order (Section 34-7-14). Neither office publishes a payee, so ask before you make out a check. There is no e-filing at any New Mexico probate court. The clerk keeps the originals, so ask about copies at the counter; the clerk's published fee schedule charges $1.00 per page for a probate copy. 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; if the judge approves the application, the order is signed 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 judge 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. 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, which the county's packet says must be filed with the probate court once the notices are mailed. Some of the county's older guidance pages say ten days rather than 30, so do it promptly and you satisfy both.
- Prepare an inventory within three months of appointment, listing each item with its date-of-death value and any encumbrance (Section 45-3-706). You must send a copy to any interested person who asks for one. Filing it with the court is optional in New Mexico, and the county warns that anything you do file becomes public information. Form 4B-601.
- Deal with creditors. Give written notice to known creditors, and consider publication: publishing a notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks is permitted, not required, and it starts a four-month claim window (Section 45-3-801, Form 4B-501). The county names the two Santa Fe newspapers of general circulation used for it, the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter, and says the newspaper's affidavit of publication should be filed with the court as proof. Whether or not you publish, claims that arose before the death are barred one year after the death (Section 45-3-803). Note the county's warning that if you do not notify a creditor of your decision within 60 days after the claim period closes, the claim is treated as allowed.
- 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 Santa Fe County house is conveyed by a personal representative's deed recorded with the Santa Fe County Clerk at 240 Grant Ave. Recording is $25 per document for one to ten index entries. If the estate also owns land in another New Mexico county, the county's own guide says to record a Notice of Administration with that county's clerk, giving the decedent's name, the caption and docket number, the type of administration, the court, the personal representative's name, address and title, and the full legal description. What the probate court cannot do is decide a dispute about that title; that is the district court's, in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)).
- If it turns contested, the case moves up. If anyone contests the will, if the heirs are in dispute, if a formal appointment or formal closing is requested, if a determination of testacy or heirship is needed, or if any hearing is required, the matter goes to the First Judicial District Court (Section 45-1-302; Rule 1B-101(B)(2) NMRA), on Form 4B-1001, order transferring case from probate court to district court. A disqualified or interested probate judge transfers the proceeding the same way (Section 34-7-9). Section 34-7-10(B) is the reason starting small is safe: if the case was properly filed in the probate court and is later transferred, no filing fee is charged in the district court. A pending formal case also freezes the probate court, which may not act on an informal application while it is pending (Section 45-3-401(C)).
- Close the estate. After the property is distributed, file a verified closing statement with the appointing court no earlier than six months after the original appointment (Section 45-3-1003, Form 4B-701; Form 4B-702 is the summary-administration version). The county publishes the same six-month rule on its probate page. 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 Santa Fe County
Santa Fe County is one of the few New Mexico counties that publishes its own probate materials, and they are free to download from santafecountynm.gov/probate or available in print from the county clerk.
