N.M. Stat. § 32A-5-23 (2026)

accounting of disbursements.
    A. A consent to adoption or relinquishment of parental rights shall be signed before
and approved on the record by a judge who has jurisdiction over adoption proceedings,
within or without this state, and who is in the jurisdiction in which the child is present or
in which the parent resides at the time it is signed.
   B. No parent may relinquish parental rights to the department or an agency without
the department's or the agency's consent.

    C. The consent or relinquishment shall be filed with the court in which the petition
for adoption has been filed before adjudication of the petition.

    D. Prior to the approval of a consent to adoption or relinquishment of parental rights,
a full and specific accounting signed under penalty of perjury shall be filed by the
prospective adoptive parents or their representative in the same court where the
associated consent or relinquishment may later be heard. The accounting shall be filed
no later than seventy-two hours prior to the anticipated hearing on the proposed
consent or relinquishment. The disbursements and expenses itemized in the accounting
must be approved by the court prior to approval of a consent to adoption or
relinquishment or consent to adoption by a parent for the parent's child. The accounting
shall itemize in detail, including the dates and purpose of each disbursement or
expense payment and the name and address of each person who received or will
receive any disbursement or payment:

       (1)    all disbursements, as well as anticipated or promised disbursements, of
anything of value provided by or on behalf of:

              (a) the prospective adoptive parents; or

         (b) any person who may profit or be compensated as a result of an adoption
associated with the consent or relinquishment;

        (2)      all disbursements of anything of value to the parents of the child or the
child; and

       (3)       all expenses paid on behalf of the parents of the child or the child.

   E. The accounting required in Subsection D of this section is not applicable to
stepparent adoptions or to adoptions pursuant to the provisions of the Abuse and
Neglect Act [Chapter 32A, Article 4 NMSA 1978], unless ordered by the court.

History: 1978 Comp., § 32A-5-23, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 77, § 150; 1995, ch. 206,
§ 36; 2005, ch. 189, § 65; 2012, ch. 28, § 2.

                                        ANNOTATIONS

The 2012 amendment, effective March 3, 2012, required an accounting of
disbursements prior to a consent to adoption or relinquishment of parental rights by the
prospective adoptive parents; in the title after "relinquishments", added "; accounting of
disbursements"; and added Subsections D and E.
The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, deleted former Subsection A(2), which
provided that a consent to adoption or relinquishment could be signed before and
approved by an individual of appointed by the department or an agency licensed by the
state when the parent is represented by counsel and a guardian ad litem has been
appointed for the adoptee.

The 1995 amendment, effective July 1, 1995, added "and a guardian ad litem has been
appointed for any adoptee whose consent is required" and made a minor stylistic
change in Paragraph (2) of Subsection A.

Birth parents fully understood. — Where director of private adoption agency testified
that he made sure the birth parents understood the ramifications of what they were
doing, that the relinquishment and consent were final and irrevocable, that they had
received legal advice and counseling about all alternatives available to them, and that
they agreed with the counseling narrative attached to each respective relinquishment
and consent form, and he spent about an hour with the birth parents before the signing,
and he did not hear any reluctance or reservations from either parent, about their
course of action, the evidence supports the inference that the birth parents fully
understood the consequences of the relinquishment and consent. Vigil v. Fogerson,
2006-NMCA-010, 138 N.M. 822, 126 P.3d 1186.