About the Colfax County Clerk
Colfax County was created in 1869 out of northern Mora County and named for Schuyler Colfax, who was serving as U.S. Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant at the time. Much of the county once fell within the sprawling Maxwell Land Grant, an 1841 Mexican-era grant that at 1.7 million acres became one of the largest privately held tracts of land in U.S. history, and disputes over its ownership erupted into the violent Colfax County War of the 1870s and 1880s. Raton, the county seat, grew up at the base of Raton Pass, a mountain gap long used by Native travelers, the Santa Fe Trail, and later the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, which cemented the town's role as a rail and coal-mining center. Today the county's economy and identity are shaped as much by tourism and outdoor recreation -- including Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, one of the largest youth camping facilities in the world -- as by its ranching and mining roots.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within Colfax County, this is the Colfax County Clerk that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated cities: Raton (county seat), Springer, Cimarron, Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, Maxwell.
Unincorporated communities: Cerrososo, Ute Park, Vermejo Park, Colfax.
Office Details
Address: 333 Savage Ave, Raton, NM 87740
Phone: (575) 445-5551
Hours: Monday - Thursday, 7:00 AM - 5:30 PM (closed Fridays)
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: Colfax County is part of the CSC eRecording network, allowing deeds and other real property documents to be submitted electronically.
Good to know before you go: Don't assume a standard Monday-Friday schedule -- Colfax County's clerk works a compressed four-day week, 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with the office shut entirely on Fridays.
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 Colfax 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 Colfax 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 Colfax 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 Colfax 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 Colfax 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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