Powers of Attorney - Drafted Bilingually at Our Notary or Translated From Abroad, for Every Authority That Will Read Them

What a power of attorney is, and the forms it takes

A power of attorney (Vollmacht, procura, procuration, poder, доверенность, vekaletname, 授权委托书, "mindobiloba") is a document by which a principal authorizes an attorney-in-fact (representative, proxy, agent) to act in the principal's name, and its usefulness depends on three things: its scope (a general power for all matters, or a special power for a specific transaction, property, account, court case or document), its form (Georgian law and most other systems require notarial certification for powers of attorney concerning property, company registration and court representation, and a simple written form for lesser matters), and its certification for use abroad (apostille for Hague countries, consular legalization for others, and, for use in Georgia, a notarized Georgian translation). Companies grant powers of attorney to their representatives and lawyers on the basis of a resolution; individuals grant them to relatives, lawyers, agents and real estate managers; and the document is read by the registry, notary, bank, court, customs office or embassy before which the representative acts, each of which checks that the power covers the act in front of it.

Drafting a power of attorney at our notary

A principal in Georgia - a foreign investor, a foreign spouse, a relocated professional, a Georgian about to leave - signs the power of attorney at our notary at Agmashenebeli 117, and we draft it bilingually, in Georgian and the principal's language side by side, so that the principal reads and signs the same document the Georgian registry or notary will read, with our interpreter present and recorded in the deed where the principal does not speak Georgian, as the law requires. We draft special powers for the sale, purchase, gift or lease of specific property, for founding, managing or selling a company, for opening and operating a bank account, for representation before the Public Service Development Agency, the Revenue Service, customs or a court, for vehicle registration and sale, for collecting documents and pensions, for a child's care and schooling, and for inheritance; and general powers where a principal wants broad authority given to a trusted person. Where the power will be used abroad, we draft it to the destination's requirements - the scope and wording a German Grundbuchamt, an Italian notaio, a Turkish tapu office, a Russian or Kazakh registry or a foreign bank expects - translate it, and apostille it through the Ministry of Justice route in one to three business days, or run consular legalization for non-Hague countries.

Foreign powers of attorney for use in Georgia

A principal abroad signs the power of attorney before a local notary, at a Georgian consulate or, in some countries, before a solicitor or a notary public, and it arrives in Georgia in a foreign language. Georgian authorities - the Public Registry for property and company matters, notaries for transactions, banks for accounts, courts for representation, the Public Service Development Agency, customs - require the foreign notarial power apostilled (or legalized, for non-Hague countries) and translated into Georgian by a notarized translation; a power signed at a Georgian consulate needs neither. We translate powers of attorney from every system into Georgian in 1-2 hours from the apostilled original, with the scope rendered exactly (Georgian registries and notaries read the scope narrowly, and a power to "manage" property does not authorize its sale), the principal's and representative's names transliterated consistently with their passports, the notary's certification and the apostille translated, and a note where the foreign form differs from the Georgian - the English deed, the American notarized signature without a notarial act, the Chinese notarial certificate, the Turkish vekaletname's specific formula for property sales. We also advise principals abroad on the wording Georgian registries expect before they sign, which prevents the most common failure: a power that does not cover the act.

Countries that restrict powers of attorney signed abroad

Not every country accepts a power of attorney signed elsewhere, and we say so before a client pays for one. Belarus, since 2023, recognizes powers of attorney for the disposal of real estate and vehicles only if certified in Belarus or at a Belarusian consulate; Russia and several other countries require a Russian-language notarial power in specific form for property transactions and accept foreign ones only with apostille and translation, with registries applying the form strictly; Turkey's land registry requires the vekaletname to contain specific wording and, for foreign powers, the apostille, a sworn translation and the principal's photograph; Iran, Vietnam, the Gulf states and other non-Hague countries require consular legalization; and some banks anywhere refuse powers of attorney for account operation altogether. Our language teams know these rules, tell you which route works for your destination, and prepare the text for a Georgian consulate or a foreign consulate in Tbilisi where the act must be certified there.

Corporate powers, revocation and validity

Corporate powers of attorney are granted by a company's authorized representative on the basis of the charter and a resolution, and the reader checks the chain: the extract shows who may represent the company, the resolution shows the decision to grant the power (where the charter requires one), and the power itself shows the scope; we translate the chain together so that the names and the authority match. Powers of attorney have a validity period, are revocable, and end on the principal's death or the company's dissolution; foreign registries and banks ask for a recent power or a confirmation that it has not been revoked, and Georgian notaries check the Georgian notarial register for revocations. Revocations are drafted and translated the same way as the powers they end, and substitution (sub-delegation) is possible only where the power allows it, which we draft in where a client needs it.

Pricing, timing and how to order

A power of attorney drafted at our notary is priced as a notarial act at the notary's tariff plus our bilingual drafting and, where needed, the interpreter's attendance; the translation of a foreign power at a fixed rate per document, plus the notary's fee; the apostille at the state fee plus handling, and consular legalization at the fees of each step. A power is drafted, signed and notarized within the hour when the principal attends, and a foreign power is translated and notarized in 1-2 hours from the apostilled original.

To order a power of attorney, send the principal's and representative's passports and a description of what the representative must do on WhatsApp, Telegram or email; we draft it, book the notary at Agmashenebeli 117, near Marjanishvili Metro, and advise on apostille or legalization for abroad. To translate a foreign power, send a photo of every page and the apostille and tell us which Georgian authority will read it; the quote arrives within 15 minutes with any scope issue we see. Delivery is by scan when the notary signs, by collection, by same-day courier in Tbilisi or by courier anywhere.

Frequently asked questions

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