Tools · Small Claims
New Mexico Small Claims Checker (2026)
Enter your claim amount to see whether it fits under the New Mexico small claims limit ($10,000), with the filing fee and whether a lawyer is allowed at the hearing.
New Mexico small claims checker
The dollar amount you would ask the court for: the deposit, the unpaid bill, the repair cost. Interest and court costs usually sit on top of the limit, not inside it.
New Mexico has no court formally titled "small claims." If you search for one you will be pointed to the magistrate court, or to the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court if your case is in Albuquerque.
Enter your claim amount above to see it compared against the New Mexico figures.
Where and how to file is procedure this page does not walk through; the official self-help resource is Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court self-help. If your claim is a security deposit a landlord kept, the security deposit calculator shows the cap and the return deadline that apply to it.
- Your claim amount
- Not entered
- New Mexico small claims limit
- $10,000
- Filing fee
- ~$77–$87
- Lawyers at the hearing
- Allowed
Plain-language summary, not legal advice.
Informational only, not legal advice, and not a prediction that any claim would succeed. Limits change and some states carve out claim types this summary cannot weigh. See the full rule and the citations on the New Mexico small claims reference, cited to N.M. Stat. Ann. §35-3-3 (magistrate court); §34-8A-3 (metropolitan court).
How the New Mexico small claims limit works
New Mexico is a common source of confusion because it has no court actually called "small claims." Instead, small money disputes go to the magistrate court, which hears civil cases up to $10,000 under NMSA 35-3-3. There is one big exception: Bernalillo County, home to Albuquerque, has no magistrate court. Its role there is filled by the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, whose civil division also caps claims at $10,000 under NMSA 34-8A-3. So the honest answer statewide is a $10,000 ceiling, reached through the magistrate court in 32 counties and the metropolitan court in Bernalillo. Both are designed for people without lawyers, with self-help centers and plain-language forms. Lawyers are allowed but rarely needed, and filing fees are modest, usually around $77 to $87 before service costs.
This checker compares your number to the New Mexico ceiling; it is informational only and not legal advice, and it says nothing about whether a claim would succeed. For where to file and what the hearing looks like, use the official self-help resource linked in the result. The full rule and the citations are on the New Mexico small claims reference.
Small claims checkers for other states
Same tool, each with its own ceiling and fee.