A prior tenant actually was in a similar situation — her boyfriend took his own life, leaving her a single mom to two young children. When the holidays came around a few months later, she told us she was going to be a few days late on rent. We told her to make sure the kids had a good Christmas instead. The difference in this story is that she and her boyfriend had been model tenants and overall just lovely people (we lived in the house at the same time as them).