Solicitors follow letter of the law over death issueCLIENTS ESTATES: government bows to pressure on certificates Solicitors will no longer have to make numerous copies of death certificates to administer clients estates, but instead will be able to give notice of...Solicitors will no longer have to make numerous copies of death certificates to administer clients estates, but instead will be able to give notice of death via a letter, the government has decided.

This announcement came as a result of intensive lobbying by the Law Societys wills and equity committee, which criticised government plans announced last month to stop solicitors certifying copy death certificates in an effort to reduce fraud.The government originally proposed that solicitors would have to send out numerous original death certificates at an administrative inconvenience and financial cost to the relevant institutions.

But last week, Melanie Johnson, the economic secretary to the treasury, said: Solicitors could give financial institutions early notice of a death by letter or electronically, as they would have to do when the registration of a death is delayed by an inquest.

The evidential value of a letter would be at least the same as a photocopy death certificate.

Richard Ford, vice-chairman of the wills and equity committee, said he was very pleased at the announcement.

Informing by letter will mean that notice of death gets to the relevant institutions as soon as possible, and before any cheques or bankers drafts can be cashed.Victoria MacCallum