Q: Can my wife or my female colleague’s husband prosecute me if, during an office tour, we share a room to cut costs?

Md Motleb Ali, Calcutta

A: If your wife and your colleague’s husband are the suspicious type, you may end up inviting adul tery charges under the Indian Penal Code. That’s ir respective of the reasons you furnish for sharing a room with her.

Q:I am unmarried and 28 years old. I have two older brothers who are married. Last year my father purchased a flat in my name. What can I do to prevent my brothers from claiming a share in my flat?

Priya Dutta, Calcutta

A: Since the title of the flat is in your name, no one — not even your brothers — can lay any claim over it.

Q:Our father made a gift deed in 1999, giving his landed property to the second son. Our mother, sisters and other brothers were kept in the dark about this. The property had been purchased with our joint contributions. Our father and the second brother have expired since then and our sister-in-law is in possession of the property at the moment. Please tell us how we can reclaim our share of the property.

N.K. Das, via email

A: Any transaction in which property is trans ferred to one person for consideration paid by an other is a benami transaction. But The Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act, 1988, makes the be namidar the owner of the benami property by pro hibiting the real owner from claiming it. Hence there is little you can do to reclaim the property.

Q:Is it absolutely necessary to appoint an executor if I intend to make a will? If yes, why?

Name withheld

A: Appointing an executor in a will is not mandatory, but it is certainly necessary. An executor has the power to carry out the directions contained in the will. The probate of the will is granted only to the executor appointed by the testator. The executor will have to collect and realise the estate of the de ceased, pay his debts and distribute the legacies of the testator.