There are lots of choices mum2leah. For example:

You could contact the Money Advisers at your local CAB or at your Local Authority.

You might also contact a trust deed provider directly. The four that we recommend are represented in this forum by Mark, Kevin, Shona and Chris (who you have probably seen here answering questions).

The Trust-Deed.co.uk advice team contains three professionally qualified debt advisers (myself included).

You may even wish to take advice from more than one source of advice so that you can be more confident in any decisions that you later choose to make.

Thanks, I live with my partner but I wouldn't expect him to sign a trust deed when the debt is all mine really. Our household expenses include maintenance payments for his other 2 children. I am just trying to work out my income and expenditure. Should I include half of this maintenance payment?

Hi mum2leah.

It's important to list all household expenditure and income. That applies to both individual costs and joint costs.

You should therefore include all of his maintenance payment, his other costs, and his income.

This doesn't mean that he'll have to pay towards your debts, it's just the starting point for the adviser in working everything out properly.

There is often more than one way of calculating your disposable income, especially if you are part of a couple but have individual earnings/outgoings to take account of.

The main principle is that the monthly payments should be whatever you can reasonably afford once you have paid any of your own expenses and have made a fair contribution towards any joint bills.

As trust deed assistant says, it is worth getting expert assistance in doing this, and it might be sensible to get it from more than one source.