Power of Attorney Translation in Georgia

Foreign powers of attorney used in Georgia

The most frequent request is a power of attorney signed abroad by someone who needs a relative, lawyer or business partner to act for them in Georgia: to sell or buy an apartment, to accept an inheritance, to register or manage a company, to represent them in court, to collect documents from the Public Service Development Agency, or to deal with a bank. A foreign PoA is accepted by Georgian notaries, the National Agency of Public Registry, banks and courts only when it has been certified by a notary in the country where it was signed, apostilled or legalized there, and translated into Georgian with the translation notarized in Georgia.

We translate PoAs from the countries that send the most to Georgia: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Israel, Germany, Italy, Greece, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Gulf states and Iran. Formats differ enormously. A Russian or Ukrainian notarial PoA is a structured document with a register number and the notary's standard certification; an American PoA may be a state-form document with a notary acknowledgment and a county clerk's certification before the apostille; a Gulf PoA may be a bilingual Arabic-English court document with a chain of stamps; a German Vollmacht comes with a Beglaubigungsvermerk. Every stamp, certification and apostille in that chain is translated, because the Georgian notary checks the whole chain, not only the operative text.

Georgian practice also has its own expectations about content. A PoA for a property sale should identify the property by its cadastral code, a PoA for company matters should name the company with its identification number, and a general PoA should still state the powers explicitly enough for the registry to accept a specific transaction. When a foreign PoA is vague on these points, we say so before translating, so that the principal can have a corrected document drafted rather than discovering the problem at the registry.

Georgian powers of attorney used abroad

In the other direction, Georgian citizens and companies grant powers of attorney for use abroad: to a relative selling property in Russia, Ukraine or Kazakhstan, to a lawyer handling an inheritance in Greece or Italy, to a representative collecting a pension or documents in Germany, to a partner registering a subsidiary in Turkey or the UAE, or to an agent handling a visa or court matter. The PoA is drawn up before a Georgian notary in Georgian, and to be accepted abroad it needs an apostille from the Public Service Development Agency (or consular legalization for non-Hague countries) and a translation into the language of the destination.

Two practical points come up repeatedly. First, several destination countries want the translation done by a sworn translator in that country rather than a notarized translation from Georgia; Russia and Ukraine generally accept Georgian notarized translations, while Germany, Italy and Spain sometimes do not for registry matters. We tell you when we know that a destination is strict. Second, some foreign notaries and registries prefer a bilingual PoA drawn up in two columns from the start, which a Georgian notary can certify if the translation is prepared before the signing. We can prepare the bilingual text in advance and attend the signing with an interpreter, which avoids a second round of translation and apostille.

Scope of authority: why wording is checked clause by clause

A power of attorney is not read for general meaning but for the specific acts it permits. The difference between "to sell" and "to sell at a price and on terms at the attorney's discretion", between "to represent before all institutions" and "to represent before the National Agency of Public Registry", or between "to manage" and "to dispose of" decides whether a transaction goes through. Legal systems also use different structures: Georgian and post-Soviet PoAs list powers in long enumerations, common-law PoAs use broader formulations with defined terms, and Gulf PoAs may include religious-law phrasing. Our translators work from the legal effect, not from a dictionary, and keep the enumeration structure so that the Georgian notary or the foreign registry can tick off each power.

We also check the formal elements that registries reject documents for: the principal's and attorney's full names and identification numbers matching their passports, the validity period and any revocation clause, the right of substitution (whether the attorney may delegate), the date and place of signing, the notary's name and register number, and the exact wording of the notarial certification. Where a term has no equivalent in the target legal system, we give the closest functional term and preserve the original in brackets with a short translator's note.

Consents, declarations, affidavits and other notarial acts

The same procedure covers the other notarial documents that cross borders: parental consent for a child to travel or to live abroad with one parent, consent of a spouse to a property sale, declarations of marital status for a marriage abroad, affidavits of support for visa applications, statutory declarations for foreign courts, inheritance acceptance and renunciation declarations, and board resolutions certified by a notary for foreign registries. Each is translated in full with its certification chain and notarized in Georgia for use here, or apostilled and translated for use abroad.

Parental consents deserve a special note. Border authorities in many countries require a notarized consent from the non-traveling parent, in a language the border officer can read, and the wording must match the child's passport and the travel dates. We translate these quickly, usually the same day, and can advise on the format that airlines and border agencies most readily accept.

Signing a Georgian notarial act as a foreigner: interpreter support

Georgian notarial acts are drawn up in Georgian, and a person who does not understand Georgian can sign one only with the participation of an interpreter, whose presence and identity the notary records in the act. We provide interpreters for notarial signings in Tbilisi in English, Russian, Turkish, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and other languages, for powers of attorney, sale agreements, company documents and declarations. The interpreter reads the act to the signatory in their language, translates the notary's questions and confirms understanding. If the client wants a written translation of the act to keep, we prepare it from the notary's draft before the appointment. Details of this service are on our interpretation page.

A foreign PoA in a common language pair is usually translated and notarized within one working day once the original with its apostille is available in Tbilisi. Georgian PoAs for abroad follow the apostille timeline, and we can obtain the apostille on the client's behalf. Everything can be arranged remotely for principals outside Georgia, with courier delivery of the finished document to the attorney.

What to send for a power of attorney translation

Scan every page of the PoA, including the notarial certification, any intermediate certifications and the apostille or legalization. Send the passports of the principal and the attorney so that names and identification numbers match. Tell us the transaction it will be used for and the institution that will receive it; if it is for property, include the cadastral code, and if it is for a company, the company identification number.