A. A copy of any foreign judgment authenticated in accordance with an act of congress or the statutes of this state may be filed in the office of the clerk of the district court of any county of this state in which the judgment debtor resides or has any property or property rights subject to execution, foreclosure, attachment or garnishment. The clerk shall treat the foreign judgment in the same manner as a judgment of the district court of this state. A judgment so filed shall have the same effect and is subject to the same procedures, defenses and proceedings for reopening, vacating, staying, enforcing or satisfying as a judgment of the district court of this state and may be enforced or satisfied in like manner, except as provided in Subsection B of this section.
B. All property in this state of a judgment debtor is exempt from execution issuing from a foreign judgment filed pursuant to Subsection A of this section that is in favor of any state for failure to pay that state’s income tax on benefits received from a pension or other retirement plan.
History: Laws 1989, ch. 256, § 3; 1994, ch. 48, § 2.
ANNOTATIONS
The 1994 amendment, effective May 18, 1994, designated the previously undesignated language as Subsection A and added the exception clause at the end of the last sentence thereof; and added Subsection B.
Applicability. — Laws 1994, ch. 48, § 3 makes the act applicable to judgments filed with a court in New Mexico on or after the effective date of the act.
Full faith and credit not diminished. — The Foreign Judgments Act does not diminish the full faith and credit obligations due the final judgments of sister states. Conglis v. Radcliffe, 1995-NMSC-004, 119 N.M. 287, 889 P.2d 1209.
Relief-from-judgment rule not applicable to foreign judgments. — New Mexico courts may not apply Rule 1-060 NMRA (relief from judgment or order) to foreign judgments in the same manner as the rule is applied to judgments of the courts of this state. The full faith and credit clause of the federal constitution limits the power of a court to reopen or vacate a foreign judgment, and foreign judgments cannot be collaterally attacked on the merits. Jordan v. Hall, 1993-NMCA-061, 115 N.M. 775, 858 P.2d 863.
Entitlement to full faith and credit. — A foreign divorce decree and subsequent child support orders were entitled to full faith and credit. Thoma v. Thoma, 1997-NMCA-016, 123 N.M. 137, 934 P.2d 1066, cert. denied, 122 N.M. 808, 932 P.2d 498.
Community property law. — New Mexico community property law controls enforcement of separate Arizona debt of a husband in New Mexico courts. Nat’l Bank of Arizona v. Moore, 2005-NMCA-122, 138 N.M. 496, 122 P.3d 1265, cert. denied, 2005-NMCERT-010, 138 N.M. 494, 122 P.3d 1263.
Challenge of foreign judgment. — The Foreign Judgments Act permits a judgment debtor to challenge a foreign judgment on the basis of the lack of jurisdiction. Mueller v. Sample, 2004-NMCA-075, 135 N.M. 748, 93 P.3d 769.
Revival of foreign judgment. — When a judgment by a federal bankruptcy court is domesticated in a district court in New Mexico, that court has jurisdiction to address and resolve issues concerning the judgment, including revival thereof; however, the district court lacks jurisdiction if the judgment has not been properly domesticated pursuant to this section. Walter E. Heller W., Inc. v. Ditto, 1998-NMCA-068, 125 N.M. 226, 959 P.2d 560, cert. denied, 125 N.M. 147, 958 P.2d 105.
Texas judgment reached the assets of the decedent’s estate in New Mexico. — Where plaintiff, who was a beneficiary of the decedent’s testamentary trust, obtained a Texas judgment against defendant individually and as the executor of decedent’s estate and trustee of decedent’s testamentary trust; the judgment provided that the award to plaintiff exhausted plaintiff’s rights to inherit from the estate; plaintiff domesticated the judgment in New Mexico and obtained a writ of execution to satisfy the judgment from property owned by the estate in New Mexico; and defendant claimed that because plaintiff sued defendant for malfeasance, defendant was personally liable to plaintiff and the judgment did not lie against the estate, the judgment lay against the estate, trust and defendant personally and reached assets owned by the estate in New Mexico. Williams v. Crutcher, 2013-NMCA-044, 298 P.3d 1184.