Q:  Since my husband and I have been stuck at home together since last March we have discovered that we really don’t even like each other. The problem is that we do not have any actual grounds for divorce, plus we are both worried that our jobs might come to an end if the COVID crisis doesn’t resolve itself soon. This means financially we cannot risk one of us moving out and renting somewhere else at the moment. So, what is our best route to divorce?

Q:    My partner and I bought a house together six years ago. I put up the £15,000 I inherited from an aunt as the entire deposit. From the outset my partner paid the mortgage as he didn’t contribute to the deposit and earns more than me. I have paid all the household bills. Now he wants to end the relationship and buy me out of the house. He says all he should pay me is the £15,000 I put in because he has paid the mortgage for six years. Is that fair?

Q:    I am a small contractor with a whole string of jobs I have been unable to carry out due to coronavirus lockdowns and out-of-stock materials. I cannot give customers a date when they might get their jobs done and the further behind I get, the more likely it is that I will have to pull out of some contracts completely because I won’t ever catch up. Where do I stand regarding my contractual liabilities?

Q:    My boyfriend has his own house, and I am considering moving in with him as it has been dreadful having to be apart during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns. I am prepared to make contributions but am concerned that the property is just in his name. Is there still such a thing as common law marriage, and would I have any rights in relation to the house because of this?

The head of one of the region’s largest family law teams who warned in June 2020 of a spike in cases relating to care proceedings, has said this month’s launch of a review to examine how parental access decisions are made could not have come at a more appropriate time.

Q:    I applied for a job on a twelve-month contract and, after an online interview last week due to COVID restrictions, I was offered it. The offer was emailed to me and I accepted it by email and was told a contract would follow. On the strength of that I gave notice on my current job.

Following a consistent upsurge in new instructions over the past few months, leading independent law firm, GHP Legal, has announced the appointment of Ron Carter as new Head of Corporate Law, together with an expansion of its Corporate and Commercial department.

Q:    My wealthy spinster aunt was bed-ridden for years before dying in September. She had live-in carers and set up LPAs appointing my cousin and I as joint attorneys to manage her financial affairs and health and welfare decisions. We were also joint beneficiaries of her Will. However, I worked abroad and only returned to the UK in February. Coronavirus and her vulnerability meant I could not visit, and she was too ill to speak on the phone.

Q:    I own an engineering firm with thirty-four employees. Like every other business, keeping staff gainfully employed during the coronavirus pandemic was not easy, but with the supply chain rolling again we now have orders coming in. The workforce is keen to do whatever it takes to get things back on track, but the worry of the COVID-19-induced hiatus in the business, my poor health and my age, I really want to retire. However, as I do not want to let down my loyal workforce, I was wondering how easy it would be to offer them the opportunity of collectively owning the business?

Q:    I left the military at the end of 2019 after serving for six years. In the summer before I came out, I was involved in an accident when the vehicle I was driving came off the road. It was later proven that the vehicle had not undergone service checks when they were due, and the accident could be attributed to a fault that would have been rectified if the check had been carried out. I did not sustain any serious injuries at the time but during the latter part of this year I began to suffer severe pain that has now been diagnosed as resulting from whiplash. Can I make a claim against the MoD?