Welcome to the forum Dianner79.

I'm sorry to hear that you have been unwell and that you have serious problems with your home.

It's vitally important that you communicate all of this to your trustee. You should also (if you haven't already) make sure they know about your current income and what's likely to happen with it going forwards.

Unfortunately you're unable to apply for sequestration for as long as you're in a trust deed. That will only be possible if your trustee agrees to bring your trust deed to an end. This is one of the major reasons why communication with them is so important.

If you did enter sequestration then any contribution would be worked out in a very similar way to a trust deed. The trustee would subtract your bills and reasonable expenses from your total income. Any money left over after that would be required as a contribution that would run for four years. If there wasn't any surplus income, you would not have to make a payment.

How much of your current situation has been discussed with your trustee at this stage?

I have emailed them for answers to everything as I find it hard to retain information just now but also I need clarity to be able to move forward, however I am still waiting on reply. We have agreed surrendering home best option for me, however I am eaiting on a response to what will happen if im renting and seeking universal credit, and also if I can sell my car, which wasnt included in trust deed due to job and living rural to pay for deposit of rented accommodation.
I am presuming with no house it would resort to 4 years worst case?
I was under the understanding that by law universal credit was not allowed to be taken into consideration, only earned income, have I got that wrong?

Hi Dianner79,

Raising these concerns with your trustee is an excellent first step.

You are correct that a payment in bankruptcy, if it's affordable, would last for four years.

Your total income will be taken into account when working out whether a payment is affordable, including benefit income.

The key point is that any payment cannot come directly from benefit income. So, if you only received benefits there would be no payment to make.

If you only earned £100 per month and the rest of your income was benefits, your maximum payment would be £100 per month (if affordable).

Thanks so much for your help, appreciated x