How to Search Union County Court Records
The main public court-record channel for Union County District Court and Clayton Magistrate Court is New Mexico Case Lookup. New Mexico Courts describes Case Lookup as a public, no-registration tool for individual electronic court records. The entry screen requires acceptance of a disclaimer, and the disclaimer warns that bulk or multiple-record downloading is prohibited under NMSA 1978, Section 14-3-15.1. Case Lookup is useful for case status, parties, hearings, and docket activity, but it is not the same as a full document database.
Union County court records often require a fallback chain. Records before 1997 and court records not available online can be requested through the New Mexico Courts IPRA portal. Filed documents may require re:SearchNM access or a request to the District Court Clerk because public Case Lookup does not provide documents. County recording records, marriage licenses, informal probate, ordinances, and similar clerk records use the Union County Official Records Search rather than the state case lookup system.
- Start with New Mexico Case Lookup and accept the disclaimer before searching an individual Union County District Court or Magistrate Court case.
- Use the case number if known. District examples use formats like D-818-CV-year-number, while Magistrate examples use M-58-TR-year-number.
- Check the Eighth Judicial District docket pages when the goal is an upcoming hearing rather than a complete case history.
- Use re:SearchNM or the District Court Clerk for documents, certified copies, and access that depends on user tier.
- Use the Union County Official Records Search for county clerk records, informal probate records, recorded marriage licenses, and land records.
The New Mexico Courts homepage is the statewide entry point for case lookup, fines and fees, public records, court structure, language access, and ADA accommodations.
The statewide judiciary entry point appears in the manifest from New Mexico Courts.
Union County Court Records Search Fields
The captured Case Lookup entry page did not expose the post-acceptance search form in static text, so the confirmed fields are the disclaimer controls that open the public search system. That limitation matters because the research did not support inventing name, date, or party fields for a dynamic page that could not be captured. For county-recording records, the Union County Official Records Search has a separate field set for recorded documents and informal probate material.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| I Accept | Submit button | Yes, to proceed | Accepts the Case Lookup disclaimer and opens the public search system. |
| Cancel | Button | No | Exits or returns to New Mexico Courts. |
| Disclaimer text | Notice | n/a | States that the system is for individual electronic court record viewing and prohibits bulk downloads. |
| Data-use citation | Link | n/a | References NMSA 1978, Section 14-3-15.1. |
The registered access route starts through Odyssey Public Access / re:SearchNM, with access based on user type and case sensitivity.
The public access screen used in this section comes from Odyssey Public Access.
Types of Union County Court Records
Union County court records come from several courts. The Eighth Judicial District Court is the local general-jurisdiction court for civil, criminal, domestic-relations, juvenile, lower-court appeal, administrative-agency appeal, and formal or contested probate matters. Clayton Magistrate Court handles limited civil matters, landlord-tenant cases, misdemeanors, DWI/DUI, other traffic violations, and felony preliminary hearings. Clayton Municipal Court handles petty misdemeanors, DWI/DUI, traffic violations, and local ordinance violations, but statewide municipal data is limited to certain historic domestic violence and DWI convictions.
Those court lines affect where a record appears. A felony case may start with a complaint or preliminary matter and then move to District Court. A traffic citation may be in Magistrate Court or Municipal Court. A divorce decree is a District Court record, while a recorded marriage license is a Union County Clerk record. Informal probate is searchable through the county records database, but contested or formal probate is searched through New Mexico Courts.
- Civil court records may include complaints, answers, motions, orders, judgments, writs, liens, and satisfaction entries.
- Criminal court records may include charges, arraignment events, pleas, motions, disposition, sentence, fines, probation, and appeals.
- Magistrate records may include misdemeanor, traffic, DWI, landlord-tenant, small civil, and felony preliminary-hearing entries.
- Domestic records may include divorce, custody, support, and related orders, often with redactions or access limits.
- Probate records split between informal county probate and formal District Court probate, depending on whether the matter is contested.
Case Lookup helps with the court case layer. The local Union County Official Records Search helps with the county clerk layer.
What Union County Court Records Show
A Union County case record usually identifies the court, case number, case caption, filing date, case type, parties, attorneys, judge, docket entries, hearing dates, and disposition. Criminal and traffic records may add charge descriptions, statute references, plea, bond, warrant or failure-to-appear entries, fines and fees, probation terms, and sentence details. Civil records may add claims, judgment, amounts, writs, and lien or satisfaction activity. Public-facing systems omit documents and sensitive personal identifiers.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Case Number | The court and case type, such as District Court D-818-CV or Magistrate Court M-58-TR formats. |
| Case Caption | The case title, often party names or State of New Mexico v. a defendant in criminal matters. |
| Filing Date | When the case was opened or when a filing entered the docket. |
| Court and Judge | The court level and presiding judge or hearing officer when visible. |
| Docket Entries | A chronological list of hearings, filings, orders, and case events. |
| Disposition | The outcome, such as judgment, dismissal, conviction, acquittal, plea, or closed status. |
| Documents | Not available through public Case Lookup; document access depends on re:SearchNM tier or clerk request. |
Registered case and document access is represented in the manifest by re:SearchNM.
Public Access for Union County Court Records
New Mexico court access is practical, not absolute. The Inspection of Public Records Act guide explains the broad right to inspect public records, subject to exceptions. The judiciary's Case Lookup disclaimer adds a court-data rule: individual electronic record viewing is allowed, but bulk downloading is not. The New Mexico Courts public access page also distinguishes public Case Lookup from re:SearchNM, where records and documents are controlled by access tier.
Union County court users should match the access path to the record. Use Case Lookup for free public case information. Use the Eighth Judicial District docket pages for current schedules. Use IPRA for older judiciary records or records not online. Use the Union County Clerk portal for land records, marriage licenses, county recording material, and informal probate records. Use phone or in-person contact when the case is municipal, sealed, old, or not showing online.
Note: Case Lookup is a case-information tool, not a bulk database or certified-copy service.
Restricted Union County Court Records
Several Union County record categories are restricted by state policy, statute, or court order. New Mexico Courts states that juvenile criminal cases are no longer displayed in public Case Lookup. Family Violence Protection Act order-of-protection cases also are not displayed in public Case Lookup. re:SearchNM places delinquency proceedings in a limited tier and places adoption, mental health, abuse and neglect, and FINS proceedings in a stricter confidential tier. Personal identifying information, including Social Security numbers and address information, is also withheld from public Case Lookup for security.
Sealed and expunged records require special care. The New Mexico Department of Public Safety expungements page describes the Criminal Record Expungement Act as the process for qualifying people to petition a court to remove eligible arrest, conviction, and related public records from public view. Expungement is different from correcting an error. Case Lookup tells users to notify the court where the case was heard when displayed data does not accurately reflect a case.
Union County Court Record Requests
The main local court contact is the Eighth Judicial District Court at the Union County Courthouse. The court page lists public hours Monday through Friday, open during lunch. Clayton Magistrate Court uses the same phone line shown for the magistrate court, but official pages list conflicting physical addresses, so users should verify the courtroom on the current docket or by phone before appearing. County clerk records and informal probate records are handled separately at the Union County Clerk's Office.
Union County District Court
100 Court St., Suite 5
Clayton, NM 88415
575-374-9577
Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Union County Clerk
200 Court Street
Clayton, NM 88415
575-374-9491 Ext. 2
Check current search limits before visiting.
For statute and court-rule research linked to public access issues, use the New Mexico Compilation Commission search tool.
