New Mexico: Inheritance Disclaimer and Renunciation Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and covered interests

NMSA 1978 §§ 45-2-1101 through 45-2-1116 contain New Mexico's Uniform
Disclaimer of Property Interests Act. Sections 45-2-1103 and 45-2-1105 cover any
interest in or power over property whenever created, including interests passing
by will, intestacy, trust, beneficiary designation, survivorship arrangement, or
power of appointment.

Whole, partial, and conditional disclaimer

Section 45-2-1105 permits a whole or partial disclaimer. A partial disclaimer may
be written as a fraction, percentage, monetary amount, term of years, limitation
of a power, or another interest or estate. The act does not separately state
whether a disclaimer may be conditional.

Jointly held property follows § 45-2-1107. The surviving holder may disclaim the
greater of a fraction based on the holders alive immediately before death or all
value above the contribution furnished by the survivor.

Writing or record and required contents

Under § 45-2-1105(C), the disclaimer may be a paper writing or another tangible,
electronic, or retrievable record. It must declare the disclaimer, describe the
interest or power, be signed, and be delivered or filed under § 45-2-1112. The
act does not require an original, legal description, tax recital, or supporting
document as part of the general state-law minimum. It defines an electronic
record but does not separately define an electronic-signature method.

Signature, witnesses, acknowledgment, and notary

The execution requirement is the signature of the person making the disclaimer.
The act states no witness, acknowledgment, notarization, attestation, oath, or
sworn-verification rule.

State deadline, irrevocability, and federal-tax overlay

The act states no fixed New Mexico validity deadline. The beneficiary must act
before a bar in § 45-2-1113 applies, and another law may impose an additional bar
or limitation. Under § 45-2-1105(E), the disclaimer becomes irrevocable at the
later of delivery or filing under § 45-2-1112 and statutory effectiveness under
§§ 45-2-1106 through 45-2-1111.

Federal tax qualification is separate. Section 45-2-1114 recognizes a disclaimer
or transfer treated under federal tax law as never transferred to the disclaimant.
The federal statute requires receipt within nine months after the later of the
transfer or the disclaimant reaching age 21, plus no prior acceptance and passage
without the disclaimant's direction.

Delivery, filing, and recipient

Section 45-2-1112 permits personal delivery, first-class mail, or another method
likely to result in receipt. The route depends on the asset:

• For a will or intestacy interest, deliver to the personal representative;
  file with the appointing court if none is serving.
• For a testamentary trust, deliver to the trustee, then the personal
  representative if no trustee serves, with a court fallback if neither serves.
• For an inter vivos trust, deliver to the trustee or use the court fallback;
  while the trust is revocable, deliver to the settlor or transferor.
• For a beneficiary designation, deliver to its creator before it becomes
  irrevocable. After irrevocability, deliver a personal-property disclaimer to
  the distributor; real property uses the recording route below.
• For jointly held property, deliver to the person who takes because of the
  disclaimer.
• For an object, default taker, or appointee under a power of appointment,
  deliver to the holder or named fiduciary, with a court fallback if none serves.

Real-property recording and notice

New Mexico separates two recording rules. After a beneficiary designation
becomes irrevocable, § 45-2-1112(G)(2) requires a disclaimer of the designated
real-property interest to be recorded with the county clerk in every county where
the property lies.

For other property, § 45-2-1115 permits filing, recording, or registration when
the instrument transferring the underlying interest may or must be recorded.
Except for the mandatory beneficiary-designation route, nonrecording does not
affect validity between the disclaimant and the people who take because of the
disclaimer. The act states no legal-description requirement or broader purchaser
or lienholder consequence.

Acceptance, transfer, insolvency, and creditor bars

Section 45-2-1113 bars a disclaimer after a written waiver. Before effectiveness,
acceptance, voluntary assignment, conveyance, encumbrance, pledge, transfer or a
contract to do so, and a judicial sale also bar it. Another law may supply an
additional bar or limitation. A barred power disclaimer is ineffective; a barred
interest disclaimer operates as a transfer to the people who otherwise would
have taken under the act.

The act states no separate insolvency or ordinary creditor-claim bar.

Effective date and destination

Under § 45-2-1106, a disclaimer of an instrument-created interest takes effect
when the instrument becomes irrevocable; an intestacy interest takes effect at
death. The instrument's own disclaimer-disposition clause controls first.
Without one, an individual is generally treated as dying immediately before
distribution, and descendants who would take by representation must survive the
distribution time.

New Mexico adds a special estate-destination rule. If deemed death would send the
interest to the disclaimant's estate, the interest instead passes first to the
disclaimant's surviving descendants by representation and, if none survive, to
the transferor's intestate successors while excluding the disclaimant. The
disclaimant's own future interest is not accelerated.

For jointly held property, § 45-2-1107 makes the disclaimer effective at the
other holder's death and passes the disclaimed portion as though the survivor
had predeceased that holder. The disclaimant does not choose the successor.

What trips people up

• Importing the federal deadline into New Mexico validity law. The act has
  no fixed nine-month clock; the federal period governs a separate tax status.
• Using one recipient for every asset. The statute changes the recipient
  for probate, trust, beneficiary-designation, survivorship, and power interests.
• Flattening the real-property rules. Recording is mandatory for one
  post-irrevocability beneficiary-designation route and otherwise permissive
  under the surveyed act.
• Letting the interest fall into the disclaimant's estate. New Mexico
  redirects that default to surviving descendants or the transferor's intestate
  successors.

Common questions

Does a New Mexico disclaimer need a notary or witnesses? The act requires a
signature but states no witness, acknowledgment, oath, or notarization rule.

Can the disclaimer be an electronic record? Yes. The act includes information
stored electronically if it is retrievable in perceivable form, but it does not
separately define how that electronic record must be signed.

Must every real-property disclaimer be recorded? Not under this act. The
mandatory route applies to a real-property interest under a beneficiary
designation after that designation becomes irrevocable; § 45-2-1115 makes
recording permissive in the general case.

What happens if I already assigned the interest? A voluntary assignment or
contract to transfer before effectiveness is an express bar. The barred interest
disclaimer then operates as a transfer to the people who otherwise would take.

Statutes and sources

• NMSA 1978 §§ 45-2-1101, 45-2-1103, and 45-2-1105 — act name,
  scope, whole/partial authority, record definition, required contents, and
  irrevocability. NMOneSource Chapter 45, accessed 2026-08-01.
• NMSA 1978 §§ 45-2-1106 and 45-2-1107 — effectiveness and destination
  for ordinary and jointly held interests. NMOneSource Chapter 45, accessed
  2026-08-01.
• NMSA 1978 § 45-2-1112 — delivery methods, asset-specific recipients,
  court fallbacks, and mandatory recording for a post-irrevocability real-
  property beneficiary designation. NMOneSource Chapter 45, accessed 2026-08-01.
• NMSA 1978 § 45-2-1113 — waiver, acceptance, transfer, judicial-sale,
  and other-law bars, plus the failed-disclaimer consequence. NMOneSource
  Chapter 45, accessed 2026-08-01.
• NMSA 1978 §§ 45-2-1114 and 45-2-1115 — federal tax-qualified
  recognition and general recording effect. NMOneSource Chapter 45, accessed
  2026-08-01.
• 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b) — separate federal qualified-disclaimer conditions.
  GovInfo, accessed 2026-08-01.