Swearing and Affirming and Certification
Your Solicitor may have prepared a document for you to swear or affirm and asked you to contact a local solicitor to do that for you, that is because the same solicitor who prepared the document cannot also witness your signature to it.
Alternatively, you may need Certified Copies of a document to send to another professional, for example you may need to certify a copy of your passport to send to a bank. A certified copy is exact copy of an original document which is then certified and signed by a solicitor as being a true copy of the original.
Common practice is for the solicitor who does the swearing to keep the fees as a tip, however at Garden House Solicitors we do things a little differently- we apply the monies received for these services for various fundraising and team building events. Over the years we have made significant donations to the Alzheimer’s Society, Terrence Higgins Trust, Action for Children and the School Dinners Appeal by hosting an annual garden party to raise funds and awareness of the work these charities do. Last year, our garden party raised money for the Happy Days Charity, a charity that works with local communities right across the UK to provide vital respite breaks for individuals, families and groups who support children with a wide range of additional needs. This year, we donated £100's worth of gardening equipment for Herts Young Homeless, a local charity working to prevent homelessness in young people. You can find more information on these charities below.
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Herts Young Homeless​
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Homelessness can be defined as being without permanent, stable or suitable accommodation.
Besides rough sleepers, this includes those who are ‘sofa surfing’ with friends and extended family
or living in hostels.
hyh has a variety of FREE services open to all 16 – 24 year olds who are homeless or threatened
with homelessness. They also have a Health Service which has no upper age limit.
hyh is an independent charity and has been supporting vulnerable people in Hertfordshire
since 1998. Their experience has enabled us to develop mediation, education and other
specialist prevention services with the purpose of avoiding the misery of a breakdown in
family relationships.
Of course, this is not always possible and in those cases they aim to help the young people
affected through advice, support and other associated services. Homelessness can lead to,
and indeed result from, issues of drug and alcohol dependency and poor mental health.
Their experts in these areas work with people of all ages to support them in overcoming these challenges.
They work with closely with Herts County Council, local district councils and other agencies to
improve local provision and prevent youth homelessness.
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Happy Days Children's Charity
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The Happy Days Children's Charity offers help to those with learning difficulties, physical or
mental disabilities, emotional challenges and those with acute, chronic or life limiting
illnesses. The young people they help range in age from 3 to 17. They come from many
different backgrounds and cultures and suffer many different conditions.
They also help young people who have been abused or neglected, witnessed domestic
violence, been bereaved or act as carers for a parent or a sibling, by funding holidays and day
trips for young people and their families, residential trips for groups of children and young
people, including community groups such as women's refuges and SEN schools, days out for
groups to hundreds of venues throughout the UK, including the seaside, theatre, zoos and farm
parks, experiences such as sport activity days, art and music workshops. They also arrange
activities such as visiting theatres and workshops to visit groups where mobility is a difficulty.
Click here for more information.
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The Terence Higgins Trust
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The Terence Higgins Trust is the UK's leading HIV and sexual health charity. They are
committed to contributing to the end of HIV transmissions and improving sexual health,
by supporting people living with and affected by HIV and poor sexual health and ensuring
that their voices are are heard.
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They do this by providing testing services for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections,
and helping the people using their services to achieve good sexual health.
As well as providing services, they campaign on issues from relationships and sex education
in schools to the proper funding of HIV services.
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Action for Children
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Action for Children is a UK children's charity committed to helping vulnerable children and
young people, and their families, throughout the UK. They believe that every child should
grow up safe and happy, so they offer support to help them thrive – and step in to help
when times get tough.
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They work to improve the lives of children, young people and families in the UK by
building solid foundations and spotting problems early- this means funding parenting
classes, nurseries and children’s centres, as well as providing breaks for young carers,
and extra help for disabled children and supporting young people at risk of homelessness.
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