2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 72 - Water Law › Article 1 - Water Rights in General › Section 72-1-2.1 - Water rights; change in ownership; filing and recording; constructive notice.

In the event of any changes of ownership of a water right, whether by sale, gift or any other type of conveyance, affecting the title to a water right that has been permitted or licensed by the state engineer, has been declared with the state engineer or has been adjudicated and is evidenced by a subfile order, partial final decree, final decree or any other court order, the new owner of the water right shall file a change of ownership form with the state engineer. The form shall include all information conforming with water rights of record filed with the state engineer and shall be accompanied by a copy of a warranty deed or other instrument of conveyance. The new owner shall record a copy of the change of ownership form filed with the state engineer with the clerk of the county in which the water right will be located. The filing shall be public notice of the existence and contents of the instruments so recorded from the time of recording with the county clerk.
History:
Laws 1991, ch. 34, § 1; 1996, ch. 32, § 1.
ANNOTATIONS
Cross references.
— For pre-1907 vested surface water rights,
see
72-1-3 NMSA 1978.
For recording of permits, decrees, and documents affecting water rights and admissibility in evidence of certified copies,
see
72-5-21 NMSA 1978.
For transfer of surface water rights,
see
72-5-22 NMSA 1978.
For declaration of beneficial use, verification, and recording of groundwater rights,
see
72-12-5 NMSA 1978.
For recording of deeds, mortgages, and patents,
see
14-9-1 NMSA 1978.
Slander of title.
— In a water rights dispute, a court properly granted summary judgment to land owners where a change of ownership properly reflected ownership of 519 acres of the 655 acres of land appurtenant to a water rights license, and therefore, the information contained in the change of ownership form was correct and there was no published matter which was untrue and disparaging to the opponent's water rights.
Village of Wagon Mound v. Mora Trust
, 2003-NMCA-035, 133 N.M. 373, 62 P.3d 1255, cert. denied, 133 N.M. 413, 63 P.3d 516.
Water rights change of ownership statute does not apply to encumbrances such as mortgages.
— In a dispute regarding a secured creditor's lien interest in a Chapter 11 debtor's water rights, where the creditor had a $27 million dollar claim against debtor, secured by mortgages on substantially all of debtor's real estate in Luna and Dona Ana counties, and where creditor filed change of ownership forms with the Office of the State Engineer for some, but not all, of the encumbered water rights and recorded two change of ownership forms in Dona Ana County, and where the bankruptcy trustee sought to avoid creditor's mortgage lien on water rights, claiming that creditor failed to fully comply with the change owner statute, the federal district court held that the clear language of the water rights change in ownership statute does not apply to mortgages, only actual transfers of ownership, and thus creditor's failure to comply with the statute had no effect on the validity of its lien on water rights.
In re Las Uvas Valley Dairies
, 598 B.R. 305 (Bankr. D. N.M. 2019).