Translation and Interpretation Services

Translation of documents

All of the documents sent to court must be

• In English or Welsh or

• In another language but sent with a translation.

You will need to arrange for any documents to be translated into English. It is best to use a specialist legal translation service. It will cost you money to get things translated.

Your documents will need to be accompanied by a statement from the translator certifying that the translation is accurate. This statement must be from a named person in the company.

In our experience, the Home Office will accept translations that do not have this statement of truth. Courts won’t accept them so you may have to obtain a new translation for use in family court proceedings.

We can’t recommend any translators as we don’t use them directly. Look for translators who offer a certified translation and are used to doing legal work, such as Absolute Translations.

Using an interpreter at court

If you do not speak English very well, then you can tell the court this in your application form. There is usually a space for this. Make sure you tell the court what language and dialect you need.

The court will provide you with an interpreter for free if your case involves

• children, or

• domestic abuse, or

• forced marriage.

The interpreter will be at the hearing. They are not required to help you when you are outside the court room.

In other types of cases, you can only have an interpreter paid by the court if all of the following apply:

• you cannot afford to pay for an interpreter yourself; and

• you do not qualify for legal aid; and

• you do not have a friend or family member who the judge says can act as your interpreter.

If the court is hearing from witnesses then a witness might also need an interpreter. Make sure that you tell the court if this is the case.

D/deaf people

If you are D/deaf the court will provide a sign language interpreter if you ask. There may be other things that are better for you, such as reading a live transcript. Let the court know what you need.