Use De Baca County Case Lookup
New Mexico Case Lookup is the public starting point for De Baca County court records. It covers New Mexico Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, District Court, Magistrate Court, and some Municipal Court data. For De Baca County, the key local court choices are District Court at Fort Sumner and Magistrate Court at Fort Sumner. The public portal is useful for docket data, case numbers, parties, court type, court location, filing dates, hearing dates, and status clues, but it is not the same as a certified document copy.
The official public-access image below comes from the New Mexico Courts page for Public Access and re:SearchNM guidance.
That statewide guidance matters in De Baca County because the rural court footprint is small, and the same case may require both online docket review and a clerk request for copies.
A practical De Baca County court records search follows a short path. Accept the Case Lookup disclaimer. Choose Name Search, Case Number Search, or DWI Search. Enter the last name first when using a person search, then add date of birth or year of birth if known. Limit the court type to District Court for felony, domestic relations, estate contests, large civil, and appeals from lower courts. Limit to Magistrate Court for misdemeanors, DWI/DUI, traffic, felony preliminary hearings, landlord-tenant, and lower-dollar civil matters. Use the Fort Sumner court location where the dropdown allows it.
- Open Case Lookup and accept the disclaimer before searching De Baca County court records.
- Pick Name Search, Case Number Search, or DWI Search based on what information is known.
- Use District Court or Magistrate Court filters and choose the Fort Sumner location when available.
- Use filing-date or hearing-date ranges when looking for newer filings, dockets, or recent court activity.
- Contact the filing court if the docket is missing, the case is pre-1997, or document copies are needed.
De Baca County Court Records Fields
Case Lookup gives De Baca County users several ways to narrow a search before calling a clerk. The most useful local filters are court type, court location, filing date, and hearing date. District Court location appears as 1027 - Fort Sumner, while Magistrate Court appears as 13 - Fort Sumner. If a search is too narrow, remove optional fields and try a broader name search before assuming the record does not exist.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name Search / Case Number Search / DWI Search | Tab | No | Three search modes are visible. |
| Name | Text | No | Displayed as last, first, middle. |
| Driver Lic. # and State | Text and dropdown | No | Useful for DWI or traffic-related records. |
| Date of Birth / Year of Birth | Date or year | No | DOB format is mm/dd/yyyy; year is yyyy. |
| Court Type | Dropdown | No | D for District, M for Magistrate, T for Metropolitan, U for Municipal. |
| Court Location | Dropdown | No | Use 1027 - Fort Sumner for District Court or 13 - Fort Sumner for Magistrate Court. |
| Case Category | Dropdown | No | Options were not fully exposed in the research capture. |
| Filing Date / Hearing Date | Date range | No | Helpful for recent filings and dockets. |
| Results per page | Dropdown | No | Visible options include 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50. |
re:SearchNM and IPRA Requests
re:SearchNM is the registered-user Tyler portal. It is different from free Case Lookup. The New Mexico Courts public-access guidance says self-represented litigants must self-register and submit an SRL application if they seek access to cases on which they are marked pro se. For many De Baca County court records, Case Lookup will show the public docket, while re:SearchNM may serve users who qualify for added access.
The official Tyler portal image comes from the manifest source for re:SearchNM court records search.
When the document itself is needed, the better route is often the clerk or the judiciary IPRA form, not another docket search.
The New Mexico Courts IPRA form is the formal online request channel for court-held public records. For De Baca County records, choose the Tenth District and then the specific De Baca District Court or De Baca Magistrate Court option. The form asks for requester name, email, phone, address, person whose records are requested, birthdate if known, type of record, case number if available, and a specific description. NMSA 14-2-8(C), cited on the IPRA form, requires enough detail to identify the records with reasonable particularity, but no reason for inspection is required.
Note: The Administrative Office of the Courts is not the custodian for local case files kept by De Baca County courts.
Types of De Baca County Court Records
De Baca County court records are split by court level. District Court is the general trial court for felony criminal matters, civil cases such as tort and contract disputes, real property rights, domestic relations, mental health matters, juvenile jurisdiction, estate disputes, and appeals from lower courts. Magistrate Court handles misdemeanors, DWI/DUI, traffic violations, felony preliminary hearings, landlord-tenant matters, and civil disputes within the magistrate jurisdiction. Fort Sumner Municipal Court handles municipal code matters, animal control, petty misdemeanors, DWI/DUI, and traffic violations.
