Hello, I'm not sure if I should be asking this on a Trust Deed forum or not. Please accept my apologies if it's not something anybody can advise on.

Over the last few weeks I've seen 3 friends made bankrupt by the local council over council tax arrears and this worries me. Over the last 11 years I've literally worked my knuckles to the bone to reduce my debt from £97000 to £12000 (of which £9500 is owed to the council for council tax arrears). While I'm not aware of any plans for any creditor to make me bankrupt, I have to admit it would be devastating if it did happen, especially considering the hard work I've put in to clear the majority of my debt and knowing that I can have the remaining debt cleared within the next 12 months at the most.

I've done a bit of reading online and looking for information regarding requesting a time to pay order. Would I be right in thinking that if a time to pay order is granted then neither the council or Sheriff officers can take any further enforcement action as long as I'm sticking to my end of the deal?

This is where it gets complicated, I applied for a time to pay order in 2010 and stupidly I didn't stick to the agreement. I've read somewhere that a time to pay order could only be applied for once, would it be possible to know if that is during a tax year or would it be acceptable to apply for another time to pay order now?

The council tax debt I originally had a time to pay order for has been settled, the balance I have the now is made up of tax debts that came later although I was still paying the original council tax debt when some of the new debts came around. The account numbers have changed too so I'm not sure if a new time to pay application would be allowed or if it would be considered the same account.

Would it be possible to know if there's a limit to how much is owed before a time to pay can be applied for? I've noticed some websites say that the debt must be less than £5000, other websites don't have a limit.

Is there a time limit from when a time to pay needs to be applied for after the charge for payment is received?

If a time to pay can be applied for, what I was considering requesting is that I pay £40 a month with the remaining balance to be settled within 12 months (12 months is just worse case scenario). My debts won't rise during this time. What are the chances that this would be accepted? At the moment I'm paying £30 per month to the Sheriff Officers.

If the time to pay was rejected, I've heard that the debtor has to go to court to prove their circumstances, the thought of this scares me although I don't have anything to hide.

At the moment my disposable income isn't great and won't get any lower but it will pick up after the New Year. I don't have any assets. I do have various other small debts but have already negotiated payment arrangements with the creditors. The debts are small and well below the bankruptcy threshold.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.