Search Chaves County Court Records
Most Chaves County court records searches begin with New Mexico Case Lookup. The portal covers the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, District Court, Magistrate Court, and limited Municipal Court data. It is free, does not require registration, and is built for individual electronic record viewing. It does not provide document images, and bulk downloading is prohibited under the portal terms.
Chaves County users should narrow searches by court type and location when possible. Chaves District Court appears as District 504 - Roswell. Chaves Magistrate Court appears as Magistrate 7 - Roswell. Roswell Municipal Court appears as Municipal 117 - Roswell, with other Chaves-area municipal options listed for communities such as Dexter, Hagerman, Hope, and Lake Arthur depending the current dropdown.
- Open Case Lookup and accept the court portal disclaimer.
- Search by party name, full case number, or DWI historic conviction search when that option fits.
- Use court type, court location, case category, and date filters to reduce false matches.
- Review the case number, court, docket events, hearing dates, and disposition data shown in the result.
- Request documents or certified copies from the court clerk, Judiciary IPRA, or re:SearchNM when public Case Lookup is not enough.
The manifest image from New Mexico Case Lookup shows the statewide entry point for Chaves County Court records.
That portal is the quickest public way to check case data before contacting the Roswell court clerk for documents.
Chaves County Court System
Chaves County sits in the Fifth Judicial District with Eddy and Lea counties. District Court is the primary trial court for felony, major civil, domestic relations, juvenile, mental health, lower-court appeal, and contested probate matters. Chaves County Magistrate Court handles limited civil cases, misdemeanors, DWI/DUI, traffic, landlord-tenant, and felony preliminary matters. Roswell Municipal Court handles city traffic, petty misdemeanor, DWI/DUI, and ordinance cases inside Roswell city limits.
Case path: Municipal or Magistrate Court › Chaves County District Court › New Mexico Court of Appeals › New Mexico Supreme Court.
| Court or office | Record role | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Chaves County District Court | Felony, major civil, family, juvenile, mental health, appeals, probate disputes | 400 N. Virginia Ave., 575-622-2212 |
| Roswell Magistrate Court | Limited civil, landlord-tenant, misdemeanor, DWI/DUI, traffic, preliminary felony matters | 400 N. Virginia Ave., Ste. G-1, 575-624-6088 |
| Roswell Municipal Court | City traffic, ordinance, petty misdemeanor, DWI/DUI matters inside Roswell | 420 N. Richardson, 575-624-6725 |
| Chaves County Clerk | Recorded documents, marriage licenses, probate records, historical records | 1 St. Mary's Place, 575-624-6614 |
The Fifth Judicial District homepage is the official district source for Chaves, Eddy, and Lea county court information.
District-level pages are important because Chaves County District Court and Magistrate Court records both route through the Fifth Judicial District.
Where Chaves County Records Are Kept
Chaves County records are not stored in one public database. Court case data is in Case Lookup. Court documents are requested from the court clerk or through Judiciary IPRA. Registered users may use re:SearchNM for Odyssey case information and document access by user profile. Recorded county documents, marriage copies, plats, surveys, commission minutes, and many probate records are in the County Clerk's Tyler Web system. Police reports, arrest cards, daily bulletins, and crash reports may be in Roswell Police P2C or city records channels.
| Need | Start here | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| District or Magistrate case data | New Mexico Case Lookup | No document images |
| Certified court copies | District or Magistrate Court clerk | Fees and identity checks may apply |
| Recorded documents or marriage copies | Chaves County Clerk Tyler Web | reCAPTCHA and redaction verification may apply |
| Roswell city court or police records | Roswell Municipal Court, P2C, or NextRequest | City records are not county court records |
| State prison or parole status | NMCD Offender Search | Not county jail custody |
The manifest image from the New Mexico Courts homepage shows the statewide judiciary source behind Chaves County Court records.
That statewide source matters because Chaves County District Court, Magistrate Court, public access, forms, and court services all sit within New Mexico Courts.
Chaves County Court Record Types
Chaves County Court records include civil complaints, answers, motions, orders, judgments, hearings, notices, docket entries, criminal complaints, indictments, informations, bond orders, arraignment records, plea records, dispositions, sentences, probation terms, warrants, divorce files, custody records, protection-order packets, traffic cases, DWI/DUI matters, probate disputes, and lower-court appeals.
