New Mexico Executor Bond Requirement

Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In New Mexico, new Mexico follows the Uniform Probate Code pattern: no bond is required of a personal representative appointed in informal proceedings, except for a special administrator, a will expressly requiring bond, or a bond demanded under a separate section; in formal proceedings the court may order bond, but bond is not required if the will relieves the personal representative of it (unless an interested person demands it and the court agrees).

Does New Mexico require an executor to post a bond?

New Mexico follows the Uniform Probate Code pattern: no bond is required of a personal representative appointed in informal proceedings, except for a special administrator, a will expressly requiring bond, or a bond demanded under a separate section; in formal proceedings the court may order bond, but bond is not required if the will relieves the personal representative of it (unless an interested person demands it and the court agrees).

“No bond is required of a personal representative appointed in informal proceedings, except”

Source: N.M. Stat. Ann. § 45-3-603

Can the will waive it in New Mexico?

Sometimes. A will can eliminate the discretionary bond in formal proceedings, but an interested person can still force bond under the separate demand-for-bond statute even over a will’s waiver; conversely a will can also impose a bond requirement that would not otherwise exist in informal proceedings.

Can the heirs or beneficiaries waive it in New Mexico?

Sometimes. The fetched bond section only describes an interested person’s ability to demand (impose) bond, not a consent mechanism by which heirs waive an otherwise-applicable bond; no heir-consent waiver clause was found in the section fetched.

If a bond is required, how much?

When a bond is required, New Mexico sizes it at 100% of the estimated value of the personal estate plus expected annual income, per its own bond-amount statute.

“his best estimate of the value of the personal estate of the decedent and of the income expected from the personal and real estate during the next year, and he shall execute and file a bond”

Source: N.M. Stat. Ann. § 45-3-604(A)

What makes New Mexico different

New Mexico is a clean, near-textbook UPC state: the informal/formal bifurcation is the whole ballgame, and a will’s bond waiver in formal proceedings can still be overridden if an interested party affirmatively demands security under the companion demand-for-bond statute, giving interested persons a check that outranks the testator’s own wishes.

Every statute quoted on this page was read directly from the state’s own legislature/code site this session, or, where that site blocked automated access, from a reputable legal-citation mirror quoting the same official text with its official citation (disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; a probate court has final discretion over bond in every state; confirm your own case with the court or a local attorney before relying on the default described here.