NEW MEXICO BAR EXAM DISTINCTIONS — ONE-PAGE CHEAT SHEET
Condensed companion to the New Mexico Bar Exam Distinctions long outline.
1. EXAM FORMAT
UBE jurisdiction · two-day exam: MBE (200 MCQ, 50%) / MEE (six essays, 30%) / MPT (two tasks, 20%) · passing score 260/400 · MPRE scaled 80 required · score portable in and out of NM within the transfer window · the UBE does not grade NM law as a separate subject — write to the national rubric, not NM law, on generic essays.
2. COMMUNITY PROPERTY (THE BIG ONE)
One of nine community-property states (NMSA Ch. 40, Art. 3) · presumption: property acquired by either spouse during marriage is community, owned 50/50 regardless of title or who earned it · wages/salary of either spouse = community, and everything bought with them = community · title is NOT controlling — timing and source of acquisition control · Separate property (5 categories) = (1) owned before marriage, (2) acquired by gift/devise/bequest/descent (inheritance), (3) income/proceeds of separate property by written designation, (4) designated separate by valid agreement, (5) acquired after a decree of dissolution/separation/division · income from separate property is separate (BUT community labor or skill expended on it earns the community a reimbursement claim) · characterization fixed at acquisition; inception-of-title for credit purchases · commingled + untraceable = presumed entirely community, and the spouse claiming a separate interest bears the burden of tracing with reasonable certainty · transmutation allowed by written agreement (realty must satisfy SOF); prenups under the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act · management: either spouse alone manages community personalty, BUT both spouses must join to convey/mortgage/lease community real property (one-spouse transfer is voidable) · quasi-community property: out-of-state acquisitions that would have been community treated as community at NM divorce/death · debts: incurred during marriage presumed community; community property liable for community debts.
3. DIVISION AT DIVORCE & DEATH
Divorce: community divided essentially 50/50 (NOT equitable distribution — equal division is the rule); separate property stays with its owner · Death: decedent may devise only his/her one-half of the community; survivor already owns the other half by community ownership · NO elective/forced share (the survivor's ownership replaces the common-law elective share — never apply a one-third elective share in NM) · survivor still gets UPC family, personal-property, and homestead allowances · reimbursement whenever one estate enhances another: community funds paying down a separate-property mortgage, community labor building a separate business (Portillo/goodwill line), or separate funds improving the community home — courts apportion appreciation equitably.
4. CIVIL PROCEDURE / SOL
NM Rules mirror federal (notice pleading, no Twombly/Iqbal rigor) · SOL: PI & wrongful death 3 yrs · oral contract/fraud/property/catch-all 4 yrs · written contract 6 yrs · med-mal generally 3 yrs.
5. EVIDENCE
NM Rules of Evidence (Rules 11-101 et seq.) mirror the FRE — MBE answer almost always right · differences concentrate in privileges (codified, Rules 11-501 to 11-514): key add-on is a codified physician-patient privilege (no FRE analog) · confidential marital communications privilege operative; no broad Trammel adverse-spousal-testimony privilege in civil matters · apply the FRE on the exam.
6. WILLS / ESTATES
UPC adopted (Ch. 45) · will needs writing + testator's signature + two witnesses (signing or acknowledgment) · NO holographic wills — handwritten wills still need two witnesses · self-proved affidavit available · NO elective share (community ownership protects the survivor) · Intestacy: spouse takes ALL community (ends up owning 100%); separate property = 1/4 spouse / 3/4 descendants if descendants survive, all to spouse if no descendants · UPC family, personal-property, and homestead allowances.
7. REAL PROPERTY
Recording act: NOTICE (§14-9-3) — a subsequent BFP without notice of a prior unrecorded interest prevails, whether or not it records first · Adverse possession: 10 years + color of title + payment of taxes (plus the usual actual/open/hostile/exclusive/continuous elements) · community realty needs both spouses to convey · foreclosure: predominantly judicial with a statutory redemption period (commonly nine months) · statutory homestead exemption.
8. TORTS
Pure comparative negligence (Scott v. Rizzo) — recovery reduced by P's % but never barred, even if P is 99% at fault · several (proportionate) liability — J&S largely abolished (Bartlett v. NM Welding Supply / §41-3A-1); each D pays only its own fault share, limited exceptions for intentional torts, vicarious liability, and concerted action · plaintiff-friendlier on causation but defendant-friendlier on collection · caps: Medical Malpractice Act (qualified providers, rising aggregate cap + future medical) and Tort Claims Act (governmental entities); no general cap on ordinary private negligence · dram-shop under the Liquor Liability Act (§41-11-1): licensee liable for selling to a person reasonably apparently intoxicated; social-host liability narrow.
9. CONTRACTS / UCC / BUSINESS
UCC + common-law contracts = national MBE doctrine · SOF standard categories · one-spouse conveyance of community realty unenforceable without joinder · corporations/LLCs/partnerships follow modern uniform acts (anonymous LLCs allowed) — national doctrine for the exam.
10. FAMILY LAW
No-fault ground = incompatibility; fault grounds (cruel/inhuman treatment, adultery, abandonment) retained · property division = community rules (equal split of community) · alimony discretionary under §40-4-7 factors (rehabilitative, transitional, indefinite) · custody = best interests with a joint-custody preference; income-shares child-support guidelines · UCCJEA/UIFSA adopted.
11. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY & CRIMINAL
Rules of Professional Conduct (Rules 16-100 et seq.) mirror ABA Model Rules — apply Model Rules; local layer is IOLTA/trust-account administration · Criminal: death penalty abolished (crimes after July 2009); felony murder narrowed by NM case law (requires intent/knowledge tied to the predicate felony) vs. the broad MBE rule — apply common-law/MBE doctrine on the exam.
KEY FLAGS
FLAG: COMMUNITY PROPERTY — equal division at divorce, decedent devises only half, NO elective share, spouse takes all community in intestacy. FLAG: No holographic wills. FLAG: Pure comparative negligence + several (not joint) liability. FLAG: Notice recording act; 10-yr adverse possession needs color of title + taxes. FLAG: UBE — write national law on generic essays.