Rule 705.Judicial Notice of Facts and Foreign Law

Rule 705 covers two different things that share a name.

Adjudicative facts

The court must take judicial notice as provided by law. It may notice a fact not subject to reasonable dispute because it is generally known within the court's territorial jurisdiction or can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.

The court may notice on its own; it must if a party requests and supplies the necessary information. Notice may be taken at any stage.

Court records must be identified

Subsection (b)(2)(C) is the provision that catches practitioners. When noticing records, exhibits, or transcripts from the court file — in the same case or another — the court must identify the specific documents or items noticed. And a party requesting it must identify the specific items, or offer to the court and serve on all parties copies of those items.

"The court file" is not a request. Family cases accumulate years of filings and often run alongside protection order and modification files; the rule forces a party to name what it wants noticed so the record on appeal shows what the court actually considered.

Being heard, and the effect

On timely request a party is entitled to be heard on the propriety of taking notice and the nature of the fact — and still entitled if the court took notice before notifying the party. Then the consequence: the noted fact is a conclusive finding. Not a presumption, not evidence to be weighed. That is why the opportunity to be heard matters.

The law of another state

A party intending to ask the court to notice the statutes or laws of a foreign state must submit a memorandum citing the foreign law to the court and opposing counsel at least 14 days before trial or hearing. The court may deny the request for failure to submit one. The opposing attorney may reply within 7 days of service.

This comes up constantly in family law — a marriage, divorce, custody order or support order from another state, or a foreign premarital agreement. Rule 705(c) is what makes it usable, and the 14-day memorandum is the price.