Some related records sit outside the court file. Roswell Police P2C shows recent arrests, daily bulletins, incidents, citations, accidents, and booking photos, but it is not the District Court criminal case file. County Clerk Tyler Web covers recorded documents and marriage copies, but it is not the state court case portal. MVD driver history is separate from court traffic records.
- Civil records: District Court and Magistrate Court files for claims, landlord-tenant, judgments, and appeals.
- Criminal records: Felonies in District Court and misdemeanors or preliminary matters in Magistrate or Municipal Court.
- Family records: Divorce, custody, domestic relations, PACT-related court events, and protected case types.
- Probate records: Informal probate through the County Clerk and contested estate matters in District Court.
- Traffic records: Magistrate or municipal traffic cases, with MVD driver history kept separately.
Chaves County Court Record Fields
A Chaves County Court record may show the case number, court type, court location, case category, party names, filing dates, hearing dates, docket events, motions, notices, orders, judgments, warrants, payments, and disposition. The case number search in New Mexico Case Lookup splits the full number into court type, court location, case category, and case number.
| Field | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Case number | Court type, location, category, and sequence data used to identify the file. |
| Parties | Names of plaintiffs, defendants, petitioners, respondents, or criminal defendants. |
| Dates | Filing dates, hearing dates, date ranges, and scheduled court activity. |
| Docket events | Chronological filings, hearings, motions, orders, judgments, continuances, and payments. |
| Disposition | The outcome of a charge, claim, or case event. |
| Documents | Not available in public Case Lookup; request through clerk, IPRA, or eligible document access. |
Chaves County Public Access Rules
Public access is broad but not unlimited. New Mexico Judiciary IPRA is the court-record request path when online search is not enough. Rule 1-079 NMRA governs public inspection and sealing of court records. Case Lookup cites NMSA 1978, Sec. 14-3-15.1 and prohibits bulk or multiple-record downloading from the court database.
Key access rules:
NMSA 1978 Sec. 14-2-8(D) requires written IPRA requests to identify the requester and describe records with reasonable detail.
Rule 1-079 NMRA controls public inspection, sealing, and protected identifiers in court records.
The Criminal Record Expungement Act allows qualifying people to petition for expungement of criminal and related public records.
The manifest image from New Mexico Courts public records shows the official access page for IPRA, Case Lookup, and re:SearchNM.
That page helps distinguish free case lookup, formal record requests, and registered document access for Chaves County Court records.
The manifest image from the New Mexico Judiciary IPRA portal shows the formal request channel for court records.
IPRA is useful when Chaves County Court records cannot be resolved through Case Lookup or direct clerk contact.
Restricted Chaves County Court Records
Restricted Chaves County Court records include juvenile criminal records, protection-order cases, adoption matters, mental health proceedings, sealed cases, expunged records, protected personal identifiers, and wills deposited but not submitted to probate. Public Case Lookup no longer displays juvenile criminal cases effective July 1, 2007, and Family Violence Protection Act order-of-protection cases stopped displaying effective July 1, 2008.
Protected identifiers include full Social Security numbers, taxpayer IDs, financial account numbers, driver's license numbers, and full dates of birth. Public court websites may display only limited details when allowed. Expungement can remove qualifying New Mexico criminal and related public records from ordinary public view, but eligibility depends on statute, court order, and case history.
Chaves County District and Magistrate
The main District Court and Roswell Magistrate Court share the courthouse complex at 400 N. Virginia Ave. District Court public counter hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., with no financial transactions after 4:30 p.m. Magistrate Court hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and open during lunch. District Court records requests and non-e-filed filings use rosdfax@nmcourts.gov. Magistrate Court uses rosmpublic@nmcourts.gov.
District Court dockets and Magistrate Court dockets publish hearings for the current day plus six days. If a hearing is missing or if more detail is needed, contact the court. A docket is a schedule and activity list, not the full case file.
Chaves County Municipal Records
Municipal court records in Chaves County require special care because statewide Case Lookup only has limited public municipal data. Roswell Municipal Court handles misdemeanor criminal and traffic offenses inside city limits and violations of adopted ordinances. The New Mexico Case Lookup municipal limitation is important: public municipal data is limited to criminal Domestic Violence and DWI historic convictions from September 1, 1991.
