Translation agency Pustomyty

When heirs live in different countries

Sometimes an inheritance is handled in Ukraine while one of the heirs has long lived in Poland, Germany or Italy. It also happens the other way round: a relative has died abroad, and a Ukrainian notary needs proof of it. The documents are translated into the language of the authority handling the case.

The notary or the foreign authority decides which documents are needed, so start with their list. Family ties are shown by birth, marriage and death certificates. If a surname changed after marriage, the marriage certificate explains the difference. We spell names as in the heirs’ international passports, so please add photos of the passports.

Foreign documents for a Ukrainian notary

A death certificate issued abroad, a foreign power of attorney or a foreign court ruling is translated into Ukrainian for a Ukrainian authority. The translator’s signature on such a translation is often certified by a notary. Whether the document also needs an apostille depends on the country that issued it. Ukraine has legal assistance treaties with some countries, and then none is required; the manager will tell you before you pay.

When the certificate is missing

A grandfather’s death certificate or a father’s birth certificate may have been lost long ago. We obtain duplicate civil registry certificates and extracts on your behalf, and copies of court rulings as well. Archive birth certificates and copies of civil registration records from Ukrainian archives need no power of attorney. A tax identification number can be arranged remotely too. If the documents go abroad, we apostille them. More options are on the Document Retrieval page.

Contracts, extracts and powers of attorney for property

An owner who lives abroad may need to sell, give away or re-register a flat, house or plot of land in Ukraine. In that case a trusted representative can act here. We translate a power of attorney signed in another country into Ukrainian, and a Ukrainian one into the language of the country where it will be used.

We also translate sale and gift agreements, register extracts, technical passports of buildings and court rulings in property disputes. The editor separately checks cadastral numbers, areas, amounts and dates against the original. One wrong digit here means a different property or a different sum. More about such texts is on the legal translation page.

Notarised translation, sworn translation and apostille

For many authorities a translation with the agency’s stamp is enough. A notarised translation is made when the receiving authority asks for it. It bears the translator’s signature, and a notary certifies that the signature is genuine. Courts, consulates and government bodies, Ukrainian and foreign, often ask for this. Some countries require a sworn or certified translation, for example Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and France, and we arrange that too.

For a Ukrainian document to be recognised in a Hague Convention country, it needs an apostille. The Ministry of Justice apostilles notarial documents such as a certificate of inheritance, a contract or a power of attorney. It also handles civil registry certificates and court rulings. We submit them to the ministry ourselves, without you. Where the convention does not apply, consular legalisation is needed, and we handle it as well.

Price and turnaround

Translating a standard document such as a certificate starts from UAH 250. A contract or court ruling of several pages is priced by volume, so the manager will give you the cost and timing from the photos, before you pay. The calculator on the Pricing page gives a rough estimate.

A certificate or passport usually takes about one working day. An urgent order can be ready in a few hours or within one or two working days, depending on the language and volume. An apostille adds the ministry’s processing time. The timing of a sworn translation depends on the country, and the manager will tell you in advance.

Ordering from abroad

Photograph the document in daylight without a flash, with all edges, stamps and signatures in the frame. Take a separate photo of the back if it has stamps. Send the photos to info@admiral.com.ua or via Telegram, Viber or WhatsApp, and mention the country and the authority. We read messages every day from 9:00 to 21:00 and take calls on weekdays from 9:00 to 18:00.

Payment is by link with a card from any bank, or via PayPal or bank transfer. The translation comes as a file, and the stamped paper copy goes by Nova Poshta within Ukraine or abroad. If the authority wants the original, the manager will explain how to pass it on.

The office on Hlynska Street and nearby towns

Before you go to the Pustomyty office, message or call us, and the manager will tell you when documents are accepted there. Admiral’s nearest other offices are in Lviv, Mykolaiv (Lviv Oblast) and Dubliany.

Each order is handled by a translator and an editor who checks the translation against the original, plus a native speaker when needed. A manager answers questions, watches the deadline and tells you when everything is ready. Admiral has been translating since 2008, in more than 50 languages. Our work is certified under ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 17100:2015. Lifetime guarantee: we will always meet you halfway, whatever the situation.