A. All money collected by a magistrate court in connection with civil and criminal actions is public money of the state held in trust by the district court within the same judicial district until disbursed in accordance with law. Public money shall not be commingled with personal funds of the magistrate or any other funds.
B. Every district court shall maintain a special trust fund checking account for the magistrate courts in its judicial district in a convenient bank insured by the federal deposit insurance corporation and shall deposit all public money into the account within two banking days after its receipt.
History: 1953 Comp., § 36-9-5, enacted by Laws 1968, ch. 62, § 100; 1979, ch. 160, § 3; 2021, ch. 95, § 6.
Cross references. — For audit of accounts, see 12-6-1 NMSA 1978.
The 2021 amendment, effective June 18, 2021, transferred duties of the administrative office of the courts to individual judicial districts; in Subsection A, after "trust by the", deleted "magistrate" and added "district court within the same judicial district", and after "until", deleted "received by the administrative office of the courts or"; in Subsection B, after "Every", changed "magistrate" to "district", after "account", added "for the magistrate courts in its judicial district", after "account within", changed "four" to "two", and after "receipt", deleted "and shall make all remittances to the administrative office, as required by law, by check on this account"; and deleted former Subsection C, which provided a criminal penalty for violations of this section.
County retention of penalty assessments. — A county did not have the power to alter the comprehensive funding and allocation system of the magistrate court and, therefore, did not have the authority to retain collected penalty assessments for violations of its traffic ordinances. Board of Comm'rs v. Greacen, 2000-NMSC-016, 129 N.M. 177, 3 P.3d 672.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 51 C.J.S. Justices of the Peace § 9.
Structure New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 35 - Magistrate and Municipal Courts
Article 7 - Magistrate Court; Magistrate Administration
Section 35-7-3 - Magistrate administration; standardized monthly reports.
Section 35-7-4 - Magistrate administration; monthly remittances.
Section 35-7-5 - Magistrate administration; public money; commingling; trust fund bank account.
Section 35-7-7 - Magistrate administration; conflict of interest.
Section 35-7-9 - Magistrate administration; court facilities.
Section 35-7-10 - Magistrate administration; clerical assistants.
Section 35-7-11 - Magistrate administration; finances.
Section 35-7-12 - Magistrate administration; rules of pleading, practice and procedure.