Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
New Mexico · Southeastern New Mexico · #501
Chaves County, New Mexico
In the Pecos River valley of southeastern New Mexico, Roswell is known to the world for an incident in 1947 that the U.S. Army initially called a flying disc before revising its account - a story the city has embraced so completely that UFO tourism has become a genuine economic pillar alongside dairy farming and oil production.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Chaves County/City of Roswell Emergency Management – confirm current contact via chavescounty.gov (redirects to roswell-nm.gov/272/Emergency-Management).
Dispatch: Pecos Valley Regional Communications Center (PVRCC) – provides unified 911 dispatch for Roswell PD, Chaves County Sheriff, the towns of Dexter, Hagerman, and Lake Arthur, city/county fire, and Superior Ambulance.
Sheriff: Chaves County Sheriff’s Office – 1 St. Mary’s Place, Roswell, NM 88203 | (575) 624-6500 | Non-emergency: (575) 624-7950 | Fax: (575) 624-6518; Sheriff Mike Herrington.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-70, US-285, and US-380 serve Roswell, the county seat and New Mexico’s fifth-most populous city.
Notes: Chaves County, created 1889 out of Lincoln County land, is named for Colonel José Francisco Chaves, a Civil War and Navajo-campaign military leader. Roswell, founded 1871, is home to New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI), founded 1891.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Chaves County Planning and Zoning – assigns rural addresses and administers E911; confirm current phone via chavescounty.gov.
Notes: Roswell is genuinely, world-famously the site of the 1947 “Roswell Incident” – rancher W.W. “Mac” Brazel discovered unusual debris on his property, which he brought to Sheriff George Wilcox at the back of the Chaves County Courthouse. Roswell Army Air Field’s intelligence officer Major Jesse Marcel investigated, and on July 8, 1947, base public information officer Lt. Walter Haut issued a press release stating the military had recovered a “flying disc” – retracted the next day as a weather balloon (later identified by the Air Force as part of the classified Project Mogul). The event remains one of the best-documented UFO-conspiracy stories in American history and is preserved today at the International UFO Museum and Research Center on Main Street.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Chaves County Veterans Service Office – PO Box 254, Roswell, NM 88202; confirm current phone via chavescounty.gov.
Federal: Albuquerque VA Medical Center (long distance).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current library address/hours via chavescounty.gov or roswell-nm.gov; the International UFO Museum and Research Center also maintains an on-site research library.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The International UFO Museum and Research Center, Bottomless Lakes State Park (sinkhole-formed lakes), Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge (migratory bird sanctuary, including sandhill cranes and snow geese), Spring River Park and Zoo, and the Roswell Museum and Art Center are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine, world-famous 1947 Roswell Incident and its documented military/press-release timeline are among the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Chaves County Assessor – confirm current contact via chavescounty.gov.
Chaves County Animal Control – PO Box 1396, Roswell, NM 88202 | (575) 624-6500.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Chaves County Flood Commission (established 1971) and Chaves County Public Works – confirm current contact via chavescounty.gov.
NOTES: Chaves County is the third county in the New Mexico v3 A+ sourced redo’s first batch (Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca). The genuine, world-famous 1947 Roswell Incident is one of the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Chaves County
Chaves County’s Roswell occupies one of the most unusual positions in American geography: a mid-sized southeastern New Mexico city that has turned a contested 1947 military incident into a complete tourism economy. The International UFO Museum and Research Center draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually; the Roswell UFO Festival each July transforms the city into a gathering of believers, skeptics, and the curious from around the world. Whatever one believes about the 1947 Roswell incident, its economic consequences for the county are empirically real and ongoing.
The county’s actual economic base is more earthbound: southeastern New Mexico’s Pecos Valley dairy industry is one of the most concentrated in the United States, and Chaves County is a significant milk production county. Oil and natural gas from the Permian Basin’s eastern extension contribute to the local tax base. Eastern New Mexico University’s Roswell campus provides higher education access. New Mexico Military Institute, a state-supported military school, is one of the oldest military academies in the country and has been educating students in Roswell since 1891. The county’s high desert terrain – Bottomless Lakes State Park, the Pecos River floodplain – provides outdoor recreation.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
New Mexico assesses property at one-third of assessed value (which is one-third of market value, making the effective assessment ratio approximately 33%). Property owners may appeal to the County Assessor and then to the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. New Mexico offers property tax rebates for low-income seniors 65 or older. New Mexico has no estate or inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
SENIOR SERVICES
Southeast New Mexico Community Action – Aging Services
PO Box 218, Roswell, NM 88202
Phone: (575) 624-9515
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, caregiver support, and long-term care counseling for Chaves County residents.