| Document | What it is |
|---|---|
| PROBATE With Will Forms packet, revised May 1, 2026 | The county's own testate packet, signed by the Santa Fe County Probate Judge and naming the county clerk as Ex-Officio Probate Clerk. It contains Form 4B-302 (application), Form 4B-304 (order), Form 4B-305 (acceptance) and Form 4B-307 (letters testamentary) with local instructions, followed by the post-appointment forms and a set of probate definitions drawn from Rule 1B-102 NMRA. |
| PROBATE No Will Forms packet, revised May 1, 2026 | The intestate version, containing Form 4B-301 (application), Form 4B-303 (order), Form 4B-305 (acceptance) and Form 4B-306 (letters of administration), with the same local instructions. |
| Printed packet, $10 | Either packet may be bought from the Santa Fe County Clerk's office for $10, or downloaded free (Santa Fe County Clerk fee schedule dated as of July 10, 2025, and the packets' own cover pages). |
| Duties of the Personal Representative | The county's plain-language checklist of what happens after appointment, from the application through notice, creditors, inventory, distribution, accounting and closing. |
| Claims Against Probate Estates in New Mexico | The county's guide for creditors and claimants, covering demands for notice, presenting a claim, the 60-day allowance rule and the statutory order of priority for payment. |
| Real Property As Part of Probate Cases in New Mexico | The county's guide to personal representative's deeds, joint tenancy, tenancy in common, transfer on death deeds, homestead affidavits and what to record where the estate owns land in another county or another state. |
| What is an Heir? | The county's guide to who must be listed in the application, who has priority for appointment, and a list of popular misconceptions it sees at the counter. |
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 Santa Fe 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 First Judicial District Court publishes no probate forms of its own, but its forms library at firstdistrict.nmcourts.gov hosts the full statewide 4B set along with the New Mexico courts' plain-language probate guide and its Dine (Navajo) translation. There is no statewide 4B form for the small-estate affidavit or 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
Santa Fe County is unusually well documented on price. The Santa Fe County Clerk publishes a dated fee schedule that carries a whole probate block, and the First Judicial District Court publishes a fee table that names probate expressly. The figures below were read from those two documents on July 27, 2026; the clerk's schedule is dated as of July 10, 2025.
| Charge | Amount | Office and authority |
|---|---|---|
| Opening a probate | $30 | Santa Fe County Clerk fee schedule, in a block headed with the statute (NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-14) |
| Intestate (no will) packet | $10 | Santa Fe County Clerk, or free to download from santafecountynm.gov/probate |
| Testate (with will) packet | $10 | Santa Fe County Clerk, or free to download from santafecountynm.gov/probate |
| Probate copy | $1.00 per page | Santa Fe County Clerk. This is the statutory ceiling for a probate clerk's document copies (Section 14-8-14(B)) |
| Probate certification | $3.00 | Santa Fe County Clerk, listed under Section 14-8-10 |
| Certified probate copy | $4.00 for the first page and $1.00 for each page after, per document | Santa Fe County Clerk, listed under Section 14-8-14. The schedule carries both this and the $3.00 certification line, so ask which applies to what you need |
| Recording a document, one to ten index entries | $25 | Santa Fe County Clerk (Section 14-8-15.1). This is what a personal representative's deed or a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit costs to record |
| Uncertified record search by the county clerk | $40 for the first 15 minutes, then $40 per hour | Santa Fe County Clerk (Section 14-8-14) |
| Filing a civil case, which is what a formal probate is | $132 | First Judicial District Court fee table, which lists civil filings including PB (Probate). It is $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus the $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)) |
| Photocopies at the district court | 35 cents per page | First Judicial District Court |
| Certification at the district court | $1.50 each | First Judicial District Court |
Two things about paying. First, the counters take different things: a probate filing at the county clerk is paid in cash, by check or by money order, while the district court takes cash, cashier's checks, approved company checks or money orders made payable to First Judicial District Court and accepts no personal checks at all. Recording fees at the clerk's counter may also be paid by credit card with a 2.65 per cent processing fee. Second, no probate payee is published by either Santa Fe County office, so confirm at the counter or on (505) 986-6280 before you make out a check.
