Judicial Notice and Handwriting

Judicial notice, where a Judge notices a fact not subject to reasonable dispute (think of a day from the calendar years ago to be the first Tuesday in a November) can sometimes be taken regarding handwriting, but it depends on the circumstances and the jurisdiction. Judicial notice is typically reserved for facts that are either generally known or verifiably certain.

However, beware as Evidence Rule 901 has a very specific requirement for authenticating evidence, where a nonexpert (such as a judge) must be familiar with the writing at issue to testify about it, if a layperson, outside of the purposes of litigation.  When handwriting is a critical piece of evidence in your case, make sure you have advocacy on this front, to consider what witnesses are appropriate and if you should object to judicial notice, if there is a reasonable dispute on the issue.