Welcome to the forum Cav3.

Nobody is going to tell you whether or not you could keep the pony in the event that you decided to enter trust deeds. The issue, as you have identified, is whether your creditors would be prepared to allow for the cost of keeping it. Effectively they will be paying for this if extra allowances have to be made.

You certainly are allowed (by creditors) a modest allowance to cover the cost of keeping pets. This allowance would normally be sufficient to cover food and insurance costs for pets such as dogs and cats. I'd imagine that the costs of keeping a pony are somewhat higher. Could you give us an estimate of the costs involved please?

It might also be possible for you to economise in certain areas for which you have been assigned allowances to prioritise that money towards other costs (such as the pony). It is important to remember though that whilst these allowances are workable, they aren't what most people would consider to be generous. This may limit the scope of how far you could economise in other areas.

All income will be reviewed if you enter trust deeds. As DLA is paid to cover the extra costs associated with a condition you would also list out what these extra costs are. This should cancel out the extra DLA income if the figures balance.

Hi Cav3

TDA had pretty well summed up matters.

In all cases there is a requirement to carry out a financial review to look at all income and all expenditure. This would identify key area of expenditure and also income I guess. Generally there should be no issues with family pets, however the pony falls slightly outside the normal class of pets.

Within the expenditure, there are a number of allowances for pets, insurance, children's costs etc and as long as these are clearly explained, then in my experience there is rarely an issue.

Mark

Hi Cav3

As trust Deed Assistant has said - this type of additional expense is fine as long as creditors agree to it at the start of the process. We often find that creditors are very understanding when it comes to family pets.

It is also usually possible to run it past your main creditors in advance of you signing up to anything (the proposal that is - not the pony!!). That way you can have some reassurance before committing.

Thank you for replying. I have just calculated everything. The livery, feed and insurance are monthly, the shoes, teeth and vaccinations are at varies other times. I have calculated how much it would be per month and to my horror it amounts to £238 per month. This is me budgeting for the cheapest end of the scale.
The other question I have is, my other daughter has recently started working full time. Would her income be taken into account?
Many thanks for your advice .

Hi Cav3.

Your daughter's income wouldn't be taken into account directly, but I think it might be expected that she make some contribution towards household expenses if she is earning and remains living at home.

Are you able to tell us approximately how much that you owe in total?

Also, do you have a feeling (or a calculation!) regarding how much you could afford to pay into trust deeds after your other household bills and expenses have been covered?

I'm thinking that it might be useful to try to set the pony expenditure against the wider situation.

Hi Cav3,

Welcome to the forum!

I've got a cat and a dog and know the costs of having both of them so I can understand that keeping and caring for a pony will have more associated costs.

A lot of the time people don't sit down and work out a budget or how much things cost them on a weekly/monthly basis. When they do they tend to have the same reaction as you and are shocked at how much things can cost.

Your daughter's income and financial situation would not be taken into consideration but as TDA has said, if she were to contribute towards the household expenditure this could looked at as part of your household income.

If within your budget you can afford to continue with the pony and the costs your creditors may well be prepared to allow this to continue. In terms of acceptable expenditure, your allowed to have things like pocket money and school trips, hobbies, leisure and sport, vet bills and pet insurance and also gifts such as Christmas and birthdays.

I'd be very surprised if there were to be a problem with keeping the pony. Having pets myself I do know how attached you become to them.

The best thing to do is sit down in person with a qualified advisor and work through a full financial budget. By doing this you will be in a better position to understand what options you have available and can then take things from there.

The positive thing to remember is that you will have solutions to your financial difficulties.

There is no harm in seeing what your creditors might be prepared to accept, Cav3. There may be room for negotiation if they are unhappy with the amount being spent - for example extending the term of the trust deeds a little to compensate to some degree.

We may be jumping the gun a bit here though - first thing is to get a proper assessment of your situation and consider all options that may be viable. If trust deeds make most sense for you then I would hope and expect that there should be a way to make it happen without your daughter losing her pet.

Thank you all so much for your help, I am going to sit down and speak to my husband tonight. This really can't go on. We are sitting here with no money and he is having to take money out of credit cards to pay credit cards. We have just recently moved house and we lost a lot of money from the sale of our last house with the way house prices are and our lawyers fees where a lot more expensive than we had anticipated, my husband had to take out a loan to pay the lawyers fees. We owe around £30000 could be a bit more, we have I think. On what the house was values at a few months ago and what we have on a mortgage I think,we have around £45000 in equity, again I don't know if this is allowed. I really don't want to lose my home. I have a long term illness and don't think I could cope if I lost my home.

Hi Cav3

It's the fear of the unknown which is the killer. That is why it is always best to sit down and look at all options and see what best suits.

There are 3 option in Scotland, Debt Arrangement Scheme, Trust Deed and sequestration. The last 2 can proceed with an agreement that a percentage of the debt is written off, whereas the DAS requires a payment in full over an extended period. It is unusual if there is no solution from the 3.

The key point, as you say, is the property and it is key that this is discussed and agreed before doing anything. That way you take away all the unknowns and work towards a definite plan which has a start date and an end date. I've just finished working on a Trust Deed with debts of £1,300,000 with a property and there is little to no liklihood of them losing it, so there are always ways of dealing with this. My advice is to request a redemption statement asap as this can be compared to a valuation which we and a large number of firms will carry out before you do anything. That way you know exactly what the position is.

Mark

Did you put down a deposit of around £45000 when you bought the house then, Cav3?

Yes we did Kevin, I think that was the figure. I would have to speak to my husband.

Mark thank you, I will do this.

Hi Cav3

The valuations for the purposes of Trust Deeds etc are normally lower than estate agents valuations or what you would expect to achieve on the open market as this will require to take account of selling/legal expenses etc.

If this is carried out, then it's a case of deducting the redemption figure for the mortgage and see whats left. That way equity, if it exists, is agreed at the start. It still remains the single most important issue in Trust Deeds for people.

Mark