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Interpreters for Divorce, Custody and Family Law

In a divorce or custody case the hearings are a small part of the work. Most of it happens in a lawyer's office or a mediator's conference room, where the court's interpreter does not go. Here is where the court provides the interpreter, why it should never be your spouse or your child, and how to book one for the rest.

For the hearing itself, ask the court: it may have to provide the interpreter

Court interpreter rules are state law, and they differ, so ask your court before you hire anyone for a hearing. Two examples. California's courts say on their self-help guide that court interpreters are provided free of charge, that you must request one in advance (California has a form for civil cases, INT-300), and that you are usually not allowed to have a friend or relative interpret for you in the courtroom. In Washington, RCW 2.43.081 says a person with limited English who is a party, or who is subpoenaed or compelled to appear, is not responsible for the cost of the court interpreter.

What the court provides stops at the courtroom door. California's guide says court interpreters typically cannot provide services outside the courtroom, though some courts have interpreters at their self-help centers (California Courts). The meetings that decide most family cases — with your lawyer, with the mediator, with the other side's lawyer to negotiate — are not covered.

Who books us: family law attorneys for client meetings and settlement negotiations, private mediators whose sessions include a party who does not speak English, and parties who want their own interpreter for a mediation or a meeting. We will tell you if what you are asking for is a hearing the court should be covering.

Why not your spouse, your child or a relative

In most settings a bilingual relative is a poor substitute for an interpreter. In a divorce it is worse than that. Your spouse is the other party: anything they interpret is filtered through their interest in the outcome. A new partner, an in-law or a friend of either side is not neutral either. And a child should never interpret in a case about where they will live and which parent they will spend time with; they will soften what is said, and they will remember it.

Where there has been domestic violence or control, the interpreter also must not be someone the other party knows. In a small language community that is a real risk. Tell us when you request if there is anyone the interpreter should not be connected to, or a reason to prefer a woman or a man, and we will tell you whether we can staff it before you book.

What family law asks of an interpreter

The vocabulary is specific and often has no equivalent in the system the party comes from: legal and physical custody, parenting time, temporary orders, child support guidelines, community property or equitable distribution, a restraining order and what it prohibits. An interpreter renders the term and the lawyer explains it; an interpreter who quietly substitutes the nearest concept from another country's law has changed the advice.

The pace is uneven. Most of a meeting is consecutive: the lawyer speaks, pauses, the interpreter renders. In a joint mediation session, the interpreter often interprets simultaneously in a low voice to the party while the others talk, and switches to consecutive when the party speaks, so nothing said across the table is missed. When the mediator separates the parties into different rooms, the interpreter goes with the party who needs them.

Before anything is signed — a settlement agreement, a parenting plan, a stipulation — the interpreter can read it aloud in the party's language, line by line. That is sight translation, and it needs the final text in advance. A party who should keep a copy they can read later needs a written translation, which is a separate service.

Running a mediation or meeting through an interpreter

• Speak to the party, in the first person, two or three sentences at a time.
• One interpreter per language. If both parties need interpreting in the same language, agree on one neutral interpreter for the room or book one each; if they speak different languages, you need two.
• Send the documents in advance: the proposed parenting schedule, the asset list, the draft agreement. Numbers, dates and schedules are where interpretation slips.
• Plan for time. Consecutive interpreting means everything is said twice; a mediation scheduled tightly in English will run over.
• Keep the interpreter out of the negotiation. They do not advise, take sides or summarize what the party "really" means.

Booking

A meeting with a family law attorney by video or phone is $80 an hour per interpreter, one-hour minimum, no travel. In person is $110 an hour with a two-hour minimum: a half-day mediation of four hours is $440, a full day of eight hours is $880, plus travel at $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location, confirmed before you book. A full day of sustained interpreting may need two interpreters in relay, which doubles the hourly cost, and we will tell you when we think it does.

Send the date, the language, whether it is a joint session or separate rooms, the expected length and the address or the video platform. Family law firms with recurring needs can see eVerbary for family law firms; foreign divorce decrees and custody orders are certified translation at $24.95 per page.

By video, by phone or in person

Virtual interpreting runs on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, or over the telephone. It is quicker to arrange, costs less and carries no travel charge, and it suits appointments, calls and most meetings.

In person is what venues with their own rules tend to expect, and the right choice when documents are being signed or several people are speaking at once. Tell us the platform, or the city and the venue, when you send the request.

Languages

The standard-availability languages are: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Polish, Italian, German, Japanese, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Tagalog, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Armenian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Somali and Nepali. Every other language we offer carries the 25–30% limited-availability rate. If a language is not on that list it is not because we cannot do it — it is because the pool of qualified interpreters in the United States is small enough that we will not promise a date without checking.

Each language has its own page on what to watch for — dialects, names, dates, who the speakers usually are: see interpreters by language.

What it costs

Rates are per interpreter, per hour, and billed from the scheduled start time rather than from when everyone actually arrives.

• Virtual — $80 per hour, one-hour minimum. Zoom, Google Meet, Teams or telephone.
• In person — $110 per hour, two-hour minimum.
• Limited-availability languages — add 25–30%. Which languages those are is listed below rather than left vague.
• Travel for in-person work — $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location.

How the travel charge works out

Travel is charged at $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location, which means you can work it out rather than wait for a quote: a 20-mile round trip is $14, a 60-mile round trip is $42, a 150-mile round trip is $105. There is no separate call-out fee on top.

We will not pretend to know in advance where the interpreter will be coming from — that depends on the language, the date and the venue. What we do is confirm the interpreter and the exact travel figure before you book, so it is never a surprise on the invoice. Virtual assignments carry no travel charge at all, which is one reason most of what we do is virtual.

How booking an interpreter works

• You send the request with the form below: the language, the setting, the format, the date and how long it should last.
• We confirm before you commit: the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one. We reply the same business day, and no payment is taken at this stage.
• You confirm, and the interpreter is booked for your date.

What to have ready

The more of this comes in the first message, the fewer exchanges before you have a price:

• The language, the date, the start time and how long it should run.
• Virtual or in person: the platform, or the city and the venue.
• The setting and the subject matter.
• How many people need interpreting for.
• Any credential the venue requires of the interpreter.

Request an interpreter

Tell us the date, the language and the setting and we will come back with the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one — before you commit to anything.

Sources

What this page says about the rules was checked against these official sources on October 21, 2026. Rules change; the source is always the authority.

• Judicial Council of California, California Courts Self-Help Guide — Ask for an interpreter
• Washington State Legislature — RCW 2.43.081, Cost of providing interpreter (2025 c 55 § 9)

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