Translation For Lawyers

We've blogged about multilingual legal translation services in the context of minimizing gift taxes on overseas transfers and certified online legal translations for international estate and trust attorneys. If a client is married to a non-citizen or non-resident, estate planning becomes more involved, thanks to the estate tax and gift tax laws applicable to non-citizens. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Define Residency

The first step is to determine whether the spouse is a resident. According to the IRS, there are two definitions of residency - one for income tax purposes and another for estate and gift tax purposes. For estate and gift tax purposes, a resident is defined as having 'an intent to remain in a place indefinitely and no intention to move away from it'. This is important because the main question for exemption levels comes down to where the non-citizen considers home. If a non-citizen does not consider the US 'home', they are only entitled to a $60,000 estate tax exemption.

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We've blogged about the importance of professional multilingual legal translation services and attorney-client privilege, and about certified legal translations of license agreements. When conducting an international legal transaction - such as purchasing real estate overseas - it may be tempting to skip the legal fees and take a 'do it yourself' approach via online legal forms. However, such standardized forms are always risky (at best) - and when they are used for international legal purposes the risk rises to the level of dangerous.

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We've blogged about multilingual legal language translation and interpretation services in the context of Internet advertising and attorney ethics, and about the need for professional translation services when marketing legal services to non-English-speaking clients. The issue of the ethics of attorney advertising and foreign languages again came up in a recent situation in Nevada. The case involved a local attorney who was disciplined for running a Spanish-language radio adverts claiming that anyone who had been in a car accident had the legal right to receive at least $15,000.00. At the ethics hearing, the attorney claimed the radio spot was in fact a public service announcement, not an advertisement. Needless to say, the ethics court didn't agree.

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The absence of a proper foreign language translation can wreck havoc on the terms, conditions and the enforceability of a license agreement. For example, take a software vendor. One of the greatest challenges they face when exporting their licensing agreement is translating its domestic license agreement.

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We've blogged about legal translation and interpreting services for estate tax purposes and about multilingual legal language services during estate transfers to non-citizen spouses. Here's a common scenario: a US resident (or citizen) is looking to buy property in the US. A parent, who lives abroad, wants to give the child money to help with the purchase. However, the transfer will be subject to US gift taxes, which makes the entire transfer less attractive and the opportunity to purchase the property less likely.

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We've blogged about certified legal language services and professional language interpreter services for depositions in international cases. In an international divorce involving children, the issues of custody and visitation are significant points of conflict, particularly when one parent resides in a country that is seen as 'dangerous' or unfavorable. When preparing for such a case, it is important to keep several points in mind and factor in the need for professional translation of foreign evidence and professional credentialed and certified interpreter services for witness testimony.

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We've blogged about multilingual foreign law translations and legal language translation in the context of religious law in US courts and arbitration process in China. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 44.1 was originally adopted to solve the dilemmas associated with judges using a flexible framework in determining issues involving foreign law. According to Rule 44.1, foreign law 'must be treated as a ruling on a question of law'.

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We' blogged about certified corporate and legal translations, e-Discovery translation and multilingual legal document review. Although the principle of attorney-client privilege is set in stone as to communications between a client and their attorney, the issue becomes more complex when a third party is thrown into the mix. In the era of consultants and expert witnesses, it is quiet common for an attorney to communicate with a third party in regards to a client's case. In the past, the courts have been lenient in extending the privilege to the attorney's agents (a secretary or a foreign language translator or interpreter, for example) or their employee. But in this case the issue involves an outside consultant with no direct relation to the attorney and thus not limited by the control and responsibility of the attorney.

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