My Dad passed away, and among other things, my brother who dealt with the funeral and the insurance and money is saying that two of our sisters are not getting a penny of the estate. Is this legal?

You don’t say if your father left a will, but generally, all children have a share in their parent’s estate to some extent. The sisters excluded should take legal advice as if the executors dealing with the estate try to over-rule their legal shares, whether left by will or by operation of Scottish intestacy law, this can be stopped. It’s not just up to your brother’s whim.

I was driving and a van came out of the side road and hit me. I wasn’t injured, but my car was off the road for two weeks being repaired. I use the car for work and picking up my son from school a distance away, but the van driver’s employer’ s insurers are saying it is not essential that I have a car, so are not willing to pay hire charges.

The argument about necessity is probably not the relevant one. as a victim you must mitigate your losses – i.e. not go out and hire a Bentley in the expectation that someone else will pay. In other words it is correct that no automatic assumption can be made that you must get replacement car. But your particular circumstances are relevant. Given your needs, you should not have to suffer being car-less as a result of negligence. As long as you hire a moderate car you should get the cost back.

I live in a 4-in-a-block building downstairs. The boiler used to be in the loft until she got a combi-boiler. The upstairs neighbour now wants to convert the loft to a living space. I am worried this will cause damage and possible water into my flat.

It depends on whether the title deeds allocate the loft space to one flat or as joint property among the flats. If the former the upstairs neighbour can proceed, subject to a building control warrant, but must observe due care for your property. If the loft is jointly owned, upstairs cannot do any work without consent of all owners and can be stopped by court order.

I live in an upstairs flat. The door entry system does not work and repairs by the landlord only last a few days. I am told if I were burgled the insurance would not pay out as the security door is wedged open most of the time. Is this true, and what can I do about it?

Check your insurance policy carefully first of all, and see if there is any provision about security. But that won’t solve the larger problem of the door system. write to the landlord/factor and state your unhappiness in clear terms, and put on record that the landlord is failing in its duty of security. Indeed if you can get other in the block together then you will have a louder voice. Ultimately you could take the landlord to court as being in breach of the tenancy agreement, but don’t rush into that. Get into dialogue with someone high up in the landlord’s organization. It is in their interest not to be sued for your losses.