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You may only speak with the judge during a hearing held on your case. Outside of the courtroom, you may not speak with the judge about your case.

A judge always plays a neutral role and must remain impartial. This usually means that the judge will NOT meet with only one of the parties in a case to talk about the case. To meet with the judge, you usually must ask for a hearing.

Please note that typically you will not automatically receive a hearing. If you want one, you must file a written request for a hearing with the court and you may file a courtesy copy with the judge's office so that his court assistant will know that you would like a hearing. If a court grants your hearing request, both parties should be present at the hearing and will be able to speak with the judge.

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For more information about the divorce process and how to obtain help, look in the Family Law or Directory section of this website. You can visit the New Mexico State Bar site for general information and for attorney listings. You can also look in the yellow pages, under "Attorneys". Practice areas (like “Divorce” and “Family”) are located after the alphabetical listings of lawyers.

Please note that the staff of the court has a neutral role and cannot provide you with legal advice or represent you. The staff can provide you with basic, non-legal information, such as what documents you might need and court locations, but how to complete the forms and what you do with that information is your responsibility.

The judge also has a neutral role and will not represent you or tell you how to present your case in court. A judge hears evidence from both sides and then makes a decision.

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If you cannot afford a lawyer, you will have to make a choice: you can either try to find free or low-cost legal help or you can represent yourself.

For more information about the divorce process and how to obtain help, see the Family Law or Directory section of this website. You can also visit the New Mexico State Bar Association website at http://www.nmbar.org.

If you represent yourself, you can choose to go to court or you can try to settle your dispute. If you choose to represent yourself and you go to court, you will be called a "self-represented litigant" or a "pro se litigant" and you are entitled to the same rights and respect as someone who has a lawyer. You are also bound by the same rules as someone who is a lawyer and you must become familiar with and follow certain well-established procedures when you file a case and appear in court.

You can find the New Mexico Statutes and the New Mexico Rules by going to the Supreme Court Law Library site at http://www.fscll.org/Stat.htm or at various locations throughout the state, including many libraries.

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No, a court cannot appoint an attorney to represent you in your divorce or custody case. To obtain free and low-cost legal help, please see the Directory section of this website or visit the New Mexico State Bar Association website at http://www.nmbar.org.

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If you want a divorce, you must complete three major steps.

For the first step, you must file a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage with your local district court. Usually, this Petition must be served on your spouse. For more information on the divorce process, please look at the Family Law section of this website or consult a lawyer.

For the second step, decisions need to be made about some or all of the following issues: child custody, child support, alimony, and the division of your property and your debt.

In order for second step decisions to be made, you and your spouse can:

• sit down without anyone else present and try to figure out what to do;
• sit down with a mediator who can help you figure out what to do;
• each hire a lawyer who will sit down with you and help you figure out what to do; or,
• with or without the help of a lawyer, go through a lengthy court process and let a judge decide what you should do.

Generally speaking, if you and your spouse reach an agreement on all of the issues involved in your divorce case, you then must submit your written agreement to your local District Court for a judge's approval. You may obtain a "divorce packet" from either the court clerk or from this website that contains forms you may use to document your agreement. Note that several courts charge a fee for these packets. When you submit these completed forms to the Court, you will be charged a filing fee. Note that if you need to re-open your case at a later date, to change custody or child support for example, you will most likely be required to pay another filing fee.

Once your forms have been submitted, some judges will require you to appear at a hearing before the judge will review and approve of your agreement. The judge may ask you questions and, if the agreement is complete and legally sufficient and the judge is satisfied with it, the judge will approve it.

Sometimes the judge will not require you to appear at a hearing unless the judge has questions. If the judge has no questions and the judge is satisfied with your agreement, the judge will approve it.

If you and your spouse have disagreements on some issues, you can choose to go through the court process. Some courts may use the services of a hearing officer or a special master to help resolve these disagreements. A hearing officer or a special master is a judicial officer who gathers information from both sides of a case and then provides a report or a recommendation to the judge. Each party has an opportunity to comment on the report or recommendation. The judge will review the report or recommendation and will then issue a final order.

