Sworn translation of court filings
from Tournai to Mouscron and Ath
Law firms, notaries and bailiffs whose files partly cross the French border. Papers filed with the registry, notarial deeds, rulings to be enforced in France. Signed by a listed court expert.
1 h
To receive the costing
24 h
Sworn interpreter available
70+
Working languages
10 km
From Tournai to the French border
The paperwork the legal & notarial sector generates
The Tournai division of the Hainaut court of first instance sits in the city, so a litigant from Péruwelz, Leuze-en-Hainaut or Rumes is summoned here rather than elsewhere in the province. On top of that comes everything the French border brings with it: divorces and estates resting on two legal systems, titles to be recognised in either direction. On a procedural document the issue is not vocabulary but the chain of argument, which has to stay verifiable from one language to the other.
Procedural documents
Writ of summons, submissions, schedule of exhibits and the ruling itself, for filing in Tournai or at the magistrate's court registry.
French-Belgian estates
Affidavits of inheritance, European certificates of succession, declarations and divisions, where the deceased lived on one side of the border and the heirs on the other.
Notarial deeds for France
Powers of attorney, gifts, marriage contracts and certificates that a French practice expects in its own format, using the headings it recognises.
Recognition and exequatur
Divorce judgments, rulings on parental authority and enforceable titles meant to take effect on the other side of the border.
Company law
Articles of association, Crossroads Bank records, share transfers and resolutions, routine in the French-owned subsidiaries of Picardy Wallonia.
Legalisation at FPS Justice
Having the translator's signature legalised at FPS Justice is part of what we do. An apostille concerns the original document: we point you to the right desk, you file the request.
The legal & notarial sector ten kilometres from France
The Hainaut court of first instance holds its Tournai division here, and the magistrates' courts of the cantons cover the rest of the district. Laid over that judicial map is a border: France starts ten kilometres from the centre, the Lille conurbation twenty-five. The result is files that live under two legal systems at once: divorces between spouses of two nationalities, maintenance to be enforced on the other side, commercial debts to recover in northern France, leases signed by French companies. We convey what a court does rather than what it is called, because the two judicial systems do not map onto each other.
One difficulty is specific to this region and deserves saying plainly: Belgian administrative vocabulary is not readable as it stands by a French registry, notary or town hall. Bourgmestre, household composition, certificate of inheritance, national register number, Belgian Official Gazette: each of those has to be rendered in the recipient's words, with a note wherever the equivalent is missing. The reverse holds just as true, and a French deed filed in Tournai is prepared the same way.
Every paper handed to the registry or produced before an authority carries the signature of a translator listed on the national register of court experts, with their stamp and statement of conformity. If legalisation of that signature is required on top, we have it affixed at FPS Justice. The apostille is a different matter: it concerns the original document, falls to FPS Foreign Affairs or to the issuing authority, and you remain the one who applies for it. Every file is covered by a confidentiality agreement, and we sign yours first if your professional rules call for it.
- Submissions and schedule of documents served
- Judgment, ruling, order on application
- Articles of association, share transfers, shareholders' agreements
- Gift, will, certificate of inheritance
Situations that need someone in the room
There are moments when a case moves forward out loud, and when the other side has to be able to check what was conveyed.
In the courtroom
Civil and family chambers of the Tournai division, labour and business courts, and the magistrate's court of the canton.
Expert meetings and service
Court-appointed expert meetings, site visits and service of a document by a bailiff on a party who cannot read French.
At the notary's office
Signing a division, a sale or a marriage contract when one of the parties barely follows the drafting language.
Mediation and settlement
Family mediation sessions, negotiations between counsel and the drafting of an amicable settlement.
One trap keeps coming back in French-Belgian files: the stamp of a translator sworn before a French court of appeal is not automatically accepted by a Belgian registry, and the reverse holds just as often. Let us read the document before you order a second translation: we will tell you whether it stands up before the court that has to read it.
Four steps, from the photo to the document
One project manager keeps your legal & notarial file from start to finish: nothing gets lost between one contact and the next.
- 01
Send the document as it is
A phone photo will do, crooked framing included. Booking an interpreter instead? Give us the day, the address and the two languages in the room.
- 02
Price and delivery date in 1 h
The quote states the amount, the deadline and the route: sworn where an authority demands it, standard everywhere else. Nothing to pay, nothing to sign.
- 03
A linguist from the field takes over
Your text goes to someone who works with legal & notarial terminology daily, and a second person reads it through before anything is sent.
- 04
Delivery or on-site assignment
The document arrives by email; the stamped copy follows by registered post if a counter insists on the original. For a spoken assignment, the interpreter is there on the hour.
Submissions to file before the hearing?
Translators and interpreters listed on the national register, confidentiality signed up front, a costing back within the hour.
What changes once a legal & notarial file reaches us
The language pair gets checked
A listing on the register covers one precise combination. We verify it for the direction your case actually needs, Dutch into French as much as the reverse, before accepting the assignment.
Your confidentiality clause, word for word
We sign your firm's document without touching it, before the first exhibit leaves your server.
The right specialist, not the first one free
A specialised text goes to a linguist who works in that field. A short deadline does not suspend the rule, it only means searching faster.
Confidentiality put in writing
Anyone who opens your file has signed a confidentiality undertaking beforehand. Files sit on European infrastructure and are wiped the moment you ask in writing.
No line added afterwards
The figure you approve at the start is the one on the invoice. Revision, layout and delivery are already inside it, with nothing surfacing at the end.
The drive is not charged to you
Reaching Tournai, Mouscron, Ath, Lessines, Péruwelz, Comines-Warneton or Beloeil costs you nothing extra in travel.
Frequently asked questions
Does a ruling handed down in France hold here as it stands?
The ruling travels, its translation does not. Filed before the Tournai division, it must come with a sworn version produced by a translator on the Belgian register, stamp and statement of conformity included. We reuse your numbering of exhibits so that filing at the registry needs no further handling.
A Belgian deed meant for a French notary: what has to change?
The administrative vocabulary, mainly. A French practice has no use for bourgmestre, household composition or national register number. We render the Belgian reality in the words the recipient actually uses, and flag in a note whatever has no counterpart across the border.
Will a bulky file fit the procedural calendar?
We start from the hearing date and work backwards. One translator covers roughly 2,000 words per working day; beyond that, several lawyer-linguists share the volumes around a single glossary, and a final read aligns the terminology before filing.
Does an estate have to be translated in full?
Rarely. The notary works from a short list: death certificate, civil status records of the heirs, any will, the title deed. Send us that list rather than the whole file, and we will separate what needs a sworn version from what can stay a standard translation.
Get your free quote within the hour
Send us your document or your date: firm price, precise deadline, no obligation. You then decide, with everything in front of you.