(A) A party seeking to offer one or more documents into evidence without testimony or certification from a custodian or other qualified witness to establish the authenticity of the document or to establish either that the document is not hearsay or satisfies the requirements of an exception to the hearsay rule must file and electronically serve on other parties a Notice of Intent to Offer. Appendix 3 or another document containing the same information must be used.
§ 6-2208.Pretrial determination of authenticity and hearsay Objections to admissibility of documents.
Article 22: Rules for County Court Expedited Civil Actions · Last amended January 1, 2022 · Last verified July 22, 2026
In one sentence§ 6-2208 lets a party offer a document into evidence without a live authenticating witness by filing a Notice of Intent to Offer, gives an opposing party 30 days to object on authenticity or hearsay grounds, and requires good-faith conferral before either side asks the court to rule.
Full Text of § 6-2208
(B) A party objecting to any document listed in a Notice of Intent to Offer on the basis of authenticity or hearsay must file and electronically serve on all parties an Objection to Intent to Offer within 30 days after service of the Notice of Intent to Offer. Appendix 4 or another document containing the same information must be used.
(C) If an objection is made, the parties must in good faith confer to resolve the matter. In attempting to resolve the matter, the parties must consider the mandate of § 25-2747(1) of the Act: parties “should stipulate to factual and evidentiary matters to the greatest extent possible.” If the parties are unable to resolve the matter, either party may file a motion for a ruling on the objection. In its motion, the party must include a certification that the party conferred or attempted to confer with the other party to resolve the dispute without court action. If the court sustains the objection, a party is not precluded from offering the document at trial with testimony or certification from a custodian or other qualified witness.
Amendment History
§ 6-2208 adopted December 8, 2021, effective January 1, 2022; § 6-2208 amended December 22, 2021, effective January 1, 2022.
Plain-English Summary
§ 6-2208 streamlines one of the more time-consuming parts of a trial: proving up documents. Ordinarily, a party needs a custodian or other qualified witness to establish that a document is authentic and either is not hearsay or fits a hearsay exception. Under this rule, a party can skip that live testimony by filing and electronically serving a Notice of Intent to Offer, using Appendix 3 or an equivalent document, identifying the documents it plans to offer this way.
An opposing party is not stuck accepting the document at face value. It can file and serve an Objection to Intent to Offer, using Appendix 4 or an equivalent, within 30 days of the notice, challenging authenticity or hearsay. If that happens, the rule requires the parties to confer in good faith to try to resolve it, pointing them to the Act’s own instruction that parties “should stipulate to factual and evidentiary matters to the greatest extent possible.” Only if that conferral fails does either side get to file a motion asking the court to rule, and that motion has to certify that the party tried to work it out first.
Losing the objection does not end the matter for good. If the court sustains an objection, the offering party is not barred from bringing that same document in at trial the traditional way, with a custodian or other qualified witness to establish authenticity and admissibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a witness to authenticate every document I plan to offer at trial?
Not necessarily. A party can file a Notice of Intent to Offer to admit a document without a custodian or other qualified witness to establish authenticity or address hearsay.
How do I object to a document offered without a sponsoring witness?
File and electronically serve an Objection to Intent to Offer, using Appendix 4 or an equivalent, within 30 days after service of the Notice of Intent to Offer.
What happens if I miss the 30-day deadline to object to a Notice of Intent to Offer?
The rule ties the objection right to that 30-day window, so an objection filed after that window would fall outside what the rule permits.
Do the parties have to talk before asking the court to rule on an authenticity objection?
Yes. The parties must confer in good faith to try to resolve the objection, and a motion for a ruling must certify that this conferral occurred.
If the court agrees a document is inadmissible this way, can I still use it at trial?
Yes. Sustaining the objection does not preclude offering the document at trial with testimony or certification from a custodian or other qualified witness.
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Nebraska Judicial Branch, adopted by the
Supreme Court of Nebraska. Last verified July 22, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as: notice of intent to offer nebraskaauthenticity hearsay objection expedited action6-2208 nebraska ruleappendix 3 appendix 4 expedited civil actionadmitting documents without witness county courtstipulate evidentiary matters expedited action