About the Lincoln County Clerk
Lincoln County was created by the territorial legislature in 1869 and named for President Abraham Lincoln, just a few years after his assassination. Its original county seat, the small village of Lincoln (then called La Placita del Rio Bonito), became the stage for the notorious Lincoln County War of 1878-1881, a violent feud between rival merchant factions that made a young gunman named William H. Bonney -- Billy the Kid -- into a national legend. County government moved to Carrizozo in 1909 after the El Paso and Northeastern Railway bypassed Lincoln in favor of the new rail town a decade earlier, and Carrizozo has remained the seat ever since even as Ruidoso, tucked in the pine forests of the Sacramento Mountains, grew into the county's real population and tourism center. The county's dramatic range of elevation and terrain -- from high desert around Carrizozo to alpine resort country near Ruidoso and Ski Apache -- has made recreation, tourism, and second-home development central to today's economy, alongside ranching that dates back to the county's founding. Lincoln County's mix of Old West history and mountain scenery still draws visitors to the preserved streets of Lincoln, now a state historic site.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within Lincoln County, this is the Lincoln County Clerk that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated cities: Carrizozo (county seat), Ruidoso, Ruidoso Downs, Capitan, Corona.
Unincorporated communities: Lincoln, Hondo, Alto, Glencoe, Nogal, San Patricio.
Office Details
Address: 310 11th Street, Carrizozo, NM 88301
Phone: (575) 648-2394
Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 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.
Good to know before you go: The clerk's office has said publicly that anything handed in after 4:00 PM won't be recorded until the following business day, so don't count on a same-day date stamp for a late-afternoon filing.
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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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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