Bulgarian historian Plamen Pavlov is of the opinion that Aldimir and George's ancestors had sought refuge in Bulgaria after 1241,[2] when they left the Kingdom of Hungary amidst sedition.

He must have been conferred the high noble title of despot during George's reign,[2][3] and American historian John Fine believes Aldimir was granted his appanage at that time.

[2] Unlike the neighbouring principality of Smilets at Kopsis, Aldimir remained loyal to the Bulgarian government and ensured that his domain retained its ties to the capital Tarnovo.

Fine describes Aldimir's lands as spanning the region from modern Sliven in the east to Kazanlak or Karlovo in the west, just south of the Balkan Mountains.

[6] With Aldimir's appointment as despot of Kran, Smiltsena ensured that his lands were better protected from Smilets' brothers Radoslav and Voysil who, as émigrés in Byzantium, held aspirations for the Bulgarian throne or at least their former domains.

[2] In 1299, George's son and Aldimir's nephew Theodore Svetoslav (r. 1300–1322), the legitimate successor to the Bulgarian throne, invaded Bulgaria along with Tatar troops.

The news of that invasion was enough to force Smiltsena and Ivan to flee to the despotate of Kran even before Theodore Svetoslav's troops had reached the capital.

[3] While Aldimir was nominally loyal to Theodore Svetoslav, the presence of Smiltsena and Ivan at his court would have been seen by the Bulgarian emperor as a threat.

Having become a Serbian subject, Ivan Dragushin was installed by his first cousin King Stephen Dušan as a local ruler in the region of Macedonia.