commentary

A reader tells how she and her two sisters finally divided their late father’s land after two decades of silence, and what changed to make it possible.

A long-standing church member writes about plans to sell the land her congregation has held for generations, and the mixed feelings of grief, suspicion and understanding it has stirred.

A reader is engaged to a man who co-owns a house with his former partner. She loves him, but she does not want to begin a marriage tangled up in someone else’s mortgage.

A reader in Clarendon tells how a two-foot boundary quarrel with the man next door ended, not in court, but at a Saturday table.

A widow writes about the weeks after her husband’s funeral, when she discovered the house they had shared for decades was still registered to his late father, and what she wishes she had asked years ago.

A rural homeowner raises concerns after being told explosives may be used close to neighbouring propertiesDear Jamaica Homes,I live in…

A secondary school teacher in south London argues that children need to learn about renting, buying, land and household bills long before they leave home, and that churches and families can help.

A reader in the UK tells how he paid for a piece of land back home, cleared it and started a foundation, before discovering the seller did not own it. What went wrong, and what he wishes he had done.

A widow with four children wants her will to divide the family house fairly. One daughter has lived with her and cared for her for years. Is fair the same as equal?

A stepfather in Birmingham explains why he added his wife’s name to the house he bought before they married, what friends warned him about and what it changed at home.

A young man in Westmoreland has been offered part of his late grandmother’s land by a cousin, cheaply and for cash. There is no survey and no title. What should he do before paying?

A reader’s future in-laws have offered land to build on beside their own home. His fiancée is thrilled; he feels uneasy and can’t say why. Our response looks at the feelings and the paperwork.

An elderly farmer in St Elizabeth writes about planting fruit trees he knows he will never pick from, the family who think he is wasting his pension, and why he keeps digging.

Two friends in Toronto co-owned a house for eleven years. One of them writes about why it worked, why it had to end, and the hard conversation that let them part without losing each other.

A reader who has sung at more funerals than he can count says Christian families are too quick to call wills bad luck and too slow to see what silence costs the people left behind.