About the Catron County Clerk
Catron County was created in 1921, the last of New Mexico's counties to be organized, and was named for Thomas B. Catron, a Santa Fe attorney, land speculator, and one of New Mexico's first two U.S. senators after statehood. At nearly 7,000 square miles it is the largest county in New Mexico and one of the largest in the country outside Alaska, yet it consistently ranks among the state's least populous, giving it one of the lowest population densities anywhere in the lower 48. Much of the county sits within the Gila and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, including a large share of the Gila Wilderness, the first designated wilderness area in the world, and ranching has remained the backbone of the local economy since territorial days. Reserve, the county seat, was the site of a notorious 1884 shootout that became one of the most-told stories of Catron County's frontier era.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within Catron County, this is the Catron County Clerk that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated city: Reserve (county seat).
Unincorporated communities: Quemado, Pie Town, Datil, Glenwood, Luna, Aragon.
Office Details
Address: 100 Main Street, Reserve, NM 87830
Phone: (575) 533-6400
Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Recording Fee: New Mexico charges a flat, statute-set recording fee per document, with an added fee once a document runs past a set number of index entries -- not a percentage of the property's value. Contact the county clerk's office for current amounts.
E-recording: Catron County accepts e-recorded documents, though the office cuts off electronic submissions earlier in the day than paper filings.
Good to know before you go: Same-day recording has to start earlier than the posted close time suggests -- e-recorded documents stop being accepted at 3:30 p.m. and paper documents at 4:00 p.m., both well ahead of the office's actual 4:30 p.m. closing.
How to File a Document
- Sign in Front of a Notary -- In Person or Remotely: New Mexico requires the grantor's signature to be acknowledged before a notary public before the Catron County Clerk will accept a deed for recording. New Mexico has permitted remote online notarization on a permanent basis since January 1, 2022, under the state's Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (NMSA 1978, Sections 14-14A-1 to 14-14A-32) -- the notary handling it must be commissioned and physically located in New Mexico at the time, even if you're signing from somewhere else.
- Attach a Full Legal Description, Not Just an Address: A street address alone won't satisfy New Mexico's requirements -- the deed needs the property's actual legal description (a metes-and-bounds description, a government survey reference, or a platted lot and block, depending on how the parcel was originally surveyed and subdivided), plus a reference to the prior deed that brought the property into the grantor's name, to keep the chain of title intact. You can usually copy the legal description directly from the deed that transferred the property to you.
- Get Both Spouses to Sign if It's Community Property: New Mexico is a community property state, and state law (NMSA 1978, Section 40-3-13) generally requires both spouses to join in a deed transferring community real property -- even when only one spouse's name appears on the title. Skipping the second signature doesn't necessarily void the transfer outright, but it leaves the deed open to being challenged, so it's worth confirming with the Catron County Clerk or an attorney whether your specific situation calls for both signatures before you file.
- File a Real Property Transfer Declaration Affidavit With the Assessor: For most residential property transfers, New Mexico law (NMSA 1978, Section 7-38-12.1) also requires a separate Real Property Transfer Declaration Affidavit to be filed with the county assessor's office -- not the Catron County Clerk -- within thirty days of recording the deed. It's a distinct step from recording itself, used to keep the assessor's records current for property tax purposes, and the assessor's office can supply the current form.
- Record With the County Clerk: Bring, mail, or (where the county supports it) e-file the signed, notarized deed with the Catron County Clerk for the county where the property sits. New Mexico charges a flat, statute-set recording fee per document, with an added fee once a document runs past a set number of index entries -- never a percentage of the property's value -- and the state has no separate real estate transfer tax on top of it. The first page needs roughly an inch and a half of blank space at the top for the clerk's recording stamp, with the document's title placed just below it.
Still Have Questions About Filing With the Catron County Clerk?
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Other Counties in New Mexico
Filing somewhere else in the state? Here are a few other county pages:
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