Title 8, Family Law & Probate

Variation by Marital Property Agreement. Except as provided in 8 CMC §§ 1814, 1821(d) and (e), 1822, 1824(e), 1825(c) and 1830(b), a marital property agreement may vary the effect of this chapter. Source: PL 7-22, § 6.

N.M.I. Const. art. XII Restriction. All of the provisions of this chapter are subject to the restrictions imposed by N.M.I. Const. art. XII and no provision of this chapter shall be construed to be in violation of those restrictions. Source: PL 7-22, § 22.

Rules of Construction. Unless displaced by this chapter, the principles of law, equity and local custom supplement its provisions. Source: PL 7-22, § 23.

Classification of Property of Spouses. (a) All property of spouses is marital property except that which is classified otherwise by this chapter. (b) All property of spouses is presumed to be marital property. (c) Each spouse has a present undivided one-half interest in marital p…

Management and Control of Property of Spouses. (a) A spouse acting alone may manage and control: (1) That spouse’s property that is not marital property; (2) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, marital property held in that spouse’s name alone or not he…

Gifts of Marital Property to Third Persons. (a) A spouse acting alone may give to a third person marital property that the spouse has the right to manage and control only if the value of the marital property given to the third person does not aggregate more than $500 in a calenda…

Property Transactions Between Spouses. (a) Restrictions on the power of spouses to enter into property transactions with each other are abolished. (b) Spouses may reclassify their property by gift or marital property agreement. Source: PL 7-22, § 10.

Obligations of Spouses. (a) An obligation incurred by a spouse during marriage, including one attributable to an act or omission during marriage, is presumed to be incurred in the interest of the marriage or the family. (b) After the determination date: (1) A spouse’s obligation …

Protection of Bona Fide Purchasers Dealing With Spouses. (a) In this section: (1) “Bona fide purchaser” means a purchaser of property for value who: (i) Has not knowingly been a party to a fraud or illegality affecting the interest of the spouses or other parties to the transacti…

Optional Forms of Holding Property, Including Use of “and” or “or”; Survivorship Ownership. (a) Spouses may hold marital property in a form that designates the holders of it by the words “(name of one spouse) or (name of other spouse) as marital property.” Marital property held i…

Classification of Life Insurance Policies and Proceeds. (a) In this section: (1) “Owner” means a person appearing on the records of the policy issuer as the person having the ownership interest or, if no person other than the insured appears on those records as a person having th…

Classification of Deferred Employment Benefits. (a) A deferred employment benefit attributable to employment of a spouse occurring after the determination date is marital property. (b) A deferred employment benefit attributable to employment of a spouse occurring during marriage …

Mixed Property. (a) Except as provided otherwise in 8 CMC §§ 1827 and 1828, mixing marital property with property having any other classification reclassifies the other property to marital property unless the component of the mixed property which is not marital property can be tr…

Marital Property Agreement. (a) A marital property agreement must be in writing and signed by both spouses. It is enforceable without consideration. (b) A marital property agreement may not adversely affect the right of a child to support. (c) Except as provided in 8 CMC §§ 1814,…

Interspousal Remedies. (a) A spouse has a claim against the other spouse for breach of the duty of good faith imposed by 8 CMC § 1814 resulting in damage to the claimant spouse’s present undivided one-half interest in marital property. (b) A court may order an accounting of the p…

Invalid Marriages. If a marriage is invalidated by a decree, a court may apply so much of this chapter to the property of the persons who are parties to the invalid marriage as is necessary to avoid an inequitable result. Source: PL 7-22, § 19.

Treatment of Certain Property at Dissolution. Except as provided in 8 CMC § 1832: (a) In a dissolution, all property then owned by the spouses that was acquired during the marriage and before the determination date which would have been marital property under this chapter if acqu…

Treatment of Certain Property at Death of Spouse. (a) At the death of a spouse domiciled in this Commonwealth, all property then owned by the spouse that was acquired during marriage and before the determination date must be treated as if it were marital property. (b) At the deat…

Abatement. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, shares of distributees abate, without any preference or priority as between real and personal property, in the following order: (1) Property not disposed of by the will; (2) Residuary devises; (3) General devise…

Penalty Clause for Contest. A provision in a will purporting to penalize any interested person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate is unenforceable if probable cause exists for instituting proceedings. Source: PL 3-106, ch. 8, § 2.

Partition for Purposes of Distribution. Unless custom or the provisions of this law require otherwise, when two or more heirs or devisees are entitled to distribution of undivided interests in any real or personal property of the estate, the personal representative or one or more…

Private Agreements. Subject to the rights of creditors and taxing authorities, competent successors may agree among themselves to alter the interests, shares, or amounts to which they are entitled under the will of the decedent, or under the laws of intestacy, in any way that the…