My MC needs to receive a letter from a solicitor or else the story is sunk before it's even started. But from what I have at the moment I'm not sure if the language is right for the content. Some *legal* advice would be much appreciated! Perhaps I should add that Mr MC and Mr Solicitor have never met or had contact before.

Dear Mr Joseph Taylor,

I am writing to you as the solicitor of Mrs Susan Burleigh and the executor of her Last Will and Testament. Mrs Burleigh stipulated in her Will that you should be informed of the event of her death. I am sorry to contact you with this news, but sadly, she died on 21st June 2012.

I send my condolences and hope that any future contacts between us will be of a happier nature.

Yours sincerely,

Gerard Scorey

It's a bit brief, isn't it? But I'm not sure how much it would be padded out, if at all. Is this the sort of language that would be believable in a solicitor's letter conveying such news?

Yours sincerely,

Puzzled of Dorset.

Manusha, I'll ask a friend for you and let you know what they say..

I've been puzzling over this, because I don't know. Although my instinct would be that it would be the other way round, and that legally speaking any issues of identity and so on would be made very clear:

Dear X

I regret to inform you that Mrs Susan Burleigh neé Smith, of 27 The Avenue, Bournemouth, passed away [maybe as a safe euphemism, rather than 'died'] on 25th August 2012, at St Agnes Hospital, Bournemouth.

As executor of Mrs Burleigh's will I am requested that you be informed of her death, and this I now do. Please accept my condolences, and feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

Thanks Caroline, much appreciated. And thanks Emma, I can see what you mean about making it clearer with the address added, etc. Actually that would work well because MC needs to have Susan's address confirmed as he hasn't seen her for years.

<Added>

Weirdly, Bournemouth is one of the towns featured in the story! I haven't used The Avenue though, but it's a really nice road not far from the beach. Did you pluck that out of the air or have you been there?

Manusha, here is what he said:

'It seems by the nature of the purpose of the letter it would be short.

You might want to add in a line about when the funeral took place or where and when it is due to take place.

I’d also delete the 2nd half of the final sentence so it simply says “Please accept my condolences” '

Hope that helps!

Thanks Caroline, that's really helpful. And please thank your friend for me. By the way, what line of work is he in?

<Added>

Meant to say, I did wonder if the letter would be brief and to the point, so it's great to get confirmation. Cheers.

I haven't used The Avenue though, but it's a really nice road not far from the beach. Did you pluck that out of the air or have you been there?

I thought it was out of the air, but it occurs to me that my sister lives in a The Avenue, but not in Bournemouth...

Criminal law, Manusha, to answer your question..glad it helped!

I'd suggest that the Dear Mr Joseph Taylor intro, i.e. the use of both first and last names after the salutation, is a very new construct that has made its appearance quite recently, probably as a result of the inability of mail-merge programs to know what portion of the data held in a field containing somebody's name is what. I don't think it's likely that a solicitor would use it. They would almost certainly opt for the more traditional use of the full name with the address followed by just the surname after the salutation, e.g.

Joseph Taylor, Esq. OR Mr Joseph Taylor
3 Shakespeare Road
Stratford-upon-Avon,
CV99 9ZZ

Dear Mr Taylor

The body of the letter has been well-covered above. I think Emma's approach rings true.

Hi Chris, sorry for the late reply, I've just seen your post as I'm now adding the letter into the story. Thanks for the advice, it's very helpful.