New Mexico: Courts decide to obey the laws and post names & dockets of guardianship cases

New Mexico's Supreme Court Justices: (front) Justice Petra Jimenez Maes, Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels , Justice Edward L. Chavez, (back) Justice Barbara J. Vigil , Justice Judith K. Nakamura New Mexico's Supreme Court Justices: (front) Justice Petra Jimenez Maes, Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels , Justice Edward L. Chavez, (back) Justice Barbara J. Vigil , Justice Judith K. Nakamura

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A commission appointed by the New Mexico Supreme Court to study the state’s system of adult guardianships voted Friday to require that docket sheets are posted on a public website.

Dockets, which provide basic information about guardianship cases, filed in state court will appear on the court’s official website, www.nmcourts.com, starting May 23, the New Mexico Adult Guardianship Study Commission decided.

Most records, reports and evidence are confidential under state law in cases where a petition is filed with the court seeking guardianship for an allegedly incapacitated person.

But certain records are supposed to be public under state law, including the docket sheet, the person’s name and the duration of the guardianship, according to state law.

District Judge Wendy York, chairwoman of the commission, said some court clerks have withheld that information. Posting the information online will help ensure that people throughout the state can learn basic information about a guardianship petition, including the name of the presiding judge.

Originally published in the Albuquerque Journal on May 12, 2017