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New Mexico Intestacy Laws
These are selections from the New Mexico intestate
succession statutes,
which may be found in full by selecting
this link. (Chapter
45: Uniform Probate Code, Article 2, Intestate Succession and Wills, Part 1,
Intestate Succession.)
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45-2-101. Intestate estate.
A. Any part of a decedent's estate not effectively disposed of by will passes by
intestate succession to the decedent's heirs as prescribed in the Uniform
Probate Code [this chapter], except as modified by the decedent's will.
B. A decedent by will may expressly exclude or limit the right of an individual
or class to succeed to property of the decedent passing by intestate succession.
If that individual or a member of that class survives the decedent, the share of
the decedent's intestate estate to which that individual or class would have
succeeded passes as if that individual or each member of that class had
disclaimed his intestate share.
45-2-102. Share of the spouse.
The intestate share of the surviving spouse is determined as follows:
A. as to separate property:
(1) if there is no surviving issue of the decedent, the entire intestate estate;
or
(2) if there is surviving issue of the decedent, one-fourth of the intestate
estate; and
B. as to community property, the one-half of the community property as to which
the decedent could have exercised the power of testamentary disposition passes
to the surviving spouse.

45-2-103. Share of heirs other than surviving spouse.
Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the decedent's surviving spouse
pursuant to Section 45-2-102 NMSA 1978, or the entire intestate estate if there
is no surviving spouse, passes in the following order to the individuals
designated below who survive the decedent:
A. to the decedent's descendants by representation;
B. if there is no surviving descendant, to the decedent's parents equally if
both survive, or to the surviving parent;
C. if there is no surviving descendant or parent, to the descendants of the
decedent's parents or either of them by representation; and
D. if there is no surviving descendant, parent or descendant of a parent, but
the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or descendants of
grandparents, half of the estate passes to the decedent's paternal grandparents
equally if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent, or to the
descendants of the decedent's paternal grandparents or either of them if both
are deceased, the descendants taking by representation, and the other half
passes to the decedent's maternal relatives in the same manner; but if there is
no surviving grandparent or descendant of a grandparent on either the paternal
or the maternal side, the entire estate passes to the decedent's relatives on
the other side in the same manner as the half.
45-2-105. No taker.
If there is no taker under the provisions of Chapter 45, Article 2 NMSA 1978,
the intestate estate passes to the state.
45-2-106. Representation.
A. As used in this section:
(1) "deceased descendant", "deceased parent" or "deceased grandparent" means a
descendant, parent or grandparent who either predeceased the decedent or is
deemed to have predeceased the decedent pursuant to Section 45-2-104 NMSA 1978;
and
(2) "surviving descendant" means a descendant who neither predeceased the
decedent nor is deemed to have predeceased the decedent pursuant to Section
45-2-104 NMSA 1978.
B. If, pursuant to Section 45-2-103 NMSA 1978, a decedent's intestate estate or
a part thereof passes "by representation" to the decedent's descendants, the
estate or part thereof is divided into as many equal shares as there are:
(1) surviving descendants in the generation nearest to the decedent that
contains one or more surviving descendants; and
(2) deceased descendants in the same generation who left surviving descendants,
if any.
Each surviving descendant in the nearest generation is allocated one share. The
remaining shares, if any, are combined and then divided in the same manner among
the surviving descendants of the deceased descendants as if the surviving
descendants who were allocated a share and their surviving descendants had
predeceased the decedent.
C. If, pursuant to Section 45-2-103 NMSA 1978, a decedent's intestate estate or
a part thereof passes "by representation" to the descendants of the decedent's
deceased parents or either of them or to the descendants of the decedent's
deceased paternal or maternal grandparents or either of them, the estate or part
thereof is divided into as many equal shares as there are:
(1) surviving descendants in the generation nearest the deceased parents or
either of them or the deceased grandparents or either of them that contains one
or more surviving descendants; and
(2) deceased descendants in the same generation who left surviving descendants,
if any.
Each surviving descendant in the nearest generation is allocated one share. The
remaining shares, if any, are combined and then divided in the same manner among
the surviving descendants of the deceased descendants as if the surviving
descendants who were allocated a share and their surviving descendants had
predeceased the decedent.
45-2-107. Kindred of half blood.
Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they
were of the whole blood.
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