Certified Grant of Probate Translation in the UK

What is a certified translation of a grant of probate in the UK?

A certified translation of a grant of probate is a word-for-word English or foreign-language rendering of the grant, signed with a statement of translation accuracy by a qualified translator or ISO 17100 agency, and accepted by the UK Probate Registry, HMRC, embassies and foreign courts as legally equivalent.

Which probate documents require certified translation in the UK?

Probate documents requiring certified translation include the last will and testament, grant of probate, letters of administration, death certificate, official copy of the will, affidavits, inheritance tax forms, powers of attorney and any foreign court documents evidencing the authority of the executor or domicile of the deceased.

Who can provide a certified translation for probate in the UK?

A certified translation for probate in the UK can be provided by a qualified translator holding CIOL or ITI membership, an ATC-member translation agency operating under ISO 17100, a solicitor or notary public countersigning a translator’s statement, or a sworn translator where a foreign jurisdiction requires notarial or sworn translations.

What is the difference between certified, notarised, sworn and apostilled probate translations?

A certified translation carries a translator’s signed statement of accuracy; a notarised translation adds a notary public’s confirmation of the translator’s identity; a sworn translation is signed by a court-authorised sworn translator in civil-law jurisdictions; and an apostille legalises the underlying original document or notarial signature under the Hague Convention.

How do I get a certified translation of a grant of probate in the UK?

To get a certified translation of a grant of probate in the UK, send a scanned copy to an ISO 17100 translation agency, confirm the receiving authority and target language, approve the per-page quote, receive the translated and certified PDF within 24 hours, and request the hard copy with original signature by courier where needed.

How much does a certified translation of a grant of probate cost in the UK?

A certified translation of a grant of probate in the UK starts from £30 per page under ISO 17100, with per-word pricing on longer wills and estate packs, a 25–50% surcharge on same-day rush turnaround, and volume pricing on framework agreements for law firms and corporate executors.

A certified translation of a grant of probate is a word-for-word English or foreign-language rendering of the grant, signed with a statement of translation accuracy by a qualified translator or ISO 17100 agency, and accepted by the UK Probate Registry, HMRC, embassies and foreign courts as legally equivalent.

How it works

A certified translation of a grant of probate in the UK starts from £30 per page under ISO 17100, with per-word pricing on longer wills and estate packs, a 25–50% surcharge on same-day rush turnaround, and volume pricing on framework agreements for law firms and corporate executors.

Complete guide

Certified Grant of Probate Translation is a signed, ISO 17100 translation of a UK grant of probate, will and supporting probate documents accepted by the UK Probate Registry, HMRC, embassies and foreign courts as legally equivalent to the source. It carries a statement of translation accuracy from a qualified translator or an ATC, CIOL or ITI-member translation agency, from £30 per page with same-day turnaround across 150+ languages.

A certified translation for probate in the UK can be provided by a qualified translator holding CIOL or ITI membership, an ATC-member translation agency operating under ISO 17100, a solicitor or notary public countersigning a translator’s statement, or a sworn translator where a foreign jurisdiction requires notarial or sworn translations. Translation companies that meet these criteria are recognised by UK authorities and most foreign ministries.

Acceptable providers of certified documents fall into four categories:

1. Individual qualified translator with CIOL or ITI credentials.
2. ATC-member translation agency operating an ISO 17100 TEP workflow.
3. Solicitor or notary public countersigning the translator or translation company statement.
4. Court-authorised sworn translator in the destination civil-law jurisdiction.

For the wider qualification criteria applied to our linguists, see What Qualifications Should a Technical Translator Have?.

Can I translate my own probate documents for official use in the UK?

You cannot translate your own probate documents for official use in the UK. The Probate Registry, HMRC and foreign authorities require an independent qualified translator or translation company to sign the statement of accuracy, because a party with an interest in the estate cannot self-certify. Self-translation is refused even when the executor is bilingual.

Can a paralegal, legal assistant or solicitor translate a grant of probate?

A paralegal, legal assistant or solicitor cannot produce a certified translation of a grant of probate unless they are also a qualified translator. A solicitor or notary public may countersign or notarise a translator’s certification but does not replace the translator. The signature on the statement must belong to the linguist who prepared the translated document.

Can I use ChatGPT or a free tool to translate a grant of probate?

You cannot use ChatGPT, DeepL or Google Translate to produce a certified translation of a grant of probate. Machine output carries no signed statement of accuracy, no named qualified translator, and no ATC, CIOL or ITI credential, so the Probate Registry, HMRC and foreign tribunals reject it outright. Machine drafts also introduce silent errors on domicile clauses, beneficiary names and asset descriptions that invalidate the application.