- Civil records include complaints, summonses, service returns, answers, motions, orders, judgments, and appeals.
- Criminal records include complaints, bond orders, pleas, hearings, docket entries, judgments, and sentences.
- Family records may include divorce petitions, parenting plans, support worksheets, final decrees, motions, and orders.
- Probate and estate records may involve informal probate, contested estate cases, letters, inventories, and closing statements.
- Traffic and DWI records may be held in Magistrate Court, Municipal Court, or District Court depending on the citation and charge.
Marriage-license records are not court records. The New Mexico Courts other-agency records guidance and New Mexico Department of Health guidance place marriage-license copies with the county clerk that issued the license. Divorce decrees, by contrast, are District Court records.
The official other-agency image from the manifest source is linked to the New Mexico Courts other-agency records page.
That distinction helps prevent a De Baca County records request from being sent to the wrong custodian.
What De Baca County Court Records Show
A public De Baca County court record often starts as a docket view rather than a set of images. Case Lookup can show the case number, court location, case category, filing date, hearing date filters, parties, and docket concepts. It may show that filings or orders exist, but official guidance notes that Case Lookup is not a document-image system. If a certified copy, filed complaint, judgment, sentence, decree, or order is needed, request it through the court clerk, re:SearchNM if access is available, or the IPRA route.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Case number | The court file identifier and court-type code used to route the record. |
| Court location | The Fort Sumner District or Magistrate location connected to the case. |
| Parties | Plaintiff and defendant, petitioner and respondent, or State and defendant depending on record type. |
| Filing date | When the case or filing entered the court system. |
| Hearing date | Scheduled court events that may also appear on docket pages. |
| Docket entries | Pleadings, hearings, orders, judgments, sentences, payment obligations, and other case events. |
| Documents | Filed materials that may require clerk, IPRA, or registered access for copies. |
| Redactions | Protected identifiers such as full SSN, most financial account data, and most driver-license data are limited. |
Older De Baca County Court Records
Case Lookup warns that cases filed before completion of the statewide court automation project in June 1997 may exist in a separate database depending on the court. That matters in De Baca County because older District Court, Magistrate Court, municipal, probate, and paper case files may not appear through a simple online search. If the matter is historical, call or email the court where the case was filed and provide names, approximate filing year, case type, and any known case number.
Not all missing De Baca County court records are old. Some are restricted by law, rule, or court order. Juvenile criminal cases have not displayed on Case Lookup since July 1, 2007. Family Violence Protection Act order-of-protection cases have not displayed since July 1, 2008. Sealed records are limited under Rule 1-079 NMRA. Adult criminal expungement may proceed under the Criminal Record Expungement Act described by New Mexico DPS expungement guidance, while juvenile confidentiality and sealing are tied to NMSA 32A-2-32 and 32A-2-26.
New Mexico's public-access framework also affects routine copy requests. NMSA 14-2-1 treats public records as open unless an exception applies, including certain law-enforcement, medical, privileged, protected-identifier, and confidential records. Case Lookup adds its own use limits, including a warning against bulk or multiple-record downloading. For De Baca County users, the practical rule is simple: use the public docket for individual case review, then ask the correct clerk for the actual record when the file is not public online.
Use the official De Baca District Court address for District Court files: 248 E. Ave. C, Fort Sumner, NM 88119; phone 575-355-2896; fax 575-355-2899; email tenthjdcpublic@nmcourts.gov; mail P.O. Box 910, Fort Sumner, NM 88119. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Use De Baca County Magistrate Court for magistrate files: 282 E. Ave. B, Fort Sumner, NM 88119; phone 575-355-7371; fax 575-355-7149; email fsum-grp@nmcourts.gov; mail P.O. Box 24, Fort Sumner, NM 88119. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Fees were not published in the official De Baca research for plain or certified court copies. Do not assume a statewide or neighboring-county fee applies. Ask the District Court or Magistrate Court for the current copy cost, certification cost, payment method, and whether the record can be emailed, mailed, inspected in person, or released only after review.