The manifest image from Roswell Municipal Court shows the city court source for Roswell matters.
Roswell Municipal Court records may need direct court contact or city IPRA when Case Lookup does not show the needed record.
Chaves County Clerk Records
The Chaves County Clerk is located at 1 St. Mary's Place, Suite #110, Roswell, and handles recorded documents, marriage licenses, Probate Court records, historical document preservation, and elections. The Clerk's Tyler Web public document search supports document images and index searches. The county advises searching the Either Name field as last name, blank space, first name, with no punctuation.
Document or instrument number searching applies from December 2, 2019 to current. Book/page searching applies from July 1, 1987 through November 27, 2019. Marriage licenses, commission minutes, and plats or surveys may continue with book/page format after December 2, 2019. Document copy fee is $0.50 per page in the Tyler public document notes.
Chaves County Criminal and Jail
Chaves County criminal case records and arrest information may involve different systems. The court file belongs to District Court, Magistrate Court, or Municipal Court. Arrest cards, booking photos, police daily bulletins, and crash reports may appear through Roswell Police P2C. The Fifth Judicial District Attorney in Roswell prosecutes state criminal cases in the Fifth District, and the Public Defender's Roswell office represents eligible Chaves County defendants.
The Chaves County Sheriff's Office is at 1 St. Mary's Place, Roswell, with Sheriff Mike Herrington listed in the research. The Detention Center is at 3701 S. Atkinson. No official Chaves County jail roster or inmate-search form was found on the county website, so custody questions should start with the Detention Center phone line and official county records channels. NMCD Offender Search is for state prison, probation, and parole, not county jail custody.
Chaves County Marriage and Probate
Marriage license records and informal probate records belong with the Chaves County Clerk. The current marriage license fee is $55 effective June 20, 2025, with a $2 credit-card service fee. Both applicants must appear in person to complete the process unless a District Judge authorizes a different process for an applicant who cannot appear. The signed license must be returned to the Clerk within 90 days of the ceremony.
Probate filing requires an Application for Informal Probate, original death certificate, and will if there is one. The death must have occurred more than 120 hours before filing and not more than three years before filing. The probate packet is $5, and the initial probate filing fee is $30. Contested estate matters may route to District Court.
Chaves County Traffic Records
Traffic records can be court records, city records, police records, or MVD driver records. Magistrate Court handles state traffic, DWI/DUI, and misdemeanors. Roswell Municipal Court handles city traffic inside Roswell limits. Roswell traffic citation guidance warns that penalty-assessment citations and court-appearance citations are different, and failure to handle a citation can affect warrants or license status.
The manifest image from New Mexico MVD traffic ticket guidance shows the state traffic-ticket source.
MVD guidance is separate from Chaves County Court case files, but it helps explain driver-record and license consequences.
Chaves County Court History
Roswell became the Chaves County seat after the New Mexico Legislature carved Chaves and Eddy counties from Lincoln County on February 25, 1889. The Chaves County Courthouse remains central to District Court, Magistrate Court, and court administration. Research notes describe the courthouse as historically significant and identify restoration and expansion work discussed in New Mexico Judiciary reporting.
Record history also matters. County Clerk public document search reflects two major index eras, with document/instrument number searching from December 2, 2019 forward and book/page searching for July 1, 1987 through November 27, 2019. Case Lookup warns that cases filed before statewide court automation may be stored in a separate database.
Chaves County Court FAQ
Can Chaves County Court records be searched online?
Yes, public case data can be searched through New Mexico Case Lookup for District Court, Magistrate Court, appellate courts, and limited Municipal Court data. Documents are not included in the public portal.
Where are certified Chaves County Court records requested?
Certified court copies come from the court clerk where the case is located. Chaves County District Court uses the Roswell clerk contact at 400 N. Virginia Ave., while County Clerk records use 1 St. Mary's Place.
Are Chaves County probate records court records?
Informal probate is handled through the County Clerk and Probate Court. Contested probate disputes or appeals may become District Court records.
Does Chaves County have an official jail roster?
The research did not find an official county jail roster on chavescounty.gov. Start with the Detention Center, county records channels, and the state offender search only when the person is in state custody.