If your circumstances change during the trust deed

You must tell your trustee if your circumstances change.

Changes of circumstances include:

• your income or benefits going up or down
• your costs going up or down
• emergency expenses, like car or home repairs
• getting pregnant or caring for a child
• losing your job, sickness or being at risk of losing your job
• getting divorced or separating from a partner
• the death of a partner or other family member
• changes in your physical or mental health

If you’re unsure if you need to tell your trustee anything you should always check.

Your trustee will ask you to fill in another income and expenditure form and show evidence of the change.

If your income goes up, your trustee may ask you to increase your payment. If your income goes down, your trustee may agree to reduce your payment amount or take a payment break.

You must tell your trustee if you have a windfall, such as an inheritance or lottery win. This may be used to pay your creditors.

Stopping payments during your trust deed

If you stop making payments towards your trust deed, without agreement from your trustee, they can:

• apply for an Earnings Arrestment Order to take the payments directly from your wages
• ask the court to make you bankrupt
• refuse to discharge you from the trust deed, which will stop your debt being written off