MY husband divorced me on grounds of my unreasonable behaviour.

I did not contest it as I still loved him and wanted to avoid a fuss. We agreed verbally that he would buy me out of the house or I would buy him out but it has not proceeded. He lives in the house and I in effect have nothing.

l You may be able to force him to buy you out, under threat of the house being sold by court order. Unless there is a formal minute of agreement in place preventing it, you as joint owner can raise an action of division and sale of the house. If he tries to contest it, or fails to negotiate a buy-out, the costs can come out of his share. But if there are younger children living in the house the court may defer a sale until they are over 16.

MY sister has bought my father's house, without consultation of the rest of the family. Is there anything we the other two children can do about this?

l No, as long as your parent was acting voluntarily and was fully advised of his options, then the property sale is not challengeable.

WE bought our daughter a flat to live in, with no mortgage or loan. It was for her to use while a student. She then married a guy, but the marriage did not last and they split up. Her ex is now demanding a half share of the value of the flat. Is he entitled to this?

l I preface my answer by saying your daughter should take in-depth legal advice on his situation and not simply rely on my opinion which is based on the limited information you can give me in your short letter. But the principle is clear in law - if the property was bought by or for your child alone, and she then took up with her (now ex-)husband, then he has no claim on it.

If it had been purchased for use for both of them at the time of purchase, he will have some claim. The extent of percentage of claim depends on some other factors including where the source of funding was for the house.

CAN I get a court case stopped and charges dropped? I was assaulted over a year ago and I have not heard or seen the person involved in all this time. I have recently heard that he has appeared in court and pleaded not guilty. I had forgotten about this until receiving a citation to appear in court as a witness which was a great shock to me after all this time. I have written to the Procurator Fiscal asking to drop the charges but I was told that this was going ahead anyway.

l In Scotland we have no concept of a victim "dropping the charges". The Procurator Fiscal prosecutes in the name of the Crown and the interests of the public, not on your behalf. As such, he/she is immune from influence by any party's wishes.

You are technically now just a witness to an alleged offence. Your legal duty is to come to court when cited and speak up and answer all questions truthfully.