Re: would like to simplify my XSLT

You are using translate(), which hints (imo) that you are using XSLT 1. Can you confirm? Or do you use XSLT 2 (this highly influences the answers you will get)?

   <xsl:template match="* | text()">
       <xsl:apply-templates />
   </xsl:template>

   <xsl:template match="
                 person[document[
                 not(@relid =
                 ../../../documents/document/@id)]]">

       <person name="{name}" />
   </xsl:template>

Cheers,
-- Abel Braaksma
  http://www.nuntia.nl