English translations of court, notarial and registry documents from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Australian documents translated into Chinese.
Most Chinese legal documents we translate come from mainland China, where the courts are the People's Courts and most personal records are issued or certified by a notary office (公证处). Documents from Taiwan and Hong Kong use Traditional characters and follow different systems again, so we translate each one according to where it was issued.
Court names carry the level of the court: a Basic People's Court (基层人民法院), an Intermediate People's Court (中级人民法院) or a Higher People's Court (高级人民法院). None of these maps neatly onto an Australian court, so we keep the formal name rather than substituting a local one. Case numbers such as (2023)京0105民初12345号 encode the year, the court and the type of case, and they are reproduced exactly.
Dates are written year, month, day, and names are written surname first. Names on mainland documents are usually given in Pinyin; if a passport or other document shows a different spelling, send it with your order so the translator can take its spelling into account. Red seals (公章) are described where they appear, and handwritten annotations by registry clerks are translated rather than skipped. Mediation, a divorce by agreement registered with a civil affairs bureau and a contested court divorce each produce a different document, and the translation keeps that distinction visible.
We also translate Australian documents into Simplified or Traditional Chinese: divorce orders and certificates, powers of attorney, statutory declarations, company documents and police checks needed in mainland China, Taiwan or Hong Kong. Authorities there often have their own rules about notarisation, an apostille or consular steps, so check what is needed with the office receiving the document before you order.
Upload clear scans of every page, including any page carrying only a seal, and choose certified translation if the document is going anywhere official.
If a notarial certificate is bound with a ribbon or a seal running across the pages, scan it without unbinding it, so the seal can be seen to join the pages. For a household register, include the cover page and the page for the head of household as well as your own page, because the translation is easier to follow with them. Hong Kong court documents are often already in English; send them anyway and we will tell you which pages need translation.
We translate what your documents say. We do not advise on their legal effect, and we cannot confirm whether a particular court or agency will accept them. Please check requirements with the receiving body or your lawyer.
Yes. Mainland documents are usually in Simplified characters and documents from Taiwan and Hong Kong in Traditional characters. Tell us which script you need if you are ordering a translation into Chinese.
Names are usually given in Pinyin. If a passport or other document shows a different spelling, send a copy with your order so the translator can take its spelling into account.
Some notarial certificates arrive with a translation prepared in China. Whether that is enough depends on the body you are submitting to, so check with them. If they want a translation done in Australia, we translate the Chinese pages.
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