You could start contacting the creditors Thommohawk to establish whether they still consider the amounts owed to be outstanding, whether they've been transferred to debt collection agencies or debt purchasers, and to establish whether a deal can be done to settle them.

Or you could stand back and wait to see if any creditors come forwards. Some might lose their ability to legally enforce the debts if they don't take action fairly soon.

So am I right in thinking that if they don't come forward after 5 years of the last point of contact/payment then legally there is nothing they can do? (It was all unsecured consumer debts).
If this is the case then would the last point of contact be from when the debts were returned to the creditors?

It might be Thommohawk, perhaps if they couldn't evidence that they'd tried to contact you since or you hadn't admitted the debt since in some way or other.

They might also appear before the five year threshold to attempt to collect the money.

I guess the final consideration is a moral one - whether you believe it would be right to address the debts directly rather than leaving this to happen (potentially). I'm making no judgments on that by the way - each of us might feel quite differently about this side of things for perfectly rational reasons.

See my head says to sit back and hope for the best but my heart is telling me 'You made your bed now lie in it'.
It sounds too good to be true that they will just go away. I'm going to have a serious think about this one but looks like I will most likely pay the debts. I'd sleep a lot better. Who knows, they may give me a vastly reduced amount to pay.
Another possibility is that the Trustee has been on the phone to the creditors today and told them to get after me before it's too late.
Is there any way of finding out if the debts still exist or have been classed as 'statute barred' without contacting the creditors?

Not that I can think of Thommohawk. You'll obviously need to be careful what you say/write if you do decide to contact your creditors if you're trying to keep the "prescription" scenario open.

I'd bet you a significant sum of money that your ex-trustee isn't contacting your creditors about this!

In what context be careful?

Can I just say, TDA, thanks for your help with this. You have given me some very good advice.

You're welcome Thommohawk.

What I mean is that you may be checking up on debts that are approaching the five year prescription threshold.

If you were deemed to have "admitted" the debt (when calling/writing to check details about it) that five year period could start again.

Best to have a good think about all of this for a while I'd imagine before doing anything.

Haha ok point taken.....

I'll keep you posted with any updates.