About the San Juan County Clerk
San Juan County was established on February 24, 1887 and takes its name from the San Juan River, which the Navajo call Totah country -- "where the waters meet" -- for the confluence of the San Juan, Animas, and La Plata rivers near present-day Farmington. Farmington itself grew out of a farming and ranching settlement founded in the 1870s by pioneers from Animas City, Colorado, originally nicknamed "Junction City" for that same river meeting point, and it's now the county's largest city and the retail hub of the Four Corners region. The county seat, Aztec, was named for the nearby Aztec Ruins -- a Chacoan great house complex that early settlers mistakenly credited to the Aztec civilization rather than its actual ancestral Puebloan builders. San Juan County occupies New Mexico's northwest corner, taking in the state's share of the Four Corners Monument, the volcanic spire of Shiprock, and a large share of Navajo Nation land, which along with the smaller Ute Mountain Ute reservation covers roughly two-thirds of the county's area. Coal, and later oil and natural gas from the San Juan Basin, built much of the county's twentieth-century economy and shaped towns like Bloomfield and Kirtland, though the county's population has declined somewhat in recent years as energy production has slowed.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within San Juan County, this is the San Juan County Clerk that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated cities: Aztec (county seat), Farmington (largest city), Bloomfield, Kirtland.
Unincorporated communities: Shiprock, Waterflow, Fruitland, Flora Vista.
Office Details
Address: 100 South Oliver Drive, Suite 200, Aztec, NM 87410
Phone: (505) 334-9471
Hours: Monday - Thursday, 7:00 AM - 5:30 PM (closed Fridays through Sundays)
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: San Juan County is part of the CSC eRecording network, so many deeds can be submitted electronically through a participating e-recording service in addition to in-person or mail submission.
Good to know before you go: Plan any in-person visit for early in the week -- the clerk's office keeps a four-day schedule, Monday through Thursday, 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM, and doesn't open at all Friday through Sunday.
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 San Juan 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 San Juan 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 San Juan 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 San Juan 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 San Juan County Clerk?
Ask below and get an instant answer on New Mexico quitclaim deeds.
Other Counties in New Mexico
Filing somewhere else in the state? Here are a few other county pages:
You are not on the official San Juan County government website. NewMexicoQuitclaimDeed.com is a privately owned website and is not affiliated with any government agency.