Hi AbbyAbby72 and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear that you have found yourself financially struggling and are now considering a Trust Deed.

I see no problem with your parents paying the school fees if you were to enter into a Trust Deed and therefore your son can remain in the school he currently attends.

Can you tell me a little more about your circumstances i.e. who you owe money to and the approximate balance, how much you estimate your mortgage balance to be and what you think your property is worth and also what you feel you can afford to pay per month towards a plan.

As well as the Trust Deed you may also consider a Debt Arrangement Scheme.

The best thing to do is to reach out to a qualified expert for some one to none advice based on your circumstances. In the space of a 15-20 minute phone call I’m sure Kevin or I the other expert on the forum could really help put your mind at ease and help to reassure you.

The positive thing is that you do have solutions available to help you deal with your debts. It’s just working out which one best suits your circumstances.

Welcome to the forum AbbyAbby72.

As David says, it's very hard to see how this arrangement for school fees would stand in the way of you tackling your debts.

Your parents are free to do what they want with their money.

I am worried about things like the cost of uniform, school meals etc showing on my bank statement and creditors finding out my son is at a fee paying school and rejecting a TD in principle. I'm worried that they might argue that if my parents can pay school fees, why can't they help pay my debts first. I'm assuming that private education isn't on the common financial tool, and is regarded as a luxury.

Hi again.

Well... a lot of parents are paying for school meals and uniform and these are recognized areas of expenditure within a trust deed budget. I can imagine that these costs might potentially be slightly higher for you, but I doubt there's a significant issue there.

I certainly don't think that there will be any issue of principle. Creditors are pragmatic, seeking to recover some of what's owed to them when a customer gets into financial difficulty. They're making a commercial decision, not a decision based upon principle.

Your creditors certainly will not expect your parents to repay your debts.

Hi AbbyAbby72,

You are over thinking and worrying about a lot of things that you don’t need to. It’s common for people to think of every possibility that might come up but actually from the limited information that you have told us I see no problem with a Trust Deed or Debt Arrangement Scheme proposal. Try not to worry too much right now about things. As I said previously a quick phone call to an Expert can be very reassuring.

When it comes to bank statements it’s not your creditors who will review this but the advisor from the firm that you deal with. From this information a proposal is then pulled together and submitted to the creditors for their consideration. When it comes to your budget and income and expenditure it’s important to ensure that a provision has been made for things like school meals, school trips etc. along with everything else. That’s why it’s key to speak with a qualified advisor as they will ensure that your budget is thorough and therefore the payment that you pay is affordable. The common financial tool is actually pretty flexible and covers the majority of expenditure items that could come up.

It’s entirely up to your payments to do what they want with their money and they can’t be compelled to use this to service your debts. If you were paying for your son’s private education directly from your own income then this may be scrutinised further but like you say, it’s your parents who are paying this from their own funds so there will be no issues.

I deal with a number of cases similar to yours and haven’t run into any problems yet with a proposal both on a Trust Deed or a Debt Arrangement Scheme.

Can you give us an ideal of who you owe money to and the balances? Reason I ask is there are some creditors that can be problematic to deal with.

As the others have said, there should be no problem at all with your son continuing to attend that school so please don't worry about that.

There should certainly be room allowed in your budget for school expenses, eg uniforms etc too and am sure that won't be problematic either.

Whether a Trust Deed is the right solution for you really boils down to how much you owe, how much you can afford, and whether you own anything of significant value which you might stand to lose.

Of course, the fact you own a house is something that would need to be looked at, but it is very often possible to enter into an arrangement like a Trust Deed whilst safeguarding your home at the same time and this would all be dealt with before you sign up to anything.

A call to an expert such as myself or David would quickly ascertain what options you might have and then it is entirely up to you as to which you feel is most suitable for your circumstances.