Senior Services
Southeast New Mexico Community Action – Aging Services
PO Box 218, Roswell, NM 88202
Phone: (575) 624-9515
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, caregiver support, and long-term care counseling for Chaves County residents.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
400 N. Virginia Ave., Roswell, NM 88201
(575) 624-6614
COUNTY CLERK — ELECTIONS
400 N. Virginia Ave., Roswell, NM 88201
(575) 624-6614
Genealogy
PRIMARY STATEWIDE RESEARCH CENTERS (same across all New Mexico counties)
New Mexico State Records Center and Archives, 1205 Camino Carlos Rey, Santa Fe, NM 87507.
New Mexico Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 8283, Albuquerque, NM 87198.
County-level record sources
Chaves County Probate Court, Roswell (probate case files – see Probate section above).
The 1911 Chaves County Courthouse, NRHP-listed, is a significant local landmark.
Local societies
No dedicated Chaves County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Chaves County Probate Court #1 St. Mary’s Place, Suite 110, Roswell, NM 88203 (575) 624-6614
Chaves County was founded February 25, 1889, named for Colonel José Francisco Chaves, in southeastern New Mexico, seated in Roswell. The 1911 Chaves County Courthouse, designed by architect Isaac Hamilton Rapp, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
New Mexico adopted the Uniform Probate Code. New Mexico has a dual court system: the county PROBATE COURT handles informal, uncontested probate matters with minimal court involvement, and has concurrent jurisdiction with the DISTRICT COURT over informal proceedings. The District Court alone handles formal probate – contested cases, determinations of heirship, and trust matters.
Small Estate Affidavit / Affidavit of Successor in Interest (N.M. Stat. § 45-3-1201) – available when the value of the entire estate (after liens and encumbrances) does not exceed $50,000 and does NOT include any real property. At least 30 days must have passed since death. This skips probate court entirely – the affidavit is presented directly to banks, the DMV, or other institutions holding the property.
Homestead Transfer Affidavit for Surviving Spouse (N.M. Stat. § 45-3-1205) – available 6 months after death, when the surviving spouse and decedent owned a homestead as community property valued at $500,000 or less (for property tax purposes). The affidavit is recorded with the county clerk and can avoid formal probate for the residence, but only if funeral expenses, expenses of last illness, and all unsecured debts have already been paid.
Informal Probate – the most common path for uncontested estates, filed with either the Probate Court or the District Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled. No hearing required.
Formal Probate – required for contested cases, disputes over heirship, or trust matters. Only the District Court can hear these.
Step 2: filing for informal or formal probate
File a petition with the Probate Court or District Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled. A probate may be started up to 3 years after death.
The court appoints the personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative notifies creditors; New Mexico’s creditor claim period is 2 months from notice to creditors – one of the shortest in the country.
The personal representative inventories the estate’s assets, pays debts and expenses, and distributes the remaining assets according to the will or New Mexico’s intestacy statute.
The estate is closed, typically within 6 to 12 months for straightforward, uncontested cases.
What it costs
The filing fee for probate in Probate Court is generally around $30 – notably lower than in most states. District Court filing fees run higher, commonly $100–$232 depending on the county and complexity.
New Mexico does not set a fixed statutory percentage for personal representative compensation; courts typically look to a reasonable guideline of about 2–4% of the estate’s value.
New Mexico has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
400 N. Virginia Ave., Roswell, NM 88201
(575) 624-6700
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK — ELECTIONS
400 N. Virginia Ave., Roswell, NM 88201
(575) 624-6614
ELECTIONS
400 N. Virginia Ave., Roswell, NM 88201
(575) 624-6614
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
NM HSD — Chaves
(575) 624-6000
Chaves County Regional Medical Center
crmcroswell.com (Roswell — quality regional hospital; major southeast NM anchor)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Chaves County Indigent Health Care Program – confirm current contact via chavescounty.gov.
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
Editorial Trust
5 official sources cited
Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Roswell
Population: 65,000
Area: 6,071 sq mi
Established: 1889
Tier: 4
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Chaves County facilities via Amazon.
