New Mexico 2017 Legislative Report

The 2017 New Mexico Legislature considered over 1000 bills and 43 Constitutional Amendments during its sixty-day session. Two bills of some interest that were approved by both Houses were the Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (UFADA) and the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA).

UFADA is designed to extend the traditional power of a fiduciary to manage tangible property to include management of an individual’s digital assets. The act would allow fiduciaries to manage web domains, computer files, and virtual currency. It still restricts access to texts, email, and social accounts without prior consent from the client.

UPHPA is designed to protect family wealth from real estate speculators. A devise of property that creates tenants-in-common leaves each tenant with the power to force a partition of the property. Occasionally, speculators will purchase a small amount of an heir’s property in order to file a partition action and force a sale. The speculator will then purchase the property at a severe discount, depleting the family’s wealth in the process. UPHPA provides beneficiaries with certain rights in order to prevent this practice.

The Governor has a limited time period to act on most of the legislation approved during the recent session.

See John W. Anderson & Mark Anderson, NMBA Legislative Report, New Mexico Bankers Association, March 20, 2017.