If you cannot afford the fee, New Mexico's route is called free process, not a fee waiver motion. At the probate court it is Form 4B-201, affidavit of poverty and indigency, with Form 4B-202, order allowing free process. At the district court it runs under Rule 23-114 NMRA on Forms 4-222 to 4-224, and the First Judicial District publishes an Application for Free Process on its self-representation pages, noting that the court may grant free process or a fee reduction to any party on a showing of indigence (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
Santa Fe County-specific considerations
| Local fact | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Two offices, one building, and the clerk is the one with the counter | The Santa Fe County Clerk is the county's Ex-Officio Probate Clerk, which is what NMSA 1978, Section 34-7-22(A) makes the statewide default, and the clerk's office at 240 Grant Ave. is where a new probate is applied for and dropped off, where the $30 is paid, and where the originals stay: in the county's own words, all original documents filed for the purposes of a probate remain in the county clerk's probate filing system. The probate judge's office is in the same building on (505) 992-1636. Plan for both: an appointment with the judge, and a stop at the clerk's window. |
| The judge's hours are short and the clerk's are not | Probate office hours are Wednesday and Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with scheduled appointments recommended, which is consistent with the probate judge's position being a part-time one by statute (Section 34-7-1(B)) and with hours being set by the clerk of the probate court and published on the county's website (Section 34-7-8). The county clerk's counter is open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and takes walk-ins, though it recommends booking on (505) 986-6280 for faster service. |
| Santa Fe runs its own probate case index, back to 1922 | Only two New Mexico counties publish a probate case search of their own, and Santa Fe is one of them. The county's Probate Case Look-Up covers Santa Fe County Probate Court docket information from 1922 through the present. The county attaches the caveat that matters most: a Santa Fe probate may instead have been filed in the First Judicial District Court, so if you cannot find a case in the county index, search the statewide Case Lookup as well. Official records can be viewed in person at 240 Grant Ave. during normal business hours. |
| The county's plain-language guides are useful but not all current | Santa Fe publishes four guides that are better than most counties' materials, and its packets were revised on May 1, 2026. Some of the guides lag the statutes: two of them say the notice of appointment goes out within ten days, where Section 45-3-705 allows 30 and the county's own 2026 packet says 30; the claims guide says publication runs two consecutive weeks, where Section 45-3-801 and the county's own probate page both say three successive weeks; and the duties checklist carries an out-of-date federal estate tax filing figure. Follow the statute and the current packet, and treat the guides as orientation. |
| The county tells you which newspapers to use | Publication of a notice to creditors is optional in New Mexico (Section 45-3-801), but where you do publish it has to be in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and Santa Fe County names the two it expects: the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter. The paper gives you an affidavit of publication, and the county says the original should be filed with the court as proof. |
| The district courthouse is the First Judicial District's main house | The Steve Herrera Judicial Complex at 225 Montezuma Ave. is the district's principal courthouse for Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties (Section 34-6-1(A)). The district publishes that Los Alamos County filings are filed in Santa Fe, by fax, or through the Santa Fe filings email address, and it publishes a fax number for case filings, (505) 455-8280. Civil cases, probate included, are assigned to a judge in one of eleven numbered divisions; a division is a judge slot, not a subject-matter department. Proposed orders are not e-filed but sent to the assigned division's proposed-text email address. |
| Recording at the clerk has its own rules | A personal representative's deed, a surviving spouse's homestead affidavit and a death certificate are all recorded at the Santa Fe County Clerk. Documents need original signatures and a proper notary block, the clerk can notarize with proper identification, appointments are recommended and the office asks for at least 30 minutes per four documents. Recording is $25 per document for one to ten index entries, and the county also accepts electronic recording through Simplifile or CSC, which charge their own convenience fee. The clerk sends a copy of a recorded transfer to the Santa Fe County Assessor, but the new owner is responsible for making sure the assessor has it. |
| Estate land in another county needs a filing there too | The county's real property guide sets out a step many filers miss: where the probate is opened in Santa Fe County but the estate owns real property in another New Mexico county, the personal representative must record a Notice of Administration with the clerk of the county where that property lies, giving the decedent's name, the caption and docket number, the type of administration, the court, the personal representative's name, address and title, and the full legal description. The county adds that filing a copy with the court where the probate was opened is a good idea, though not required. |
Small-estate Alternatives
The New Mexico small-estate routes are statewide and are covered on the New Mexico state page. Two of them finish at a Santa Fe County counter rather than at either court, which is worth knowing before you open a probate you may not need.
