The Law Offices of Abbas Hadjian provided research and analysis of Iranian property documents for a recent case in the Ohio Court of Appeals. Our work resulted in the wife’s property being deemed as separate property, affecting the basis used to determine spousal support.
Here is an excerpt of the Appeal Judgement in Iranpour-Boroujeni v. Emami, 2024-Ohio-2546 (07-03-2024)
{¶48} Wife hired Abbas Hadjian to determine her Iranian real estate interests
and review an Iranian land surveyor’s report. Hadjian was a certified family law
specialist who spoke Farsi, was an expert on Iranian law, and devoted most of his
consultation work to Iranian law and procedure.
{¶49} The land-surveyor’s report was written in Farsi and translated into
English by an “official translator.” Hadjian testified that the translation accurately
explained that Wife owned property in Iran, but the rest of the translation seemed
“manufactured.” The report did not list the land surveyor’s address and lacked
“documents to support who this gentleman was.” Though the report indicated that the
surveyor was a member of the Construction Engineering Disciplinary Organization,
Hadjian “checked that organization” and “[h]is name is not there.” Moreover, while
the surveyor indicated that he was officially appointed by the government, Hadjian
found “no document for assignment.” Hadjian found it strange that the report
contained no images of the property. And one of the “major defects” Hadjian found
was the document was not “authenticated by the Department of Justice.”
{¶50} Hadjian believed that two items were “inserted” by the translator: a
“certification of evaluation” title to the surveyor’s report and a conversion of the
property’s value from “the Rial to the dollar.” He explained that the original surveyor’s
report would not have included that conversion or listed the value in dollars. Hadjian
explained that the document “is an interpretation of the [surveyor’s report,]” not a
translation. To Hadjian, the only reliable information on the translated document was
the number of the deed.”
https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/1/2024/2024-Ohio-2546.pdf