Insolvent Probate Estate Claim-Payment Priority in New Mexico

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Allowances and claim order

Under § 45-3-807(A), the representative provides for family and personal-property allowances before paying allowed claims in the § 45-3-805 order. Under § 45-2-402, the family allowance has priority over every estate claim. Under § 45-2-403, the law similarly prefers the personal-property allowance, but any deficiency amount yields as necessary to pay the family allowance first.

Secured claims

Under § 45-3-809, surrendering security uses the full allowed claim as the payment basis. Otherwise the basis is reduced by the fair value of the security under the statutory options.

What trips people up

Section 45-3-805(B) gives no priority to a currently due claim over one not yet due in the same class. Under § 45-3-807(A), the representative also provides for presented but unresolved claims and unbarred claims that may still be presented, including administration expenses.

Common questions

Are funeral and last-illness expenses in the same class? No. Section 45-3-805(A)(2),(4) places them in classes two and four, with federal preferences between them.

Is an ordinary judgment a separate preferred class? Section 45-3-805 lists no judgment class; the claim's legal basis and any lien still require their own analysis.

Statutes and sources

• N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 45-3-805, 45-3-807, 45-3-809, 45-2-402, and 45-2-403. Verbatim official text, section page URLs, and access dates appear in the source fields above.