A surviving spouse's homestead affidavit for a community-property homestead is recorded with the county clerk in the county where the home is, six months after the death, and no probate or administration is needed (NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-1205). In Santa Fe County that means the Santa Fe County Clerk at 240 Grant Ave., at $25 per document for one to ten index entries. The value cap in that statute is measured as assessed for property taxation purposes, not market value, so check the assessor's figure rather than a market estimate. The county's own real property guide describes the affidavit as a notarized statement that can only be used to transfer the marital residence, subject to valuation limits, to a surviving spouse without a court probate.
The small-estate affidavit for personal property under Section 45-3-1201 is not filed with any court and carries no court fee. You present it to the bank, transfer agent or other holder of the property. Neither court on this page takes it, there is no statewide 4B form for it, and the New Mexico courts' own guide calls it an affidavit of successor in interest. It cannot be used to perfect title to real estate (Section 45-3-1201(C)). Santa Fe County also points out the simplest case of all: where a deed is held in joint tenancy, no probate is required, and the surviving joint tenant records a copy of the death certificate with the county clerk in every county where the real property lies.
Recent updates
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| November 3, 2026 and January 1, 2027 | The Santa Fe 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, Santa Fe'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 packets as of July 27, 2026 is Cordilia Montoya, whose published second term runs 2023 to 2026. Address correspondence to the office rather than the person, and expect the name to change. | NMSA 1978, Sections 34-7-1 and 34-7-2; santafecountynm.gov/probate |
| May 1, 2026 | Santa Fe County reissued both of its probate forms packets, PROBATE With Will Forms and PROBATE No Will Forms, each marked Revised 05.01.2026. They are free to download from the county's probate page or $10 a copy from the county clerk. | santafecountynm.gov/probate |
| July 10, 2025 | The Santa Fe County Clerk's published fee schedule was updated. Its probate block, headed with the Section 34-7-14 cite, sets opening a probate at $30, the intestate and testate packets at $10 each, probate copies at $1.00 per page and probate certification at $3.00, with recording at $25 per document for one to ten index entries. | Santa Fe County Clerk, recording, copy, certification, filing, probate and uncertified record search fees, dated as of July 10, 2025 |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Santa Fe County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | A Santa Fe, Eldorado or Pojoaque home held in joint tenancy passes to the survivor outside probate, and title is cleared at the Santa Fe County Clerk's recording counter at 240 Grant Ave. rather than at either court; the county's own guidance is that the survivor records a copy of the death certificate with the clerk. 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 Santa Fe County Probate Court for $30 (Section 34-7-14); 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 Santa Fe with-will or no-will application, order, acceptance and letters, ready to notarize and take to the judge's appointment and the clerk's window at 240 Grant Ave. Guidance on the recording step at the same clerk's counter. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | If the parent was domiciled in Santa Fe County, that is where the case belongs (Section 45-3-201(A)(1)), even though the child is not. If the whole estate is small enough and there is no real estate, the Section 45-3-1201 affidavit 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 county's packets are free to download and the filing goes to the Santa Fe County Clerk at 240 Grant Ave. or by mail to PO Box 1985, Santa Fe 87504, with the $30 fee. There is no e-filing at any New Mexico probate court and no hearing to attend, but the original will and an original or certified copy of the death certificate have to reach the county physically, and the county's packet says the first step is an appointment with the judge, so call (505) 992-1636 to arrange how to do that from out of state. | Asset discovery to establish whether the estate clears the affidavit route or needs letters. Packet generation for a Santa Fe filing, including the Section 45-3-705 notice to heirs and devisees due within 30 days of appointment and the proof of notice the county expects on Form 4B-402. Help tracking the case afterwards through the county's own probate 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 Santa Fe 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 Santa Fe County Clerk at $25 per document. The county warns that a deed from a personal representative to themselves is voidable without the written consent of every interested person, and that title companies sometimes want a court order as well. If a sibling, a co-owner or a creditor disputes who owns the house or what it is worth, only the First 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 Santa Fe County parcel before the sale is agreed. Packet generation for the informal application and for the closing statement due no earlier than six months after appointment (Section 45-3-1003). A vetted Santa Fe County probate attorney if the title question goes to the district court or a deed has to be drafted. