New Mexico Is a Community Property State. Know the Rules.

New Mexico's acequia system gives local ditch associations veto power over water right transfers, and no other state in the country has this rule.

The PSI exam for New Mexico covers 50 state specific questions alongside 80 national questions, with a passing score of 75%. Community property rules, acequia water law, and adverse possession requirements are three areas where New Mexico diverges from what national prep materials teach, and each one shows up on the state portion.

Community Property Law

New Mexico is one of only nine community property states, and the PSI exam tests a part of that doctrine that most candidates miss entirely: the line between community and separate property when both types of assets exist in the same transaction. The exam doesn't reward overthinking. Just know which assets are community by default, which are separate, and what happens when they get commingled.

New Mexico is one of only nine community property states, meaning both spouses own all marital assets equally, students confuse which property requires both signatures to convey and which is separate, a distinction that dominates the state portion.

The exam will ask which property requires both spouses to sign the deed, which qualifies as separate property, and how commingled assets are characterized. Know where each category begins and ends.

Water Rights (Acequias)

New Mexico's acequia system is a centuries-old community-based water governance structure that no other state replicates, and the NMREC tests it because it directly affects whether a water right transfer is valid. When I taught pre-licensing courses, water rights in community property states were always the topic that took the longest to explain. Add acequia governance on top of that, and you have a section most national prep courses simply skip. Do not skip it.

New Mexico's centuries-old acequia ditch system gives local governing boards veto power over water right transfers, written permission from the acequia association is required before any transfer, a rule found nowhere else in the country.

The exam will ask whether written permission from the acequia association was obtained, what happens if the transfer proceeds without it, and who holds authority to approve or deny the transfer under New Mexico law.

New Mexico's acequia water rights system has no equivalent in Colorado or Texas. The Colorado exam covers prior appropriation and the public trustee, and the Texas exam tests water rights under riparian and appropriation law. Neither state's candidates encounter community-based acequia governance the way New Mexico's do.

Adverse Possession

New Mexico's adverse possession statute includes a tax payment requirement that most national courses never mention, and the NMREC knows candidates skip it. That's exactly why it appears on the exam.

Unlike most states, New Mexico requires the adverse possessor to have paid all property taxes for the entire 10 year statutory period, miss that tax-payment element and you'll miss every adverse possession question.

Know the 10-year statutory period, the requirement to pay all property taxes throughout that period, and what happens if even one year's taxes were unpaid. The exam tests each element of the statute, not just the general concept.