How a Texas Business Records Affidavit Works in Court

A Texas business records affidavit lets you put invoices, account statements, medical bills, contracts, and similar documents into evidence without calling a live witness to the stand. Under Texas Rule of Evidence 902(10), the records become self-authenticating once you attach them to a proper affidavit and serve the other parties at least 14 days before trial.¹ Get the form or the timing wrong and the records can be excluded, no matter how legitimate they are.

What the Affidavit Must Contain

Rule 902(10)(B) sets out a template with six numbered statements. The exact wording is not mandatory, but the substance has to be there.¹ A sufficient affidavit establishes:

That the signer is the custodian of records, an employee, or an owner of the business, and is familiar with how the organization creates and maintains its records.
The number of pages attached and that they are originals or exact duplicates.
That the records were made at or near the time of each event, or that it was the business’s regular practice to make such records near the time of the event.
That the records were made by, or from information provided by, people with personal knowledge of what they describe.
That the records were kept as part of a regularly conducted business activity.
That creating this type of record was a regular practice of the business.

Include the full case caption at the top: cause number, court, and party names. Label the attachments cleanly, usually as Exhibit A or in a sequential series, and make sure every page is legible. One small detail that trips people up: the page count stated in the affidavit must match the actual number of pages attached. A mismatch is a free objection for the other side.

Who Can Sign It

The affiant must be the custodian of records or another person who understands the organization’s record-keeping system.¹ That person does not need to have personally created the documents or witnessed the underlying transactions. What matters is familiarity with how records are generated and stored.

An office manager who oversees the filing system qualifies, even if a different employee entered the data. A bookkeeper familiar with invoicing procedures can sign for billing records she did not personally produce. The test is system-level knowledge, not transaction-level knowledge. The affidavit falls apart when someone with an authoritative title signs for records they do not actually know anything about. If opposing counsel deposes that signer and they cannot describe the process, the affidavit’s credibility goes with them. This comes up often in debt collection, where defendants challenge affidavits signed by employees of a debt buyer rather than the original creditor.

Notarized Affidavit or Unsworn Declaration

You have two format options, and either carries the same legal weight for Rule 902(10) purposes.

The traditional route is a notarized affidavit. Texas Government Code Section 312.011 defines an affidavit as a written statement of facts, signed by the maker, sworn before an officer authorized to administer oaths, and certified under that officer’s seal.² The notary verifies the signer’s identity and administers the oath.

The second route, which many practitioners overlook, is an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury. Rule 902(10)(B) expressly allows it in place of a notarized affidavit.¹ The authority comes from Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 132.001, which permits unsworn declarations wherever a statute or rule requires a sworn statement. The declaration must be in writing, subscribed as true under penalty of perjury, and include the declarant’s name, date of birth, address, county, and state of execution.³

An unsworn declaration is especially useful when your records custodian is out of town or out of state and getting them to a notary adds delay. A false statement in either format exposes the signer to perjury charges just the same.

The 14-Day Service Deadline

The most common procedural mistake with business records affidavits is missing the service deadline. Under the current version of Rule 902(10)(A), you must serve the affidavit and the records on every other party at least 14 days before trial. Service can be made by any method allowed under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21a, which includes electronic service through the court’s e-filing system, personal delivery, and mail.¹

Note the distinction: the rule requires service on the other parties, not filing with the court. You will still file the affidavit and records with the court as part of your trial exhibits, but the 14-day clock runs on service to opposing counsel. Serve on day 13 and the deadline is blown even if the clerk had the filing weeks earlier.

If you are working from older form books or templates, update your timeline. The prior version of the rule required 30 days. The current rule, effective September 1, 2025, cut that to 14.

Good Cause Exception

Missing the 14-day deadline is not automatically fatal. For good cause shown, the court may order that the business records be treated as presumptively authentic despite late service.¹ This is discretionary. Judges tend to be more sympathetic when the delay came from something genuinely outside your control than when it reflects poor calendaring. Do not plan around this safety valve.

After Service, Before Trial

Once the other side has the affidavit and records and the 14-day period passes without a successful challenge, the records are treated as authenticated. At trial, you can offer them into evidence without calling a foundation witness. The judge can still exclude them on other grounds such as relevance, but the authentication hurdle is cleared.

How the Other Side Can Fight It

A business records affidavit is not bulletproof. The opposing party has several ways to attack it.

The most common challenge is a trustworthiness objection under Rule 803(6)(E). Even if the affidavit is technically proper, the opponent can argue that the source of the information or the way the records were prepared makes them unreliable.¹ The burden sits with the party opposing admission. They have to point to something specific: irregularities in how data was entered, evidence that records were altered, or a demonstrated motive to fabricate.

Opponents can also attack the affidavit on technical grounds. If the signer does not adequately establish familiarity with the record-keeping system, if the page count is wrong, or if service was late without a good-cause ruling, the records may be excluded.

The opposing party can also demand live testimony from the affiant. If that happens, your records custodian may need to appear for cross-examination, which defeats much of the convenience the affidavit was supposed to provide. It is a legitimate tactical move, and it is one more reason your signer needs to be someone who can actually explain the record-keeping process under questioning.

Penalties for a False Affidavit

Signing a business records affidavit that contains false statements is perjury under Texas Penal Code Section 37.02, whether you used a notarized affidavit or an unsworn declaration. The statute covers both false statements made under oath and false unsworn declarations made under Chapter 132 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Perjury is a Class A misdemeanor, carrying up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.⁴

The criminal exposure is only part of it. A court that discovers fraudulent records can impose civil sanctions, strike the records from evidence, and potentially dismiss claims or enter default judgment against the offending party. The practical risk is highest when a custodian signs for records they never reviewed or for a system they do not understand.

Where These Affidavits Get Used

Business records affidavits appear constantly in Texas courts. Debt collection lawsuits are probably the most frequent setting, with creditors and debt buyers using them to authenticate account statements, payment histories, and original credit agreements. Medical billing disputes, landlord-tenant cases, contract claims, and insurance litigation all lean heavily on records that would be impractical to prove through live testimony.

The mechanism is not limited to for-profit businesses. The definition reaches “every kind of regular organized activity whether conducted for profit or not.”¹ Church records, nonprofit accounting files, and school attendance logs can all come in through Rule 902(10) if the affidavit requirements are met. The question is always whether the record was made and kept as part of a routine activity, not whether the organization is a traditional business.

1
Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Evidence Effective September 1, 2025
2
State of Texas. Texas Government Code GOV’T 312.011
3
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code CIV PRAC and REM 132.001
4
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 37.02 Perjury