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Santa Fe County Probate Judge (santafecountynm.gov/probate, 240 Grant Ave., (505) 992-1636) | The court's own page: the costs, the office hours of Wednesday and Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with appointments recommended, the downloadable With Will and No Will packets revised May 1, 2026, the county's four plain-language guides, and the probate case look-up. Mailing address PO Box 1985, Santa Fe 87504. |
| Santa Fe County Clerk, probate (240 Grant Ave., (505) 986-6280, [email protected]) | The Ex-Officio Probate Clerk and the counter that takes the filing and the $30, open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It publishes the dated fee schedule covering the probate fees, packets, copies and certification, records personal representative's deeds and homestead affidavits, and keeps the original probate documents. Payment for a probate filing is cash, check or money order. |
| Santa Fe County probate case look-up (santafecountynm.gov/probate/probate-case-lookup) | The county's own probate docket index, 1922 through the present, covering Santa Fe County Probate Court cases. The county notes that a Santa Fe probate may also have been filed in the First Judicial District Court, in which case it is in the statewide Case Lookup instead. |
| First Judicial District Court (firstdistrict.nmcourts.gov, 225 Montezuma Ave., (505) 455-8250) | Location, Hours and Contacts for all three counties in the district; the Fees, Costs and Filing page with the civil fee table that names probate; the Court Clerk's Office page with the records request procedure and the case-numbering key; the court's probate forms library; and the court hearing schedules. Mail to P.O. Box 2268, Santa Fe 87504; fax filings to (505) 455-8280. |
| First Judicial District Court Self Help Center (225 Montezuma Ave., first floor, (505) 455-8250 or (505) 455-8166, [email protected]) | A staffed walk-in window next to the Court Clerk's Office, open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, with space to sit and complete forms. Staff provide forms and procedural information and can explain what a form is asking for, but the court states plainly that they cannot give legal advice or tell you what to write. It sells packets for divorce, parentage, name change and similar matters, but not for probate; probate forms come from the statewide 4B set or the county's own packets. |
| New Mexico Courts HelpLine (1-855-268-7804) | The judiciary's own information service, Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in English and Spanish with interpreters available. It provides court-approved forms and explains what a form is asking for, and points to free or low-cost legal services. It cannot tell you what to write on a form (Rule 23-113 NMRA). |
| New Mexico Courts statewide probate forms (nmcourts.gov/forms-files/probate) | The Supreme Court's complete Form 4B series, plus a plain-language probate guide and a Dine (Navajo) translation. The First Judicial District Court hosts the same set in its own forms library. |
| New Mexico Courts Case Lookup (caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup) | The free public index for First Judicial District Court cases, along with magistrate, metropolitan and municipal courts. It has no probate court option, so a Santa Fe County Probate Court case will not appear there; county probate records are requested from the Santa Fe County Clerk or found in the county's own index. |
| Supreme Court Law Library (237 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe, (505) 827-4850, [email protected]) | The judiciary's public law library, in the Supreme Court building a few blocks from both Santa Fe courthouses, open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Good for the statutes, the rules and the forms; it does not give legal advice. Free public parking is available a block away at the State Capitol parking facility. |
| Legal Resources for the Elderly Program, State Bar of New Mexico (505-797-6005 or 1-800-876-6657) | A free statewide helpline for New Mexico residents aged 55 and older with no income restrictions, whose published advice areas expressly include probate, powers of attorney, transfer on death deeds and general estate planning. Phone lines are open and accepting voicemails Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Mountain Time. |
| Modest Means Helpline, State Bar of New Mexico (505-797-6013 or 888-857-9935) | Advice by phone for New Mexico residents of modest means, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Callers aged 55 or older are directed to the elderly program instead. |
