Power of Attorney Translation for the USA

The signed declaration of accuracy (certificate of accuracy)

In the USA, the official assurance behind a translation submitted as a “power of attorney” is the signed declaration of accuracy attached to it. The declaration states that the translation is accurate and complete and gives the translator’s identity and contact details. Some recipients, banks and title companies among them, may also require that this signature be given before a notary (notarisation). A Turkish power of attorney is drawn up before a notary in Türkiye and apostilled before it is translated; since the USA is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, an apostille is added to the notarial act – confirm the current position from the official HCCH list.

Do not liken the scope of authority to US categories

In US law a power of attorney is divided into categories such as “general”, “limited” or “durable”, each with consequences of its own. Describing a Turkish “general power of attorney” in translation as a “durable power of attorney” loads the document with a legal quality it does not carry. The translator conveys the enumerated powers in the text exactly and does not fit the document into a US category. The US recipient – a bank, a court, a title company – reads the scope of authority closely, which is why translating the authority in concrete and narrow terms makes the document easier to accept.

It is worth going over the following points before delivery:

• Verify that the scope of authority names the specific transaction and is kept narrow.
• Check that the signed declaration of accuracy has been attached to the translation.
• Confirm that the apostille on the notarial act was obtained before the translation.
• Make sure the names of the parties are consistent with the spelling in the passport.

Further expectations for property powers of attorney

Property transactions are among the most common power of attorney scenarios in the USA. A title company or a county recorder may expect the power of attorney to have been drawn up before a notary and, in some cases, to be placed on record. The translation and the declaration of accuracy join that chain and are submitted together with the translation of the original document and of the apostille. Narrow, concrete authority matters particularly in property powers of attorney: when transactions such as a sale, a lease or a mortgage are each named individually in the document, there is less ground for the recipient to reject it.

Identity details, dates and validity

The party details in the power of attorney, and any period of validity, are carried across exactly in the translation. The US recipient matches the attorney’s identity against the details in the document, so the spelling of the name has to agree with the passport. Because the day and the month can be confused in date formats, writing the date of the instrument out clearly prevents misreading. If the power of attorney contains a terminating condition or a record of revocation, that too must be reflected in the translation in full; an omitted record of duration raises doubt about whether the document is still valid.

Powers of attorney with a photograph, the attestation block and the consular distinction

Turkish notaries commonly draw up a power of attorney with a photograph of the grantor affixed to it. Because that photograph is one of the document’s identity-verification elements, the translation records its presence with the note [photograph]. The attestation block at the foot of the document – the form of the instrument, the notary office, the entry number and any explanatory annotations – forms an inseparable part of the text of the power of attorney and has to be taken into the translation in full. Translate only the body and skip the attestation block, and the document is left half-finished in the eyes of the US recipient, whether that is a bank or a title company; the apostille certificate is treated the same way. The translation must cover every page of the source document, and the pages must be presented as a single bound whole.

Where a power of attorney has been drawn up at a Turkish consulate while you are abroad, the process runs differently; such a document is in most cases meant for a transaction in Türkiye and does not always take the place of a local power of attorney to be submitted to a recipient in the USA. Deciding at the outset which document will be used in which country prevents time lost on a power of attorney drawn up in the wrong place.

The most frequent mistakes

The first is failing to attach the declaration of accuracy. The second is assuming that a Turkish general power of attorney will be accepted automatically by a US bank; most recipients want a narrow power of attorney drawn up for a specific transaction. The third is having the translation done before the apostille on the notarial act. You can see the level of approval required for other documents on our document types page, review the cost on our pricing page, and upload your document to request a quotation. This page is for general information and is not a substitute for legal advice; confirm current requirements with the authority that will handle the transaction.