Will Translation

A will is used across borders when the testator or the estate has connections with more than one country. Where property, a bank account or an heir lies abroad, the authority in that country wants to see what the intention was, and the document is translated. Because it is a declaration of intention, fidelity in translation carries a particular weight here; one badly chosen word can distort a person’s last wish.

Translation is needed when the will comes before a foreign legal system. A will made in Türkiye and to be used in succession proceedings abroad is transferred into the target language; a will made in a foreign country and relied on in proceedings in Türkiye is transferred into Turkish. In both directions, the country, the authority and the stage at which the document will be used determine the language of the translation and the layer of authentication required.

Types of will and questions of form

Wills are distinguished by the way they are made. An official will is drawn up before a notary and witnesses; a holograph will is written from beginning to end in the testator’s own hand, dated and signed; an oral will is possible only in exceptional circumstances. Each type has its own formal requirements, and those requirements bear directly on the validity of the document.

The translation makes the type of document and its formal features plain. In a holograph will it is noted that the text was written by hand and that a date and signature are present; in an official will, that the details of the notary and the witnesses appear. These particulars are not merely formal: the type of will is the first thing looked at when its validity is being assessed.

The question of cross-border validity

Whether a will validly made in one country will also be regarded as formally valid in another is a matter for international instruments; the international conventions on the law applicable to the form of wills are meant to ease this area. Even so, every country has rules of its own, and the assessment is a legal question, not one for the translator’s discretion.

The translator’s task is to convey the intention exactly and in full, without adding any comment on whether the document is valid. Conditions, obligations and appointments in the will are carried across in precisely the detail in which they were written. A person’s intention, expressed as ‘on condition that’, ‘to such a person’ or ‘to the extent of’, is preserved in translation without being blurred.

Opening, registration and annexes

A will is opened after the death of the testator; in Türkiye this opening takes place before the civil court of peace and is set down in a formal record. Files going abroad often call not only for the will itself but also for the record of opening and any court judgments. Translating these documents with the same spelling of names and the same dates keeps the file coherent.

The names of those in whose favour dispositions are made, the descriptions of any property and the proportions of the shares are the most sensitive data in the document. If the parcel and plot details of a property, a person’s name or the figure of a share is conveyed wrongly, it becomes arguable to whom and to what the intention was directed. Such details are treated as numerical identifiers and preserved unchanged.

Levels of authentication

Fidelity to intention and the choice of terms

The heart of translating a will is to convey the person’s intention without the slightest drift. Certain concepts peculiar to the law of succession may have no exact counterpart in the target language; in such cases the term is chosen so as to preserve the meaning of the source, and supported by an explanation where necessary. Making do with an approximate equivalent can widen or narrow the scope of the intention without anyone noticing.

Conditional expressions call for particular attention. Qualifications such as ‘on condition that’, ‘should such an event occur’ or ‘for a fixed period’ determine when and how a disposition will take effect. The conjunctions and the order of these conditions are preserved exactly; a small change of conjunction can change what the intention has been made to depend on.

Not to be confused with a certificate of inheritance

A will and a certificate of inheritance are often confused, yet they show different things. The will sets out the person’s intention; the certificate of inheritance sets out who inherits, and in what proportion, once the legal position and any testamentary disposition have been taken into account. Both may appear in a single succession file, and each is translated according to its own logic.

When the two documents sit in the same file, the names, the dates and the descriptions of property are expected to appear identically in each. A name spelt differently in one document, or a proportion given differently, undermines the internal consistency of the file. Where a will and a certificate of inheritance are to travel together, they are therefore handled with a shared scheme of terminology and spelling.

This consistency is more than formal care. Succession matters often run for a long time, and the same documents come up again at different stages. A shared scheme of terms and spellings, settled at the outset, prevents the documents from contradicting one another later on. The will, the record of opening and the certificate of inheritance then speak the same language, and the file holds together.

Common mistakes in will translation

• Adding an interpretation of the intention or an assessment of validity.
• Failing to state in the translation what type of will it is, holograph or official.
• Generalising conditions, obligations and appointments until they become vague.
• Altering the description of a property, the names or the proportions of the shares.
• Having only the will translated, without including the record of opening in the file.

Let us carry the last intention across in full

The most valuable contribution in translating a will is to convey the intention so that no room for doubt remains, and that depends on handling the type of document and all its annexes correctly. Once you send us the document we clarify with you which annexes are needed and what chain of authentication applies, and we transfer the names and property details with care. You can see related succession documents in our document guide and the basis on which we work on our pricing page, and you can send your document through the quotation form.

This page sets out the general framework; whether an apostille or notarisation is required depends on the institution you apply to. We recommend following current practice through official announcements.