| New Mexico Legal Aid (1-833-545-4357) and its Volunteer Attorney Program (1-877-266-9861) | Statewide intake Monday through Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for households at or below 125 per cent of the federal poverty guidelines, with a Santa Fe office. Probate is not one of its staff practice areas; it reaches probate through the Volunteer Attorney Program's free one-time consultations at scheduled clinics, for households at or below 200 per cent of the guidelines. |
When to hire an attorney
Santa Fe County's own materials are unusually clear about where self-representation stops, and that line is a good guide to when you need a lawyer. The county tells filers to consult an attorney for help completing a deed, warns that a personal representative's deed to the representative personally is voidable without the written consent of every interested person and that title companies sometimes require a court order anyway, and says the probate court can only be used for simple proceedings. The First Judicial District Court's Self Help Center is equally direct: its staff can hand you a form and explain what it asks for, but they cannot tell you what to write or what to do (Rule 23-113 NMRA). So counsel makes particular sense in Santa Fe County when a will's validity or the identity of the heirs is in doubt, because only the First Judicial District Court can decide either (NMSA 1978, Section 45-1-302(A)); when the heirs cannot agree on who should serve, which the county says takes the case out of the probate court altogether; when someone claims an interest in estate property adverse to the estate or disputes what it is worth, which is district court only in a formal proceeding (Section 45-1-302(B)); when the estate holds a business, out-of-state property or a Santa Fe County parcel whose sale terms are disputed; 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 Santa Fe 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, Santa Fe County real estate, business interests and unclaimed property, so you know what the estate holds before you file as part of estate settlement. In New Mexico that picture does real work: it decides whether a probate is needed at all, which Santa Fe County itself says often turns on how the property was 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 Santa Fe County filing: the application, order, acceptance and proposed letters in the form the county's own packets use, with the heirs and devisees named and addressed, ready to notarize, take to the probate judge's appointment and file with the county clerk at 240 Grant Ave. 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 cannot agree on who serves, when someone claims the house against the estate, or when the case has to move to the First Judicial District Court on Form 4B-1001, Sunset connects families to a vetted Santa Fe 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 Santa Fe County?
At one of two places, depending on the case. An informal, uncontested probate is filed on paper in Santa Fe County's own probate system at 240 Grant Ave., Santa Fe 87501: you take the completed packet to an appointment with the Santa Fe County Probate Judge and file and pay at the Santa Fe County Clerk's counter in the same building, or mail it to PO Box 1985, Santa Fe 87504. Anything formal or contested is filed at the First Judicial District Court, 225 Montezuma Ave., or mailed to P.O. Box 2268, Santa Fe 87504. You file in Santa Fe 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 Santa Fe County Probate Court or the First Judicial District Court?
Both courts can open an informal probate (Section 45-1-302.1), and Santa Fe County publishes that concurrency itself, so you have a genuine choice. 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 everyone with equal or higher priority agrees on who serves: it costs $30 rather than $132, it takes paper filings at a county counter, 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 or what it is worth, 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)).
How much does it cost to file probate in Santa Fe County?
$30 to open a probate case at the Santa Fe County Probate Court, paid at the county clerk's counter (Section 34-7-14); the clerk's own fee schedule publishes it as opening a probate, and the county's probate page adds that the $30 applies where the death was less than three years ago, with a note to call about exceptions (Section 45-3-108). At the First Judicial District Court a civil case, which is what a formal probate is, costs $132: $117 by statute (Section 34-6-40(A)) plus a $15 alternative dispute resolution fee (Section 34-6-45(A)), and the court's own fee table lists probate under that line. Beyond the filing fee the county clerk charges $1.00 a page for probate copies, $3.00 for a probate certification and $10 for a printed forms packet, and takes cash, check or money order. The district court charges 35 cents a page and $1.50 per certification and takes no personal checks. If you cannot afford the fee, ask for free process (Section 34-6-27(B)), which is Forms 4B-201 and 4B-202 at the probate court.
Do I need an appointment with the Santa Fe County Probate Judge?
