Title 43
SECTION 2542.1
2542.1 Application.
§ 2542.1 Application.(a) Where filed; purchase price required. Applications under the Act of February 23, 1932 must be filed with the authorizing officer of the proper office at Santa Fe, New Mexico, and should be accompanied by payment of the purchase price of the land applied for at the rate of $1.25 per acre.
(b) Form. No special form of application is provided. The application should be in typewritten form or in legible handwriting and must be corroborated by at least two disinterested persons having actual knowledge of the facts alleged therein.
(c) Contents of application. Applicants desiring to take advantage of the benefits of the Act of February 23, 1932, must show the following matters in their applications:
(1) Full name and post-office address of the applicant and whether married or single.
(2) Description of the land for which patent is desired. If surveyed, the land should be described by legal subdivision, section, township, and range. If unsurveyed, the land should be described by metes and bounds.
(3) That the land applied for is contiguous to a Spanish or Mexican land grant. The grant should be identified by name, number, patentee or description of land involved. The points or places at which the land applied for is contiguous to the Spanish or Mexican land grant, must be clearly shown.
(4) That possession of the lands applied for has been maintained for more than 20 years under claim or color of title. If the applicant is claiming as a record owner, he or she will be required to file an abstract of title, certified to by a competent abstractor, showing the record of all conveyances of the land up to the date of the filing of the application. If the applicant is not a record owner and no abstract of title can be furnished, statements must be filed, setting forth the names of all mesne possessors of the land, the periods held by each, giving the dates and manner of acquiring possession of the land, and the acts of dominion exercised over the land by each possessor.
(5) That the lands have been held in good faith and in peaceful, adverse possession. The applicant should show whether or not he and his predecessors in interest have paid taxes on the lands and for what periods of time, and whether any consideration was paid for any conveyances of the land. It should further be shown whether there is any person who is claiming the land adversely to the applicant, and if there be such, the name and address of such adverse claimant should be furnished.
(6) Whether or not valuable improvements have been erected upon the land applied for and whether or not any part of such land has been reduced to cultivation. If improvements have been made, the nature, the value, the exact location, and the time of erection thereof, should be fully disclosed together with the identity of the one who was responsible for erecting such improvements. If any of the land has been reduced to cultivation, the subdivision so claimed to have been reduced must be identified and the amount and nature of the cultivation must be set forth, together with the dates thereof.