CFP®, CDFA® | Divorce Financial Planner and Mediator
If you’re considering a divorce, you may find yourself overwhelmed by how complicated and stressful the process is. Getting a divorce involves a menagerie of paperwork, court appearances, and difficult conversations with your soon-to-be-ex-spouse. Trying to self-navigate these tasks without prior experience can feel challenging.
The best way to go into a divorce with confidence is to know the process’s ins and outs before filing your petition. And because New Mexico handles divorces differently than many other states, you should be sure to learn the unique requirements and processes involved in New Mexico divorces before proceeding.
In order to help you gain more information about divorcing in this state, we’ve put together the ultimate guide to getting a divorce in New Mexico on this site. Read ahead to learn everything you need to know before embarking on the pathway to divorce.
Table of Contents
Divorce vs. Dissolution of Marriage
Before we begin, let’s clarify a few terms.
New Mexico law refers to divorce as a “dissolution of marriage,” so you may see both terms when looking at paperwork or legal documents. However, keep in mind that in some other states, dissolution and divorce are two different things, so you should be sure to look at New Mexico resources and information exclusively.
New Mexico Divorce Requirements
Every state has unique requirements for divorce. To file in New Mexico, you or your spouse must have resided in the state for at least six months and have good intentions to remain in the state. If you have not lived in New Mexico for six months, you will need to file in your previous state of residence.
Unlike many states, having grounds for divorce is not necessary in New Mexico courts. Most divorcing couples file their divorce under the general, no-fault standard of “incompatibility.” Citing incompatibility means that the married parties find that they have irreconcilable differences and cannot restore their marriage.
If you decide to file for a fault-based divorce in New Mexico, you must provide evidence of one of these grounds for divorce:
- Adultery
- Cruel and inhumane treatment
- Abandonment
However, you may be surprised to learn that citing one of these fault-based grounds does little to help your case and may actually hurt it. New Mexico judges don’t really care why your marriage fell apart, and placing blame on your spouse could lead the judge to question your motives.
Most New Mexico attorneys recommend keeping fault grounds out of your divorce case unless you think they are indispensable. Your judge doesn’t need to know the details of your marriage—citing incompatibility is enough to convince the judge of the reasoning behind your decision.
Filing for Divorce in New Mexico: Step by Step
If you’ve determined that you meet the above requirements, you can move on to the rest of the divorce process. Let’s break down the step-by-step procedure for divorcing in New Mexico:
- Fill out a petition: Your first step is to fill out a Petition for the Dissolution of Marriage. If you and your spouse have children together, you will have to fill out a different petition containing information about your children. You can find these petitions on the state’s judiciary website or pick them up from your district court. If you have an attorney, ask them if you need more information since they will usually complete this form on your behalf. Otherwise, you can self-file the petition with the court.
- Serve the petition: Once a court clerk approves your petition, you will “serve” the petition to your spouse. You can hand-deliver a copy of the petition yourself, call upon the county sheriff to serve it, ask anyone over the age of 18 to deliver it, or send a court-stamped copy of the petition by mail.
- Complete a settlement agreement: The next step is for you and your spouse to complete a Marital Settlement Agreement. This agreement details how you and your spouse plan to split up your property and debts after your divorce. If you’re having trouble agreeing, you can request mediator assistance through the court, or you can each retain an attorney or attorneys.
- Sign a Final Decree of Dissolution: Once you and your spouse have finalized your settlement agreement, you both must sign it, along with your decree, in the presence of a notary. After the court reviews and approves your papers, a judge will sign the Final Decree, at which time your divorce will be official.
If you and your spouse come to a smooth agreement on all issues, you can expect the judge to finalize your decree within a month of your initial filing. However, if the parties cannot agree or need the assistance of a mediator or attorneys, your divorce will take much longer to finalize.
If you’d rather talk to someone about the divorce procedures in person, you can visit the self-help center at your district court to get more information. These self-help centers provide the necessary paperwork to file for your divorce, as well as other helpful resources and additional information. Alternately, many people choose to hire an attorney to walk them through the divorce proceedings.
New Mexico Divorce Forms
As part of your divorce procedures, you and your spouse must fill out several papers containing information such as your grounds for divorce, contact information, number of children, and plans for your division of property. While the exact paperwork you’ll fill out depends on your specific situation, you should plan to file these three necessary forms:
- Domestic Relations Cover and Information Form
- Petition for Dissolution of Marriage Form
- Summons Form
You can find each of these forms on the New Mexico judiciary site.
Once you fill out these papers, you must file them with your county clerk’s office. If you live in Albuquerque, NM, for example, you’ll file them at the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office.
How Much Does a New Mexico Divorce Cost?
Divorce is not a one-size-fits-all matter, and the exact amount you will pay depends on a wide range of factors.
First, you must pay a filing fee in order for the court to review your paperwork. This fee varies from county to county and can be anywhere from $135 to $155.
Next, if you and your spouse require a court mediator’s assistance, you may have to pay additional court fees for each mediator discussion. Your overall costs may also include any alimony or child support you agree to pay, as these forms of support will become regular expenses in your life.
Finally, hiring an attorney adds a high cost to your divorce proceedings. Divorce attorneys charge anywhere from $150 to $500 an hour, and their hourly rates and legal fees add up quickly.
The best way to keep your divorce costs down is to try to work out essential issues with your spouse before beginning the proceedings. The more time you and your spouse take to decide on issues like custody, division of property, and alimony, the more expensive your case will be.
How Does New Mexico Handle the Division of Property?
New Mexico is a 50/50 state, meaning that the court will divide your marital property equally between you and your spouse unless you come to your own agreement.
You may have trouble distinguishing marital property from separate property. Divorce law typically defines separate property as property that you acquired before the marriage, as an individual gift, after beginning divorce proceedings, or that a court has deemed individual property.
Any other property is communal, so unless both spouses agree on a different division, the judge will divide it as equally as possible.
Child Custody, Child Support, and Alimony in New Mexico
Determining how much and what kind of financial support your spouse owes you is one of the most complicated aspects of a divorce case. Add children into the mix, and divorce disputes can get messy quickly.
The court can award child support and spousal support based on your, your spouse’s, and your child’s needs. New Mexico follows its own child and spousal support guidelines to make these decisions, and the monetary amount you can plan to receive depends on your specific situation.
New Mexico also upholds the concept of “joint custody,” so if splitting custody equally is in the best interest of your children, the judge will grant you and your spouse equal rights. However, you must still work out where the child will live and how they will divide their time.
Sorting out support issues may prolong your divorce process, and you may want to hire a lawyer to help you make difficult decisions and represent your side to the court.
Do You Need an Attorney To Divorce in New Mexico?
While hiring a lawyer is unnecessary to file for divorce, receiving legal advice can be beneficial during your divorce case. Attorneys can help you determine your division of assets, communicate with your spouse, settle child custody disputes, and navigate the legal system as a whole. Your lawyer can provide you with confidence that you are doing everything to follow procedure.
Establishing a healthy attorney-client relationship can help you feel more confident about your divorce and remove some of the stress that inevitably comes with these cases. However, because lawyers tend to be pricey, you and your spouse may decide to forgo a lawyer and attempt to settle disagreements between yourselves.