Hi littlemiss.k and welcome.

If you and your ex had joint debts it isn't as straightforward as you paying half each necessarily. Did your ex also sign a trust deed? If not, any advice given to you would have to have been based upon the full value of your joint debts plus any debts held in your own name.

Have you asked why, specifically, your trust deed is being extended? It cannot be done without reason.

Who advised you that you should become bankrupt? It wouldn't be possible at the moment as your trustee would have to discharge you first.

If that did happen then, upon becoming bankrupt, your new trustee would assess your income and expenditure and require you to make payments for three years if that's affordable in their view.

He's not in a trust deed but he made seperate arrangements to pay and has now paid off his half.

I am earning more money now than I was initially and the done and income and expenditure and said I am not paying enough. But I have worked out that I am paying around £14,000 for the duration of my trust deed now. From the original debt, there is now only £6,000 owing...given that my creditors will be paid in full from the amount given to the TD company - how can they jutsify increasing my payment? Who will the increase be going to?

Can I just ask them to make me bankrupt? My friend said she just said that she couldn't afford to pay anymore and her TD company agreed.

Also, could the trustee expect me to make payments if I have less disposable income that the government says that someone with three children needs to live off of due to my childcare costs? My case is relatively simple - no car, no home x

Hi again.

Once you've signed a trust deed the most that you might be asked to pay is the total of:

1: Your total debts (minus any element paid off by a joint debtor).
2: Interest on the debts.
3: The fees and costs of your trust deed.

That's what your payments will cover. When circumstances improve this can add up to a lot more than the debts originally owed.

It's different if circumstances take a turn for the worse. The trust deed might no longer be functional and the trustee might conclude that bankruptcy has become more appropriate for all parties.

Which government figures are you referring to? It's certainly right to say that you and your family should be left enough money to live reasonably.

Did you let your trustee know about your change in circumstances as soon as it happened? I'm guessing there must have been a delay, which is why they are saying you need to pay a longer term. Have they set this out in writing to you?

It is definitely worth making sure your trustee is aware of your ex making payments to the debts, if you haven't already as it is possible that it will reduce the length of time that the trust deed has to run, depending upon the level of fees.

Hi littlemiss.k,

When you said about your ex paying off his share of the joint debts, can you clarify how much the joint debt was and how much of this he paid I.e. £5,000 joint debt in total and he paid £2,500 of it or the full £5,000?

I would request a face to face meeting with your Relationship Manager/Trustee in their office to discuss your concerns regarding the increase in payment and the issue of your ex paying the joint debt. I always think that doing things in person with someone when there are questions and confusion really does help and is the best way.

Unfortunately it's not as straight forward as just advising your Trustee that you can afford to pay. You would need to provide a thorough income and expenditure and show that you can't afford to pay.

If you can demonstrate that your budget is stretched and tight with supporting the kids then it's difficult for your Trustee to justify an increase in your payment simply because of your salary increase. There are expenditure guideline figures which we try to work with in order to assess someone's household budget so your Trustee should hopefully be using these when reviewing your case.