What is the difference between official records and private records under the business Records and Public Records exceptions?

• A. Official records come from government agencies and may have broader foundations; private records require a business-record foundation and additional criteria.
• B. Official records must be notarized; private records do not.
• C. Private records are always inadmissible.
• D. There is no difference; they are treated the same.

Answer: (B)

The main idea to understand is how admissibility under the records exceptions depends on where the record comes from and what foundation is needed to admit it. Official records are documents created by government agencies in the course of their official duties. Because they come from a public source, they often fit the public- or official-record category and can be authenticated through the custodian or other official channels, sometimes with broader leeway due to the governmental origin.

Private records, by contrast, are records kept by a business or private entity. To admit these under the business records exception, you must establish a specific foundation: the record was made at or near the time of the event, kept in the ordinary course of the business, and created by someone with knowledge of the facts, with a custodian or similarly qualified person testifying to its trustworthiness. This set of criteria helps ensure reliability when the record doesn’t come from a government source.

Notarization isn’t the defining factor in these distinctions. The key difference is the origin (government versus private) and the corresponding foundation required for admissibility.