Services

A certified translation carries a translator’s signed statement of accuracy; a notarised translation adds a notary public’s confirmation of the translator’s identity; a sworn translation is signed by a court-authorised sworn translator in civil-law jurisdictions; and an apostille legalises the underlying original document or notarial signature under the Hague Convention. The correct type of translation depends on the receiving authority.

Certified translations produced under ISO 17100 with a signed statement of accuracy are accepted by UK government bodies including the Probate Registry, HMRC for inheritance tax, the Home Office, UK Visas and Immigration, tribunals, UK courts and the police, provided the translator or agency is independently qualified. For the wider evidential context, see our Legal transcription services London.

Which foreign authorities accept a UK certified translation of a grant of probate?

Foreign authorities that accept a UK certified translation of a grant of probate include most common-law jurisdictions and Hague Convention states after apostille. Civil-law jurisdictions such as Spain, France, Italy, Poland and Germany typically require a local sworn translator to re-issue or countersign the translation. Confirm requirements with the receiving foreign court or notary before ordering.

What happens if a foreign tribunal rejects my certified translation?

If a foreign tribunal rejects your certified translation, remedies include commissioning a local sworn translator, adding notarisation and embassy legalisation, re-sequencing the apostille onto the original before translation, or resealing the UK grant under the Colonial Probates Act 1892 where the destination is a listed Commonwealth country. Each remedy is quoted before rework begins.

Cross-border probate changes translation requirements based on the deceased’s domicile, the location of assets and the receiving jurisdiction. A UK-domiciled deceased holding assets abroad triggers apostille plus sworn or certified translation abroad; a foreign-domiciled deceased holding UK assets triggers certified English translation for the UK Probate Registry. Domicile determines the governing succession law and therefore which foreign documents require translation and certification.

Resealing a foreign grant under the Colonial Probates Act 1892

Resealing a foreign grant under the Colonial Probates Act 1892 lets the UK Probate Registry accept a grant issued in a listed Commonwealth country. The resealing application requires a certified English translation of any grant, will or supporting court documents not already in English. Documents already in English pass through without translation.

Country-specific rules: Spain, France, Poland, USA and Panama

Country-specific probate translation rules vary by jurisdiction:

• Spain and France — locally sworn translator (jurado, assermenté) required for foreign court filings.
• Poland — sworn (przysięgły) translator required on apostilled documents.
• Germany and Italy — sworn translator required for probate court submissions.
• USA — ATC-member agency statement of accuracy accepted by courts and banks.
• Panama — court-certified translator required to be involved in proceedings before the Ministerio Público or Tribunal Electoral.

When is a grant of probate translation not worth commissioning?

A grant of probate translation is not worth commissioning when the target asset cannot be transferred on death — for example licensed digital assets such as Steam accounts and certain SaaS licences — or when the destination jurisdiction does not recognise common-law probate instruments and instead runs its own succession proceeding. Confirm platform terms before ordering translation of any grant tied to a licensed digital asset.

Our certified grant of probate translation service is built around an ISO 17100 translate-edit-proofread (TEP) workflow, meaning every file is handled by a qualified translator, reviewed by an independent editor, and proofread before the signed certification statement is issued. This three-stage process applies without exception to every certified file, whether it is a single-page grant or a multi-document estate pack. The service covers 150+ language pairs and starts from £30 per page, with volume rates available under framework agreements for law firms, corporate trustees and in-house legal teams.

Service features that make this delivery model fit for UK B2B procurement:

• ISO 17100 TEP workflow with a dedicated second linguist on every certified file, a domain-specific termbase, and translation-memory reuse across recurring estate templates to maintain consistency and reduce cost on repeat instructions.
• Same-day rush service for projects up to 10,000 words, charged at a 25–50% surcharge, with no reduction in quality steps.
• Apostille coordination — we sequence correctly by ensuring the original grant of probate is apostilled by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office first, then produce the certified translation to cover both the grant and the apostille certificate, as required for use in Hague Convention signatory countries.
• UK GDPR-compliant handling of all personally identifiable information contained in wills, grants and death certificates, with secure transfer protocols, role-based access controls and defined retention and deletion policies.
• Flexible commercial terms including purchase-order billing, framework agreements, retainers and consolidated monthly invoicing for high-volume estate and probate practices.
• Per-word pricing of £0.10–£0.20 with tiered volume discounts applied automatically under framework agreement rates.

For executors dealing with foreign-language wills submitted to a UK Probate Registry, or with UK grants that need to be recognised abroad, the service also covers death certificate translation, last will and testament translation, and correspondence with overseas institutions and beneficiaries — providing a single point of contact across the full probate document set.