N.M. Stat. § 39-4A-3 (2026)

A. A copy of any foreign judgment authenticated in accordance with an act of
congress or the statutes of this state may be filed in the office of the clerk of the district
court of any county of this state in which the judgment debtor resides or has any
property or property rights subject to execution, foreclosure, attachment or garnishment.
The clerk shall treat the foreign judgment in the same manner as a judgment of the
district court of this state. A judgment so filed shall have the same effect and is subject
to the same procedures, defenses and proceedings for reopening, vacating, staying,
enforcing or satisfying as a judgment of the district court of this state and may be
enforced or satisfied in like manner, except as provided in Subsection B of this section.

   B. All property in this state of a judgment debtor is exempt from execution issuing
from a foreign judgment filed pursuant to Subsection A of this section that is in favor of
any state for failure to pay that state's income tax on benefits received from a pension or
other retirement plan.

History: Laws 1989, ch. 256, § 3; 1994, ch. 48, § 2.

                                      ANNOTATIONS

The 1994 amendment, effective May 18, 1994, designated the previously undesignated
language as Subsection A and added the exception clause at the end of the last
sentence thereof; and added Subsection B.

Applicability. — Laws 1994, ch. 48, § 3 makes the act applicable to judgments filed
with a court in New Mexico on or after the effective date of the act.

Full faith and credit not diminished. — The Foreign Judgments Act does not diminish
the full faith and credit obligations due the final judgments of sister states. Conglis v.
Radcliffe, 1995-NMSC-004, 119 N.M. 287, 889 P.2d 1209.

Foreign judgments must be given full faith and credit so long as they meet New
Mexico procedural requirements. — Where a Nevada state court entered a judgment
against defendants, and where, in the same year, plaintiff's predecessor in interest
registered the Nevada judgment in California pursuant to California's Sister State Money
Judgments Act, and where plaintiff was then assigned the rights to collect on the
judgment by its predecessor in interest, and where, in July 2020, plaintiff renewed the
California judgment in a California court, extending the enforceability of the judgment in
California for an additional ten years, and, in November 2020, plaintiff brought a
common law action to domesticate and enforce the California judgment in New Mexico
district court, and where the district court determined that plaintiff could not domesticate
and enforce a California state court judgment against defendant in New Mexico
because the judgment was a ministerial registration of a Nevada state court money
judgment and thus not entitled to full faith and credit in New Mexico, and that the
original Nevada judgment expired and could not be registered in New Mexico, the
district court erred in determining that plaintiff could not domesticate the California
judgment, because foreign judgments registered in California are valid California
judgments under New Mexico and California law, and New Mexico courts must give full
faith and credit to them so long as they meet New Mexico procedural requirements; the
California judgment is a valid and enforceable judgment in California, is not barred by
New Mexico's statute of limitations, and is thus a valid and enforceable judgment in New
Mexico. WV 23 Jumpstart, LLC v. Mynarcik, 2024-NMCA-027.

Relief-from-judgment rule not applicable to foreign judgments. — New Mexico
courts may not apply Rule 1-060 NMRA (relief from judgment or order) to foreign
judgments in the same manner as the rule is applied to judgments of the courts of this
state. The full faith and credit clause of the federal constitution limits the power of a
court to reopen or vacate a foreign judgment, and foreign judgments cannot be
collaterally attacked on the merits. Jordan v. Hall, 1993-NMCA-061, 115 N.M. 775, 858
P.2d 863.

Entitlement to full faith and credit. — A foreign divorce decree and subsequent child
support orders were entitled to full faith and credit. Thoma v. Thoma, 1997-NMCA-016,
123 N.M. 137, 934 P.2d 1066, cert. denied, 122 N.M. 808, 932 P.2d 498.

Community property law. — New Mexico community property law controls
enforcement of separate Arizona debt of a husband in New Mexico courts. Nat'l Bank of
Arizona v. Moore, 2005-NMCA-122, 138 N.M. 496, 122 P.3d 1265, cert. denied, 2005-
NMCERT-010, 138 N.M. 494, 122 P.3d 1263.

Challenge of foreign judgment. — The Foreign Judgments Act permits a judgment
debtor to challenge a foreign judgment on the basis of the lack of jurisdiction. Mueller v.
Sample, 2004-NMCA-075, 135 N.M. 748, 93 P.3d 769.

Revival of foreign judgment. — When a judgment by a federal bankruptcy court is
domesticated in a district court in New Mexico, that court has jurisdiction to address and
resolve issues concerning the judgment, including revival thereof; however, the district
court lacks jurisdiction if the judgment has not been properly domesticated pursuant to
this section. Walter E. Heller W., Inc. v. Ditto, 1998-NMCA-068, 125 N.M. 226, 959 P.2d
560, cert. denied, 125 N.M. 147, 958 P.2d 105.

Texas judgment reached the assets of the decedent’s estate in New Mexico. —
Where plaintiff, who was a beneficiary of the decedent’s testamentary trust, obtained a
Texas judgment against defendant individually and as the executor of decedent’s estate
and trustee of decedent’s testamentary trust; the judgment provided that the award to
plaintiff exhausted plaintiff’s rights to inherit from the estate; plaintiff domesticated the
judgment in New Mexico and obtained a writ of execution to satisfy the judgment from
property owned by the estate in New Mexico; and defendant claimed that because
plaintiff sued defendant for malfeasance, defendant was personally liable to plaintiff and
the judgment did not lie against the estate, the judgment lay against the estate, trust
and defendant personally and reached assets owned by the estate in New Mexico.
Williams v. Crutcher, 2013-NMCA-044, 298 P.3d 1184.