For more information about the divorce process and how to obtain help, click here to visit the Family Law - Directory section of this website. You can also visit the New Mexico State Bar Association website at http://www.nmbar.org.

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No one who works with the court system will fill out the forms for you. The staff has a neutral role and CANNOT tell you what to put into your forms. You must read the directions and complete the forms yourself. After you have completely filled out your forms, if you have a specific non-legal question, the clerk's office may try to answer your question.

The clerk will decline to answer questions of a legal nature. You must see an attorney if you have legal questions. Note that some attorneys will answer specific legal questions about a case and provide legal assistance on parts of a case if you do not want help for the whole case.

For more information about the divorce process and how to obtain help, click here to visit the Family Law or Directory or Directory section of this website. You can also visit the New Mexico State Bar Association website at http://www.nmbar.org/public/publicresources/lawtopics/divorce.htm.

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You will need at least the original and two copies of each document. You will submit all three copies to the court clerk. The court clerk will officially stamp all of these documents. The clerk will give the two copies back to you. One of the stamped copies is for your file and one is for you to send to the other party. If you ask the court to make your copies, you will be charged for copy costs.

Please note that you may need many copies of some officially stamped documents, such as a final order. For example, you may need a copy of an officially stamped final order to obtain a driver’s license or a new social security card if your name is changed by the order. Therefore, when you submit a final order for court approval, you may want to submit more than two copies of the final order. The court clerk will officially stamp all of the copies and then you will have extra copies if you need them.

If you do not obtain officially stamped copies at the time you file an original document with the court, and you need officially stamped copies later, you will have to request copies from the court file and pay for the copies.

Please also note that you must mail to the other party a copy of each document that you file with the court.

Also note that the court does not give the other party copies. The party who filed the documents is responsible for sending an endorsed copy to the other party.

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No. The courts are not allowed to accept personal checks. Payment must be in the form of cash, a money order, or a cashier's check.

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In order for your case to be set for a hearing, you must file a request with the court for a hearing. Once the court receives this request, your case will be set for a hearing if you have followed the correct procedures. Unfortunately, because of the large number of family law cases, you may have to wait many months for your case to be heard.

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Some courts require that you appear before a judge, even if you have already signed and submitted your forms. A judge might require testimony in order to make sure that enough information exists to make a fair and thoughtful decision. Please note that if a judge requests that you appear at a hearing, you must appear.

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Dress with dignity. Do not wear shorts, halter tops, flip-flops or other distracting clothing. Such clothing will not be allowed in the courtroom. Be clean, neat, and not too revealing. Clothes that create a distraction and that interfere with the orderly conduct of court proceedings will not be allowed.

Most courts require you to turn off cell phones and pagers while you are in the courtroom.

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If you need an interpreter, you must file a written request with the court asking for an interpreter. If the court agrees that you need one, it will enter an Order Appointing an Interpreter. The judge may determine that you are responsible for paying for the costs of the interpreter.

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A judge may issue a temporary domestic order (usually referred to as a "TDO") after a petition for dissolution of marriage has been filed. This order establishes certain rules of conduct that both parties must follow when a case is going through the court process.

You must follow a Temporary Domestic Order. If you fail to follow a TDO, a judge may refuse to grant you what you request and/or a judge may issue another order that may have serious consequences for you. Some courts require a temporary domestic order to be automatically issued in every case.

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In order to enforce an agreement that has been approved by a court, you can file a request that a court take action to enforce the agreement. A judge may hold a hearing to better understand the situation, and then may issue an Order to Show Cause. This order tells the person who is not following the agreement to explain why he/she is not following the agreement.

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Appeal requirements vary with different courts and can be very complicated. Please consult with an attorney or contact the Court of Appeals for more information.