Loni J. Hodge is a seasoned attorney with nearly two decades of legal experience, practicing law since 2006. She brings a diverse background in family law, child welfare, employment law, and public defense across multiple states. Known for her ethical advocacy and commitment to client outcomes, Ms. Hodge delivers compassionate legal support while maintaining high professional standards.
“My adherence to ethical rules while zealously advocating for my clients sets me apart.”
Litigation Attorney Don Anque was admitted to the State Bar of New Mexico in 2019. With over 20 trials under his belt, Don now brings his experience in criminal prosecution and family law to Cordell and Cordell. He successfully resolved complex cases involving domestic violence and aggravated battery, demonstrating his strategic prowess and commitment to justice. Aside from his professional achievements, his academic achievements include multiple awards from the University of California, Riverside and Syracuse University. He also obtained a certificate of study in Bioethics from Yale University.
Albuquerque divorce lawyer Tamara Hoffstatter explains New Mexico residency requirements for divorce and when someone can file for divorce in New Mexico.
Cordell & Cordell Albuquerque divorce lawyer Tamara Hoffstatter explains the circumstances that would prompt the need to hire a family law attorney.
Courts are given broad authority to award and modify spousal support in New Mexico both during the divorce and after.
The consideration is made on a case by case basis, with the courts looking at what seems just and proper given the circumstances of the case, and by examining several aspects of what constitutes the “need” of a party for spousal support and the “ability” of the other party to pay spousal support.
The Supreme Court in Chavez v. Chavez, 82 NM624 (1971), recognized that there is a right to support that each party in a marriage is able to enjoy and take comfort in, and the awarding of spousal support is a continuation or substitution of that enjoyment or comfort.
New Mexico spousal support is not meant to be a penalty against the paying party, and in fact, the award of spousal support is to be made without regard to fault or marital misconduct.
Factors the court will consider in determining if spousal support is appropriate in a case include, but are not limited to:
If the court determines that spousal support should be paid to a party, the award of spousal support will take one of the following forms, based on the specific circumstances of the case:
The court routinely favors rehabilitative spousal support over other forms of spousal support, but again, the determination of whether rehabilitative maintenance should be ordered is made on a case by case analysis.
After your divorce is final, spousal support may be modified if a “substantial change in circumstances” arises, and usually automatically terminates on death, remarriage, and expiration of the time ordered in the Divorce Judgment.
Spousal support is deemed to be income to the receiving spouse, and is reportable income for tax purposes, while the spouse who pays the spousal support is allowed to deduct the payments made on his income tax returns.
If you are facing divorce in New Mexico, you should contact a New Mexico spousal support lawyer to ensure your rights are protected. Cordell & Cordell Albuquerque divorce lawyers are licensed to practice throughout the state and are available for consultations should you seek additional information or possible legal representation. Please call 1-866-323-7529 to schedule an appointment.
Sadly, despite many years of marriage and many months of trying to “make things work” when things seem to be falling apart, the technical requirement that must be met in order to qualify for a New Mexico divorce is a simple showing of “incompatibility.”
New Mexico does allow for some fault allegations as a basis for obtaining a divorce (cruel and inhuman treatment, adultery, or abandonment), but the outcome of the divorce case based on fault allegations will not differ from the outcome of a divorce case based on no-fault. Fault and misconduct simply do not factor into a judge’s decision regarding divorce.
The New Mexico District Court has jurisdiction to grant a divorce when, at the time of filing the petition for dissolution of marriage, either party has resided in New Mexico for at least six months immediately prior to the filing of the petition.
The petition is filed in the county in which either spouse resides. The party who files the petition is the “petitioner” and the party who is served with the petition is the “respondent.”
While it is not mandatory in terms of achieving success in your divorce, being the party who files the petition gives some leverage in terms of being able to obtain temporary orders to, among other things, prevent your spouse from incurring additional debt, disposing of or selling community property, or preventing your spouse from keeping your children from you.
The necessity of such orders, and the pros and cons of being the spouse to file the petition, are beyond the scope of this current article, but can be discussed in detail with a New Mexico divorce lawyer.
If you are a man facing divorce in New Mexico, you should contact a New Mexico divorce lawyer to ensure your rights are protected.
Cordell & Cordell Albuquerque divorce lawyers are licensed to practice throughout the state and are available for consultations should you seek additional information or possible legal representation. Please call 1-866-323-7529 to schedule an appointment.
While there are certain steps necessary to obtaining a divorce and beginning the New Mexico divorce process that are common to all cases and a general flow that applies to every case, no one divorce proceeding is the same.
The length of time it takes to get a divorce and the different steps that have to be taken during that time can be greatly influenced by the parties negotiating and discussing ways to settle the issues in the case.
Cordell & Cordell New Mexico divorce attorneys typically encourage their clients to take charge of their divorce case and not allow the major decisions that will need to be made before the divorce is final to be left in the hands of a Judge who knows absolutely nothing about him and his family other than what he can read in court documents and what he hears during a brief period of testimony in the courtroom.
When parties are unable to work together to settle their differences, various methods of alternative dispute resolution are available to assist the parties in reaching a settlement.
