I’ve been watching the reports out of Quebec about the family that parents allegedly formed a suicide pact after killing their three children. While the husband died, the wife survived and is now charged with three counts of murder and one of assisted suicide.

Having experienced depression myself, I can understand someone reaching their breaking point. I have to stop short of understanding what drives a person not to have enough of the will to survive to reach for help but it is not impossible to understand that depth of depression.

Try as I might, I just don’t understand is what drives a person(s) to murder their children before taking themselves out. A good friend of mine maintains that suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness but I’m inclined to think that the murder of children and/or spouse first has to top suicide as the ultimate in selfishness. I realize that some might see that as ‘sparing’ them the pain of carrying on but the reality is, it is bloody selfish to deprive others of a life because you can’t handle yours.

Having said all that, and as a person involved in representing insolvent debtors, the debt aspect of this tragedy catches my attention as well. Debt issues are more of a stressor than a lot of people realize. It is often the root of marriage breakdown as couples lash out at each other rather than face their fears on how to solve the debt problem.

The average person that I meet don’t know that they have options or what those options are. Once collection agents become involved their often bullying and yes, even lying ways, put people in almost terror of exercising their options. Filing under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act is meant to be a rehabilitative move, an opportunity to make a new start. Most people I meet have come to understand it as the ultimate failure. The ultimate failure is not exercising the option for a fresh start.

One thing that consumers need to do though is to search out someone to represent themselves in dealing with their debt issues. A trustee is an officer of the court. They have a duty to represent the interests of the creditor while supposedly being fair to the debtor. I know of few who can serve two masters well.

In reading the reports on the family in Quebec, it appears that the trustee placed them into a consumer proposal in 2006. A proposal is a partial repayment to the creditors which is somewhat better than filing a bankruptcy. Their proposal was setup to last 42 months or 3.5 years. With representation, the couple would have learned that they could have actually made those payments over 5 years and reduced their monthly output by $90.

The proposal failed either because the couple just couldn’t handle a partial repayment at all or because the bar was set too high. Someone in their corner could have evaluated that for them. That wont help this family now but if your debts are pressing you, you may want to think about your options. There is help out there. You can have a look here for an Ontario firm that was one of the first into debtor representation.

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notice: The content of this post contains my opinions and my right to express them. I will respect your right to express your opinion in the comments as long as you’re not abusive and you respect my right to my opinion.

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