The county recommends one, and its own packets make it the first step: look over the packet, then make an appointment with the probate judge and bring the death certificate and your completed forms to it. Probate office hours are Wednesday and Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the position of probate judge is a part-time one by statute (Section 34-7-1(B)), so the window is genuinely narrow. Call (505) 992-1636. The county clerk's counter, where the paperwork and the fee are taken, keeps ordinary business hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and can be booked on (505) 986-6280.
Can I e-file a probate case in Santa Fe 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 Santa Fe County probate filing is paper, at the counter or by mail, and the original will and an original or certified copy of the death certificate have to arrive physically. At the First Judicial District Court e-filing runs on eFile & Serve, Tyler's Odyssey File & Serve, and it is mandatory for attorneys, but self-represented parties are prohibited from e-filing 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). The district court also publishes a fax filing number, (505) 455-8280.
How do I look up a Santa Fe County probate case?
Santa Fe is one of only two New Mexico counties with its own probate index. The county publishes a Probate Case Look-Up at santafecountynm.gov/probate/probate-case-lookup covering Santa Fe County Probate Court docket information from 1922 through the present, and it warns on the same page that a Santa Fe probate may instead have been filed in the First Judicial District Court, in which case you search the statewide New Mexico Courts Case Lookup at caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup. District cases from this county carry the code 101 and probate is the PB category. Official probate court records can be viewed in person at 240 Grant Ave. during normal business hours, or call (505) 992-1636 for copies at $1.00 a page.
What happens if someone objects or contests the will in Santa Fe County?
The probate court cannot decide it, and the case moves to the First Judicial District Court, which has exclusive original jurisdiction over formal proceedings, will contests, will construction and determination of heirs (Section 45-1-302(A)). An objection to an appointment can only be made in a formal proceeding (Section 45-3-203(B)). The move is made on Form 4B-1001, 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. 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)). While a formal case is pending, the probate court may not act on an informal application at all (Section 45-3-401(C)).
Does the Santa Fe County Probate Court have its own forms?
Yes. The county publishes a PROBATE With Will Forms packet and a PROBATE No Will Forms packet, both revised May 1, 2026, free to download from santafecountynm.gov/probate or $10 a copy from the county clerk. They carry the statewide forms with local instructions: Forms 4B-302, 4B-304, 4B-305 and 4B-307 with a will, and Forms 4B-301, 4B-303, 4B-305 and 4B-306 without one, followed by the post-appointment forms. The county also publishes four plain-language guides, on the duties of the personal representative, claims against estates, real property and who counts as an heir. Court and clerk staff cannot help you fill any of them in.
Is there a hearing, and do I have to travel to Santa Fe?
An informal probate at the Santa Fe County Probate Court is decided on the papers and does not require a hearing, because informal proceedings in New Mexico are conducted without notice to interested persons (Section 45-1-201(25)). The county does ask you to make an appointment with the probate judge, and the original will and death certificate have to reach the county, so an out-of-state family should call (505) 992-1636 to agree how to handle both. If the case is in the First Judicial District Court, hearings are set by the assigned judge, and the court publishes the New Mexico Judiciary Remote Proceedings and Meeting Standards and a Google Meet help page alongside its hearing schedules.
Where do I record a personal representative's deed in Santa Fe County?
At the Santa Fe County Clerk, 240 Grant Ave., the same office that took your probate filing. Recording costs $25 per document for one to ten index entries, the document needs original signatures and a proper notary block, the clerk can notarize with proper identification, and appointments are recommended on (505) 986-6280. Electronic recording is available through Simplifile or CSC for a convenience fee. An informally appointed personal representative already has the power to convey estate property without a court order (Sections 45-3-711(A) and 45-3-715(A)(23)), so no separate court approval is needed, but the county warns that a deed to the personal representative personally is voidable without the written consent of every interested person, and that a title company may want a court order anyway. If the estate owns land in another New Mexico county, record a Notice of Administration with that county's clerk as well.
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.