Ukrainian Documents
Certified Ukrainian Translation
for Legal Filings
Court decisions, contracts, register extracts and civil records from Ukraine, rendered into English for US litigation and filings, with one spelling of every name agreed up front and any Russian passages handled by the same linguist.
What should a law firm check before filing a Ukrainian document translation?
Check three things. First, that the English version is complete, stamps and handwritten notes included, and comes with a signed certificate naming the translator and stating their competence. Second, that every name is spelled the same way throughout, because Ukrainian records often switch between the Ukrainian and the Russian form of a name and an older certificate may use the Russian one. Third, that any Russian-language passage, common in Soviet-era records and in messages, has been translated rather than left aside. Kaplan agrees the spellings with you against the passport, assigns linguists who read both languages, and formats the certificate for the court or agency receiving it.
Ukrainian Documents
Court Judgments and Case Files
Decisions, rulings and enforcement papers from Ukrainian courts, along with the procedural documents a US case needs to show what happened abroad: summonses, protocols of hearings, and the certified copies a clerk in Kyiv or Lviv stamps before release. We keep the court's own name and the case number exactly as issued so the exhibit can be matched back to the original.
Ukrainian Documents
Contracts and Corporate Extracts
Supply and distribution agreements, shareholder documents, notarial powers of attorney and extracts from the Ukrainian state company register. These usually arrive in a dispute or a due diligence file, and the defined terms are fixed on the first page and kept the same through every later exhibit.
Ukrainian Documents
Civil Status and Identity Records
Birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates, name change records and internal passports, including Soviet-era certificates written in Russian and issued by offices that no longer exist under that name. The older forms are rendered as they were issued, without being reshaped to look like a current Ukrainian certificate.
Ukrainian Documents
Police, Medical and Employment Records
Police reports and criminal record certificates, hospital discharge summaries and treatment notes for injury claims, and the paper work-record book (trudova knyzhka) that holds many people's employment history. Handwritten entries are transcribed where legible and marked where they are not.
Why Kaplan
Where Ukrainian Files Go Wrong, and How We Avoid It
Oleksandr or Aleksandr: Decided Once
A Ukrainian name can come into English from the Ukrainian spelling or from the Russian one printed on an older record, so the same man may be Oleksandr on his passport and Aleksandr on his birth certificate. We agree the spelling with you against the identity document, use it on every page of the matter, and add a translator's note wherever a source document spells it differently.
Russian Passages Are Not Skipped
Soviet-era records were often issued in Russian, and chat logs or emails produced in discovery move between Ukrainian and Russian mid-thread. Of the 36 Ukrainian linguists in our vendor records, 32 also work in Russian, so a mixed file stays with one linguist instead of being split or footnoted as untranslated.
Old Place Names Kept and Explained
Ukraine has renamed cities, districts and streets since 2015, so Dnipropetrovsk on a 1990s birth certificate is Dnipro today. We translate the name the document actually prints and add the current one in a bracketed note, which keeps the exhibit faithful and still lets a reader find the place on a map.
Certificates That Name the Translator
Each delivery carries a signed certificate of accuracy that identifies the individual translator and states their competence, set out for the court, agency or opposing counsel that will read it. Tell us where the file is going and we match the format before work starts.
FAQs
Common Questions
What makes a Ukrainian translation certified for a US court or agency?
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It is a complete English rendering of the Ukrainian document, including stamps, seals and handwritten notes, accompanied by a signed statement from the translator that it is complete and accurate and that they are competent in both languages. Courts and opposing counsel look for that statement first, and it is what separates a filing-ready exhibit from a working copy. For the discipline as a whole see our certified legal translation page.
Our client's documents spell his name three different ways. What do you do?
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Very common with Ukrainian records. Older certificates often carry the Russian form of a name (Nikolai, Grigoriy) while a current passport carries the Ukrainian form (Mykola, Hryhorii), and earlier US paperwork may follow neither. We ask which spelling the matter uses, apply it throughout, and note each place where the source differs, so a reviewer sees one person and a documented reason for the variants.
Some of the messages in our production are in Russian. Can the same linguist handle them?
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Yes. Most of our Ukrainian bench also works in Russian, and messaging between Ukrainian speakers frequently mixes the two. The linguist translates both and tags each passage with its source language, which matters if the other side later argues about who wrote what. If the witness who wrote them will testify in Russian, that is a spoken assignment: see our Russian interpreters.
Does a Ukrainian document with an apostille still need translating?
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Usually, yes. Ukraine is a party to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, in force for Ukraine since 22 December 2003, so its public documents are authenticated with an apostille instead of a consular chain (HCCH status table). The apostille confirms the signature and seal; it does not put the content into English. We translate the document and the apostille together. More on the process at apostille translation.
Can you work from scans of a work-record book or handwritten police report?
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Yes, provided every page is legible enough to read. The trudova knyzhka, the paper employment book, is mostly handwritten entries and stamps added over decades, and older police and hospital records are often similar. We transcribe what can be read, mark anything that cannot with a bracketed note rather than guessing, and tell you before delivery if a better scan would close the gap.
Is this accepted for a USCIS filing as well as for court?
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The same certificate serves both. Federal immigration rules ask for a full English translation that the translator certifies as complete and accurate, together with the translator's statement of competence (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)), and our certificate carries both statements. See immigration document translation for filing details.
Do you also provide a Ukrainian interpreter for depositions or hearings?
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That is a different service. Translation is the written document; interpreting is live speech. A deposition, a hearing or a client meeting is booked as an interpreting assignment through our legal interpreters team, and it helps if the interpreter can read the translated exhibits beforehand.
How do we get a quote?
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Send the files, the receiving court or agency, and the name spellings already in use through our online form or by phone at (833) 547-7770. We review the set, flag anything illegible or in Russian, and confirm a fixed quote and schedule in writing before the work begins.
Related Services
Written exhibits and live testimony are booked separately, but the same matter often needs both, and one agency can coordinate them.
Request a Certified Ukrainian Translation Quote
Send the documents and the name spellings already on file. We confirm scope, format and a fixed quote before any work starts.