New Mexico Legal Protections for Veterans and Military Families

Reemployment. Section 28-15-1 requires a private employer to restore a person who left a non-temporary job for military service, with no more than five years of cumulative absence, who applies within ninety days of release, to the same or a like position unless the employer's circumstances make it impossible or unreasonable; a public employer must restore the person outright. Section 28-15-2 counts the service as leave and forbids discharge without cause for a year after restoration. Custody. The Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, sections 40-10D-1 to 40-10D-9, requires a deploying parent to give notice within seven days of learning of a deployment, lets the parents make a temporary agreement, keeps the deploying parent's residence unchanged for jurisdiction, requires an expedited hearing when a motion is filed before deployment, and forbids a court to consider "a parent's past deployment or possible future deployment in itself" in deciding the child's best interest (section 40-10D-6). The Department of Veterans' Services' benefits page says custody arrangements "cannot be modified while a parent is deployed" and all issues "must wait"; the Act instead provides for temporary orders and expedited hearings. Discharge papers. Section 14-8-17 requires county clerks to record free the discharge papers of anyone who served thirty days or more. Section 14-8-9.1, subsection E makes recorded discharge papers available only to the veteran, the next of kin, the personal representative, a holder of the veteran's general power of attorney, or someone the veteran designates in an acknowledged statement; papers recorded before July 1, 2005 may be inspected but not copied by third parties. Lying about service. Section 20-11-5.1 makes it a misdemeanour to misrepresent oneself as having served or serving in the armed forces "for the intentional taking of anything of value". A conservator of last resort. Section 9-22-16 lets the Department of Veterans' Services act, for no fee, as personal representative of a deceased veteran, conservator of a veteran's minor child or of an incompetent veteran, or conservator for a resident to whom VA owes money payable only to a conservator.