If you cannot make a court hearing on the day of the hearing, immediately call the judge’s office. You must have a very serious reason. Explain to the judge’s staff what the situation is. The judge may grant a continuance, that is, allow the hearing to be reset for another day.

If you know in advance that the court date conflicts with another serious matter, what you do may depend on what type of case it is, whether hearings have been postponed in the past and the type of hearing that is scheduled. This web site cannot advise you about what you should do. You may want to consider rescheduling the other serious matter. You may want to consider contacting an attorney for legal advice. One option would be to ask the court to continue, or postpone, the hearing. To do so, a Motion to Continue must be filed with the court and a proposed Order to Continue submitted with the motion. Before you file your Motion to Continue, you must provide a copy of the motion to the opposing party according to Rule 1-005 of the New Mexico Rules of Civil Procedure. Click here to see Rule 1-005. If your case is in San Juan County, click here to print out Motion to Continue and Order to Continue forms.