A translation bureau for Kulashi - TARGMANEBI's service for a settlement where a document is often needed not for a present-day matter but to connect a family's history. The descendants of families who left Kulashi decades ago now write from Israel, New York and Berlin: they need a grandmother's birth record for citizenship, a grandfather's property papers for an inheritance, certificates to confirm the family tree, archival extracts from the Soviet period. The relatives who stayed in Kulashi obtain these documents from the archives and send them abroad - translated, certified, apostilled.
Alongside this unusual flow, Kulashi has ordinary paperwork too: families in Europe, students in Kutaisi, farmers, pensioners. Being close to the Samtredia transport hub means the courier reaches Kulashi easily, and anyone who goes to Samtredia anyway can collect the original there too.
Archival and genealogy documents - what we translate
Family history documents come from three eras, and each has its own language and form:
Pre-revolutionary and early Soviet
- Extracts from parish registers of births, marriages and deaths
- Archival records in Russian, in the old orthography
- Property, land and house papers from the 1920s-30s
- Records of repression, deportation and rehabilitation
- Documents on military service and war participation
Late Soviet and the 1990s
- Birth, marriage and death certificates in Russian
- Work books, diplomas, award certificates
- Flat allocation orders, technical passports, cooperative papers
- Documents on emigration, renunciation of citizenship and repatriation
- Court decisions and notarial deeds
Present-day requirements
- Archival certificate in the modern form, for an apostille
- Certificate of kinship to confirm the chain
- Registry extract on a property for an heir abroad
- Renunciation of inheritance or power of attorney from a foreign notary, in Georgian
- A foreign authority's request letter, in Georgian
The main difficulty in translating such documents is names. The same person is written in the old Russian orthography in a parish register, differently in a Soviet passport, and in Latin or Hebrew script in an Israeli or American document - sometimes under an entirely different name. In the translation we link every variant to one person and support this with notes, and a whole family's case is handled by one translator who keeps a table of names - from grandmother to grandchild. Deciphering old orthography, handwriting and faded text is separate work, and we give you the price after it is done - before that, only an estimate.
Inheritance and property - between two countries
When a house or plot remains in Kulashi and the heirs are in three countries, the matter becomes a two-way flow of documents. From the heir abroad comes a power of attorney or a renunciation of inheritance made before a local notary, with an apostille and a Georgian translation, their passport and certificates proving kinship. From Kulashi they receive the death certificate, the certificate of inheritance, the Public Registry extract and the notary's letters in a language they understand - some notarized, for an authority, some for information, so they understand. Israeli and US inheritance cases often involve a local lawyer who needs English translations of the Georgian documents - we prepare these in the same package.
Citizenship and repatriation
For descendants, archival documents are often the path to citizenship - of Israel, of European countries or, the other way round, of Georgia. A foreign authority asks for an ancestor's birth, marriage and ethnicity records, the chain of kinship across generations and certificates of emigration or citizenship - with an apostille and translation. To restore Georgian citizenship, foreign documents are translated into Georgian. Which authority asks for which form differs by country; we explain the authority's letter to you in Georgian and fit the package to it, without translating unnecessary documents.
Kulashi families today
Beyond history, Kulashi has a present-day life and present-day paperwork - for embassies, Kutaisi University, banks and the Pension Agency. Often both come together in one order: an archival request from Israel and the same family's child's school certificate for Europe go with the same courier. Being close to the Samtredia market also adds small trade documents - invoices and certificates for customs.
Languages in orders from Kulashi
Because of the archival documents, Russian outweighs every other language in Kulashi - for translation into Georgian and deciphering the old orthography. For relatives abroad, English dominates - authorities and lawyers in Israel, the US and Canada work in English - along with German. In the European family direction Italian, Greek and Polish appear; French, Spanish, Dutch, Czech, Ukrainian, Turkish, Arabic and Chinese come up in individual cases. For documents in Hebrew, call us first - we will confirm availability and timing after seeing them; most Israeli documents also have an English version.
The process for a family history case
Every page, wherever you are
An archival certificate from Kulashi, an authority's letter from Israel, a certificate from Berlin - all in one chat, by WhatsApp or by email to info@targmanebi.ge. Photograph both sides and the edges of an old document - that is where the stamps are.
Who is asking and what chain
Tell us which authority or lawyer is asking and who you are linking to whom - a grandmother to a grandchild, a brother to a brother. We draw up the table of names from the very start.
Deciphering, translation, notes
We decipher and assess the old text first, then translate it with notes on the name variants; for an authority - notarized and apostilled, for a lawyer - often with the bureau stamp.
Wherever it is needed
Files go to every participant as soon as they are finished; the original goes by courier to Kulashi or Samtredia, to the Tbilisi office, or abroad by international post, as agreed.
Price and deadlines
There is no surcharge for orders from Kulashi, and the price is always by agreement. An old, handwritten document in the old orthography costs more than a modern certificate because of the deciphering, and we name its price after seeing the document - not blindly over the phone. A one-page certificate with notarization is in your hands in two to three days, a parish register extract in three to four, a full inheritance package with apostilles in one to two weeks. Payment and invoicing are possible from any country and in the name of any participant. A family's history belongs to the family, and with us no more than two people have access to it - the translator and the case manager. On Kulashi archive cases that manager is the bureau's owner herself, Mariam Zumadze (sole trader, ID 30601010853), who studied chains of inheritance and degrees of kinship as part of her legal education; any confirmed inaccuracy is corrected free of charge.
A grandmother's parish register entry, a grandfather's house papers, an authority's letter from Israel or a relative's power of attorney - send us a photo from Kulashi or from whichever country you are in. We will see what can be read, tell you the price and run the family's history as one case.
Call: 501 113 200Frequently asked questions - archival and inheritance documents from Kulashi
My cousin in Israel has asked me for our grandmother's birth record for citizenship. Where do I get it and how do I translate it?
You obtain the record from the National Archives or the Public Service Hall as an archival certificate or extract, it receives an apostille and is translated into English with notarization. Send us the authority's request letter - we will tell you which form is needed and which archive issues it.
The certificate is handwritten, from the 1930s, in the old Russian orthography. Will you translate it?
Yes - first we decipher it and establish what can be read, and only then name the price and the deadline. An illegible fragment is marked with a note in the translation, and nothing is written on the basis of a guess - that honesty is exactly what the authority values.
Our grandmother is written under one name in the parish register, another in her passport and a third in Israel. Will the authority treat her as one person?
For that, we link every variant with notes in the translation and, where it exists, attach a document confirming the change of name or the transliteration. The final decision is the authority's, but properly drafted notes make that decision much easier.
A house was left in Kulashi and the heirs are in Israel and America. Where do we start?
A Georgian notary will tell you what is needed from whom - usually a power of attorney or a renunciation from each heir made before a local notary, with an apostille and a Georgian translation. We translate those documents and prepare the Georgian papers - the death certificate, the registry extract - in English for them, as one case.
An American lawyer needs translations of Georgian documents in "certified" form. Is that notarized?
In American practice a "certified translation" often means a translation certified by the translator's statement - our bureau stamp and statement; some lawyers ask for the notarized form as well. Send us the lawyer's requirement and we will prepare exactly that form.
The documents arrive in stages over several months. Does it start from scratch every time?
No - we keep the family's case with the same translator, together with the table of names and previous translations. Every new document is checked against them, so the fifth certificate matches the first exactly, and only the new pages are charged.
Translation bureau in the other cities of Imereti
The approach to archive and inheritance cases is the same across Imereti, but in Kulashi it is needed most often because of where its families have spread. The other city pages cover local focuses and delivery options.