Tenant dies. Roommate struggling

[Tracy D.]

Ok guys. So heres the situation. I have one house of very long term tenants. 2 roommates. Great people. Last month one of the tenants died. He called me on the first to come pick up the rent. (Of all my tenants these are the only ones i do this for and only because i started it before i knew better and theyve been there for so many years). Anyway, he called me in the morning to come get the rent. I told him id come at 3pm. Literally he died right after i talked to him with my rent in his pocket. So his daughter from out of state got everything that was on him at the hospital. Well, the roomate had already given him his half of the rent to give to me. I know this to be true because the tenant that died told me he had it when he called me. Anyway, i was sad last month. The roomate was sad. So i told the roomate last month not to worry about last month because i already knew he had paid it even though i didnt receive it. Well, fast forward to this month, and he doesnt have it again. But this time, he had to make up a large leftover powerbill of his dead roomates he didnt expect. Part of me wants to work with him, but if it wasnt them, id have delivered a pay or quit notice today. I dont exactly have a bleeding heart and im usually quick on the ball when i dont get paid. Business is business and im usually just doing what i gotta do. In this case, however, what would you do? Theyve been with me almost a decade and im struggling with this one.