Every area of law we cover
Twenty-seven things people actually come to a solicitor about, each with a page explaining how it works in Scotland, what the deadlines are and what it is likely to cost.
Family and relationships
Get a divorce
Grounds, the simplified route, cost and how long it takes.
Agree a separation
Minutes of Agreement, registration and how binding they are.
Sort out money and property
Matrimonial property, the relevant date, pensions and the house.
Arrangements for children
Residence, contact, parental rights and the welfare test.
Protect myself and my children
Interdicts, powers of arrest, exclusion orders and non-harassment orders.
Injury and medical negligence
Claim for an injury
Time limits, what no win no fee really means, and what a claim is worth.
Claim after a road accident
No whiplash tariff in Scotland, passengers, and untraced drivers.
Claim after an accident at work
What changed in 2013, who pays if nobody is insured, and how long you have.
Claim for industrial disease
Asbestos, vibration, noise and respiratory disease, decades later.
Claim after a beauty treatment
Botox, fillers and laser. Who is regulated in Scotland, and who is not.
Claim for medical negligence
The Scottish test, consent, and claims against a health board.
Claim for a surgical error
Operations that went wrong, consent to surgery, and the evidence that decides it.
Complain about NHS treatment
The two-stage procedure, the Ombudsman, and why a complaint does not stop the clock.
Paying for a solicitor
What no win no fee actually means
Success fee agreements, the capped percentages, and why the English rules do not apply.
What your solicitor can take from your compensation
Every deduction that can lawfully come off a Scottish settlement, with the arithmetic.
What happens if I lose my case
Costs protection in injury claims, the exceptions, and why other claims have none.
What does a solicitor cost
Hourly rates, fixed fees and what drives the bill in Scotland.
Legal aid in Scotland
What it covers, who qualifies, and why it was never abolished here.
Wills, estates and planning ahead
Make a will
What it costs, what it must contain and what it cannot defeat.
Set up a power of attorney
Continuing and welfare powers, and why leaving it is expensive.
Apply for guardianship
Where no power of attorney was put in place in time.
Sort out an estate
Confirmation, executors, inheritance tax and distribution.
Claim legal rights
What a spouse or child is entitled to whatever the will says.
Contest a will
Capacity, facility and circumvention, and reduction.
Property
Buy a house
Offers, missives, the Home Report and when you are bound.
Sell a house
The Home Report, closing dates and what the seller pays.
Deal with a renting problem
Private residential tenancies, eviction, repairs and rent.
Review a commercial lease
No security of tenure, irritancy and tacit relocation.
Work
Challenge a dismissal
Three months less one day, and what changes on 1st January 2027.
Deal with discrimination at work
Protected characteristics, no qualifying period, no cap.
Review a settlement agreement
Why advice is a legal requirement and who pays for it.
Money, business and other
Sort out a commercial dispute
Which court, the clock, the cost, and where your dispute belongs.
Draw up a partnership agreement
What the 1890 Act decides if the partners never agreed otherwise.
Resolve a partnership dispute
Separate legal personality, joint and several liability, and dissolution.
Resolve a contract dispute
Breach, interpretation, remedies and the five year clock.
Recover money I am owed
Five year prescription, simple procedure and diligence.
Set up a business
Structure, the Scottish partnership trap and the documents to have.
Deal with a criminal charge
Police interviews, which court, and the two verdicts.
Sort out an immigration matter
Who may advise, and what is different in Scotland.
Join a group action
Group proceedings in the Court of Session, permission, and why Scotland is opt-in.
Claim for diesel emissions
NOx claims, which manufacturers, and the five year prescription.
The same work, in your own town
Where a case genuinely benefits from a local firm, there is a page for the city as well. Those are gathered on the locations index, which sets out the sheriff court, the health board and the pattern of legal work in each area.
The questions behind the decisions
Alongside these, the guides answer the questions people ask before they instruct anyone: what a divorce costs, what you are entitled to, how long confirmation takes, what a solicitor charges and whether legal aid is available.
If your situation is not listed
The list above is what we cover with a page of its own. It is not the limit of what Scottish solicitors do, and it is not the limit of what we will help with. Send an enquiry describing what has happened in ordinary words and we will tell you what kind of solicitor it needs.
A note on this page
This is general information about how the law works in Scotland. It is not advice about your situation and it cannot be, because we do not know your circumstances. Nothing here should be relied on as a substitute for speaking to a solicitor about your own case.
Tell us what has happened.
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