N.M. Stat. § 7-8A-15 (2026)

administrator.
   (a) A person, excluding another state, claiming property paid or delivered to the
administrator may file a claim on a form prescribed by the administrator and verified by
the claimant.

     (b) Within ninety days after a claim is filed, the administrator shall allow or deny the
claim and give written notice of the decision to the claimant. If the claim is denied, the
administrator shall inform the claimant of the reasons for the denial and specify what
additional evidence is required before the claim will be allowed. The claimant may then
file a new claim with the administrator or maintain an action under Section 16 of the
Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (1995).

   (c) Within thirty days after a claim is allowed, the property or the net proceeds of a
sale of the property must be delivered or paid by the administrator to the claimant,
together with any dividend, interest or other increment to which the claimant is entitled
under Sections 11 and 12 [7-8A-11 and 7-8A-12 NMSA 1978] of the Uniform Unclaimed
Property Act (1995).

    (d) A holder who pays the owner for property that has been delivered to the state
and which, if claimed from the administrator by the owner would be subject to an
increment under Sections 11 and 12 of the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (1995),
may recover from the administrator the amount of the increment.

History: Laws 1997, ch. 25, § 15.
                                     ANNOTATIONS

Effective dates. — Laws 1997, ch. 25, § 34 made Laws 1997, ch. 25, § 15 effective
July 1, 1997.

The Unclaimed Property Act’s administrative process is exclusive and
mandatory. — Where petitioner was appointed the personal representative of his
deceased grandfather’s estate, and where the probate court, at petitioner’s request,
issued an order directing the New Mexico taxation and revenue department
(department) to release $70,000 of unclaimed property that belonged to decedent, and
where the probate court transferred the case to the district court when the department
refused to release the property, the district court’s order directing the department to
comply with the probate court and release the unclaimed property to petitioner was
invalid, because the administrative claim filing provisions of the Unclaimed Property Act,
7-8A-1 to 7-8A-31 NMSA 1978, are exclusive and mandatory, and therefore the district
court did not have jurisdiction to determine that the property was estate property or to
enforce the probate court’s order as the probate court had no authority to order the
department to release the unclaimed property to petitioner. In re Estate of McElveny,
2017-NMSC-024, rev’g 2015-NMCA-080, 355 P.3d 75.

The Uniform Unclaimed Property Act is not the exclusive mode for disbursing
unclaimed property. — There is no intent expressed by the legislature that the Uniform
Unclaimed Property Act supersedes the Uniform Probate Code; therefore, the district
court’s general civil jurisdiction in formal probate proceedings gave the district court
jurisdiction to order the taxation and revenue department to release unclaimed property
of decedent to petitioner, as personal representative of decedent’s estate,
notwithstanding the procedures set forth in this section for acquiring unclaimed property.
In re Estate of McElveny, 2015-NMCA-080, cert. granted, 2015-NMCERT-007.