Q:    While he was furloughed, getting paid but not working, my husband started gambling online. He ran up huge debts we cannot afford, has become a social moron and sits glued to his computer saying nothing to me or the kids. If I divorce him, will I be responsible for half his gambling debts, or would those be taken into consideration and give me a bigger financial settlement?

Q:    I made a claim for compensation following quite severe injuries I suffered in an accident last year. The insurance company has now made me an offer of £30,000, but says it is unable to tell me whether the pay-out will affect my state benefits. Before I accept the offer, please can you explain the situation?

Q:    I run a small family business selling building products to local tradesmen. It has been really difficult trying to enforce Covid regulations with customers over the past year. Eventually we had to close the gates and use a ‘call before you collect’ system so that people queued outside our premises and it was not our responsibility if they did not want to wear a mask. Now we have a different problem, namely staff who are refusing to wear a mask when interfacing with customers because the customers don’t bother. Can we sack staff if they refuse to wear a mask?

Q:    Since returning to work after being furloughed during the COVID lockdown, everything changed, and I became increasingly unhappy in my job. I felt like I was trying to do my job and they were not letting me. A few weeks ago, it all came to a head, and basically, I was “let go” after a row with management, during which I was accused of having become too difficult to continue my employment with them. I was so upset that I walked out. When I tried to return, I was told my job was gone. Have I got a case for Constructive or Unfair Dismissal, and what is the difference?

Q:    This is a purely hypothetical question, but I am hoping your answer will encourage my husband to make a Will. Our marriage is a second one for both of us. I have a daughter from my first marriage, and we later had another daughter together. Both girls live with us. My husband seems to think that if anything happened to one of us, the surviving spouse would automatically inherit the estate of the deceased spouse and the girls would eventually inherit equally when the surviving spouse died. But my question is, what would happen if we died together in a car crash?

Q:    My widowed father is suffering from long covid and cannot look after himself. His age and the fact that he also suffered organ damage means it is unlikely that he will recover sufficiently to live independently in future. In one of his lucid moments, he said he wanted to sell his house as there is nobody nearby to keep an eye on things. It also needs to be sold to pay the fees if he goes into a care home. I could be his attorney, but what if there is an emergency and I cannot be there?

Q:    I work in retail. Due to COVID19 closures there have been cutbacks and we are having to reapply for our own jobs or other jobs within the organisation. I was unsuccessful when I applied for my old job, so I applied for a job in the women’s department. I didn’t get that either and although they didn’t say as much to my face, I have heard that I was considered unsuitable because I am a heterosexual male.

Q:    Two years ago, I witnessed my best friend dying after a lorry ploughed into her car whilst she was legally parked waiting for me. She was trapped in the wreckage for nearly two hours whilst I cradled her head and talked to her. She was screaming and kept asking me to help her until medics arrived and sedated her. Her screams and the picture of her terrible injuries have tortured me ever since. I am on anti-depressants and have had to give up work. A nurse friend thinks I have PTSD and that I should claim against the lorry insurance for compensation. Would I have a valid claim?

Q:    I have been mentally and physically abused by my husband for years, often in front of the children. I cannot take any more, but I have no money to get a solicitor and go to court for an injunction to stop him, or to leave him. Can you still get legal aid and if so, what do you have to do?

Q:     The COVID lockdown ended our marriage and I moved out and rented a room in a mate’s house. For the sake of the kids, I agreed I would not force a sale on the house that my ex and I own jointly, and I have carried on paying the mortgage, which is why I can only afford a room for myself. Now my ex has met someone online and wants him to move in. Should I make her sell up? Or can I charge him rent?