Settling the issues in a divorce case without a trial saves the parties a great deal of time and money. This allows the parties to obtain the final divorce decree with as little disruption to their family as possible. It also minimizes the third party involvement of the courts in making decisions about a person’s life.
Although it is impossible to give a specific or detailed timeline of all of the steps that will comprise a particular divorce case, generally speaking, spouses can assume that at the very least the following will occur as part of the New Mexico divorce process:
The most expensive and time-consuming parts of a divorce are the discovery period and trial. These are also the parts of the divorce case that can be most easily avoided by the parties communicating and working together to come to an agreement about child custody and timesharing, property division, and the financial matters involved in the marriage.
If at all possible, leave the decision-making about your children’s and your own futures in your hands – don’t leave it to the court’s gavel.
If you are facing divorce in New Mexico, you should contact a New Mexico divorce lawyer to ensure your rights are protected. Cordell & Cordell Albuquerque divorce lawyers are licensed to practice throughout the state and are available for consultations should you seek additional information or possible legal representation. Please call 1-866-323-7529 to schedule an appointment.
Getting a divorce can be a complicated and time consuming process, but the lawyers at Cordell and Cordell can help make the process easier and ensure you get the best possible outcome for your case. Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about divorce in New Mexico.
In a New Mexico divorce, there is a rebuttable presumption that all property that is acquired during marriage, with the exception of inheritances and gifts, is community property and is therefore subject to an equal division between the parties. This is assumed, irrespective of in whose name the community property is titled.
Along with a house, cars, and furnishings, community property can include the following types of property:
Separate property typically includes:
However, separate property becomes community property in New Mexico when it is commingled with community property and is unable to be traced.
For example, an inheritance received by one spouse which would normally be treated as separate property will likely be considered community property if the inheritance money were deposited into a joint checking account held with the other spouse or if those funds were used to pay marital bills.
Further, property is more than just a tangible asset. For purposes of a divorce settlement, property also includes the debt that needs to be divided.
All debts that occurred during the marriage are presumed to be “for the benefit” of the community and are thus community debts. Necessarily, there may also be some debt that is separate debt, as in the case where the debt originated from a separate property purchase or encumbrance so long as the purchase was not commingled with community property.
Because community debts are owed by both spouses, creditors may satisfy debt from all community property. Just as in the case of assets, community debts are also equally divided between the parties.
Because emotions run high during a divorce, one or both spouses may blame the misconduct of the other spouse for the break up of the marriage, causing him or her to argue that they are entitled to a greater percentage of the assets or a smaller percentage of the debt because the other spouse “was the one who broke up the marriage” or “was the one who did wrong.”
Just as in the case of establishing grounds for a divorce, fault and misconduct are not considered in the division of community property.
Some of the most drawn-out and most volatile divorces arise when one or both parties are unable to accept the fact, although it may seem unfair, that the wrongdoing of the other spouse will not dictate the division of your community property.
If you are facing divorce in New Mexico, you should contact a New Mexico divorce lawyer to ensure your rights are protected. Cordell & Cordell Albuquerque divorce lawyers are licensed to practice throughout the state and are available for consultations should you seek additional information or possible legal representation. Please call 1-866-323-7529 to schedule an appointment.
New Mexico has adopted the Child Support Guidelines set forth at NMSA 1978 § 40-4-11.1(B), and the courts assume that the guidelines are correct.
There is a rebuttable presumption that child support should be paid in the amount established by the guidelines, which means the court has little discretion in determining the amount of child support to be paid.
New Mexico child support is calculated based on the income of the parents and the custody and visitation schedule that results from the divorce. Child support laws in New Mexico are enforced in order to spread out the responsibility for the financial care of the children based on how much time each parent is responsible for the children.
Two scenarios usually occur. In the first scenario, one parent has “primary physical custody” or is the “custodial parent” and the other parent has visitation that amounts to spending less than 35% of the children’s lives as the responsible or caretaker parent.
In the second scenario, the parents share an equal or nearly equal period of time as responsible or caretaker parents (at least 35%) and are joint custodians.
While each scenario calls for somewhat different analyses by the court, in either scenario, as a rule of thumb, the parent who spends the smaller percentage of time in visitation or responsible caretaking time is likely going to end up paying child support because that parent is not physically around as much as the other parent to provide for the children’s well-being.
The amount of that child support will take into consideration the income of each party, including any spousal support that a parent pays or receives.
For purposes of the New Mexico child support calculation, income is defined by § 40-4-11.1(C) as the actual gross income of a parent if employed to full capacity or potential income if employed or underemployed.
What constitutes attributable income is also defined, as well as what things are excluded from income, when imputation of income can occur, and the nature and extent to which child support can be modified, will be examined in greater depth in future articles on this website.
If you are facing divorce in New Mexico, you should contact a New Mexico child support lawyer to ensure your rights are protected. Cordell & Cordell Albuquerque divorce lawyers are licensed to practice throughout the state and are available for consultations should you seek additional information or possible legal representation. Please call 1-866-323-7529 to schedule an appointment. Be sure to check out our New Mexico Resources page for additional information.
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