It’s a sad fact that on average 42% of marriages end in divorce, and often those worst affected are the children. Disputes over parental responsibility, where children live, and how much time they spend with each parent are extremely common, and unfortunately, many of these disputes end up in court.
A guide to Children Law
The latest video to be uploaded to our YouTube channel features Karis Jones, family law solicitor and specialist in children law at Howells Solicitors, giving advice on a number of scenarios covering the law relating to the children of families going through a divorce or separation.
The circumstances that are discussed during the video give Karis the opportunity to explain a number of points of children law relevant to both parents throughout a separation.
Some of these points include:
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At Howells Solicitors we are delighted to announce that in 2014 we achieved a record turnover - in excess of £6m. This is an increase of 20% on the previous year’s result which highlights the firm’s significant growth in its conveyancing and family departments. We also saw an increase in clients using our commercial, employment law and private client departments.
Huge Growth at Howells
Over the last two years, we have enjoyed a period of rapid expansion – now employing over 100 personnel and opening our sixth office in Bridgend last year. In addition to this, we potentially have two more office locations planned along the M4 South Wales corridor.
Howells’ managing partner, Mark Hobbs, said, “This has been another exceptional year of growth and change for Howells. Whilst the majority of our cases are in Wales, our client base in England has significantly increased, especially regarding conveyancing work. This has been achieved due to the investment made in IT systems and software allowing us to provide high quality services online as well as in our offices.”
He concluded, “The excellent results are a tribute to the hard work, dedication and expertise of our staff across all six offices and a reflection of the ambition, determination and vision of our clients.”
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It isn’t uncommon for people to announce their every thought, feeling and emotion over social media. You may post statuses about how you dread going to work on Monday morning to how you may have had one tipple too many on Saturday night to the resulting negative impacts about said tipple.
Typically, these posts are full of explicit language and very colourful images. This may not be a bad thing among your friends, but how would you feel if a potential employer saw this?
Social Media vs. Recruitment
According to many reports, in recent years more and more employers will look at would-be employee’s social media profiles in their recruitment processes. Employers want to make sure that they are hiring the right people, and this means conducting their own research via social media.
A recent study by ACAS found that 45% of employers already conduct social media research as part of their recruitment process, while a further 40% claimed that they would make more use of it in the future. More...
Howells Solicitors are delighted to announce that we have completed 294 of the 1000 purchases of new homes in Wales using the Help-to-Buy-Wales scheme.
First Anniversary of Help-to-Buy-Wales
On the first anniversary of the Help-to-Buy-Wales scheme, the initiative celebrates the completion of the purchase of the 1,000th home bought through this scheme. The law firm responsible for completing the first sale using this scheme in February 2013 has been appointed by a further 293 clients to represent them in the sales process.
A Year of Success for Howells
This achievement is the culmination of a record and awarding winning year for the conveyancing department of the law firm. On average they have completed 800 residential purchases each month and in September were named as the Best Regional Conveyancing Firm of 2014 for the Wales and West Midlands region at the prestigious Law Firm Services Awards.
Mark Hobbs, managing partner of Howells Solicitors said, “We’re delighted to have been chosen to represent a record number of clients in 2014 and receive the award as recognition of the quality of work and high level of customer service provided by the conveyancing teams.”More...
As it's the start of a brand new year, we thought it would be a great time to look back on 2014 to see what’s changed. New laws have been brought in, legislation has changed and Scotland almost left the UK. Here’s a complete roundup of everything that’s happened this year:
How Many Changes?
A record breaking number of changes to legislation have been brought in this year – 335 to be precise. That’s 95 more than last year and over 200 more than was seen a decade ago in 2004. Many of these changes will have very little effect on the general public, however nobody will be completely untouched by these new laws which include:
Employment Law Changes
There have been several major changes to employment law during 2014, these will have an impact on both employers and employees. Some of the ones that you should be most aware of are:
• Transfer of Undertaking Protection of Employment – there was talk of abolishing it entirely, but instead the policy has simply been adapted. Although the provision will be the pretty much the same, liability information now has to be provided 28 days before transfer and there must be an economic, technical or organisation reason for change of workplace location.
• Financial penalties for breaching employment rights – employers who breach employment rights will now face financial penalties of between £100 and £5,000 issued by tribunals.More...