Hi Alison.

Because your trust deed was legally binding upon you, your creditors and your trustee any decision to release you from it can only follow the completion of due process and isn't automatic because it's your preference.

I can imagine this whole situation, the departure of a key employee and the fact that they cannot locate the important documents you've sent them must be causing you a lot of worry.

Are you able to obtain copies of these letters for your trustee? Will they accept evidence of the changes to your circumstances from your bank statements instead?

How long does the process normally take to 'undo' the trust deed?

Yeah they can get proof from bank statements of changing circumstances, they've halved my payment again this month which makes things a little better but until I get a trustee again, I suppose I'm left in limbo.

Does the trust deed end at the end of 48 months, even if u haven't paid full payments every month or does it continue until the final balance is reached? If I could afford the half payment for the 48 months would that be it finished or would they add another 48 months on?

There's no set process Alison, all parties are legally bound so it's a significant decision for a trustee to make.

You will almost certainly have a trustee currently, continuity arrangements are in place. Are you sure it's not your regular contact that has left rather than the individual formally serving as your trustee?

I can't answer your other questions I'm afraid as they're at the discretion of your trustee. Nothing to stop you asking them these questions so that you can find out (hopefully soon) where you stand.

Hi Alison,

I'm sorry to hear of the difficult time you have had recently with the changes in your circumstances and problems with your Trust Deed. Did you receive the Sequestration Application I sent you out?

As TDA has advised both you and your Trustee are bound to the Trust Deed. It's your Trustee's job to work on behalf of your creditors to try and recover as much of their money as possible (within reason).

If your circumstances have changed and you cannot afford to maintain your agreed monthly payment then your Trustee would normally could consider the following options:

1 ÔÇô Agree to reduce your payment and run the Trust Deed for 48 months. Your reduced payment would normally need to be high enough to cover their costs and return money at the end to the creditors. If not, the Trust Deed would fail.

2 ÔÇô If your payments aren't high enough to justify continuing with the Trust Deed your Trustee can decide to release you from your Trust Deed and hand you your debts back. You would then be in a position to consider a LILA and apply for your own Sequestration (Bankruptcy).

It's really down to your own Trustee to decide what happens. To justify releasing you from your Trust Deed the Trustee needs to have evidence regarding your change in circumstances.

If you are really struggling to make any kind of payment to your Trust Deed at the moment especially having two children then you can consider as a last resort cancelling your payments. The last thing anyone would want is for you to get deeper into debt to try and maintain a payment to your Trust Deed. This should only be as a last resort as it can jeopardise your Trust Deed.

The best thing to do is keep on at your Trustee for a response on what their intentions are.

Let us know how you get on.

Hi yeah I did receive all the paperwork, thanks.

I have sent my trust deed firm all my paperwork to prove my change in finances but they are saying that they didn't receive it even though I sent it in the envelopes they sent me out.

They have halved my payment this month and next to make things a little easier, I can afford the half payment but not sure if this would be enough to continue on with the trust deed and if it would cover all costs.

Still waiting to hear from my new trustee person so won't know how we will move forward until I get to speak to them. Hopefully it will be sorted before I get to the stage about cancelling my direct debit, what happens if I stop paying the trust deed?

It would be up to the Trustee as to what action they would take if you stopped paying, Alison. They could:

- terminate the Trust Deed, therefore enabling you to make the LILA application
- apply for you to be made bankrupt
- enforce payment of your agreed contributions directly from your employer

The latter is an option for them as you signed your trust deed after the law changed in November last year. I would hope that they would take a common sense approach based on your circumstances though, rather than try to force you to pay what you cannot afford.

Thanks for clearing that up, I really wouldn't want to have to go down that route, would prefer to be honest with the trustee and hopefully we can sort it out before things get that bad.

I've seen some comments on this site about ppl missing payments and then they get added onto the end of the trust deed, does this mean that if I can only afford half payments then I'll be in the trust deed for 8 years instead of 4?

Hi Alison.

I'm afraid that is a question only your trustee can answer.

I suspect they might not want to run an eight year trust deed though.

So are all trust deeds different then, I wasn't sure if by law u had to pay the agreed amount before being discharged?

No, the law doesn't say that and in fact your trustee does have a lot of discretion.

Most Trustees will try and find a reasonable compromise if someone has a change of circumstances beyond their control. It may be that you would be asked to extend the term of your Trust Deed to some degree in order to compensate creditors for the fact they won't get as much back as originally proposed.

Hi again, just spoke to my trust deed company, the man was very helpful after just 1 phone call speaking to him I got more information than in the last few months with my direct contact person. Still waiting on someone to take over my case but the man had put a note on file that bankruptcy is my best option and to move forward. He has assured me that they have now received all my documents that I sent in to prove that my circumstances had changed. He also told me that the company would need to do. A ppi check before they were able to discharge me although I'm sure I don't have any ppi anyway. He has cancelled my direct debit to allow my trust deed to fail, can't believe how relieved I feel after just 1 phone call with this man. I'm really looking forward to moving on and getting all this bad luck behind me so me and my kids can have a good future.

Hi Alison,

I'm pleased that things have been resolved in a positive way for you and your not worrying about trying to find the money to pay the Trust Deed.

Hopefully the PPI checks won't take too long and you can then apply for your own Sequestration.

Thanks David, when applying for a lila, do I do it myself or does a company take my case and deal with it like the trust deed?

Hi Alison.

It's something that you might do yourself, or you may prefer to get some help from a Money Adviser (perhaps based at your local CAB for example).

No need to pay anyone a fee for this.