STORNG WORDS

Mom Who Died by Suicide Received Email from Ex About Their Custody Battle: Report

Catherine Kassenoff called the court system “predatory” in her suicide note.

A New York mom who allegedly died by assisted suicide after a long custody battle published an email she claimed to have received from her ex-husband months before her death, according to the New York Post. Catherine Kassenoff, an attorney from Westchester, was reportedly diagnosed with terminal cancer and died by assisted suicide in Switzerland on May 27 and posted a note to Facebook the same day claiming she’d chosen to die as a result of a “predatory” court system and the alleged abuse of her lawyer husband, Allan Kassenoff. She also shared a link to a folder containing several files including an email Allan sent her on March 27, which has been seen by the Post, in which he reportedly described spending over one million dollars in the last 11 months during their custody fight. “You must really be proud of yourself for financially decimating me and the children,” he allegedly wrote. “But make no mistake, no [one] is fooled Catherine; everyone knows that your goal is to destroy me and you don’t care what that means to the children.” He allegedly went on to write: “You have done all of this in hopes that I would give up and stop trying to protect the children from you. I won’t. Even if this Court awards you my last dollar, I will never stop protecting them. Until the day I die.”

If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. You can also text or dial 988.