My husband has been “dead” for many years according to his old college. They used to send him an annual magazine to his father’s address, which we would pick up if we remembered. After his father died, we had the mail forwarded to us for a year, but shortly thereafter the newsletter was returned to his college with “deceased” written on the envelope. The next year a short death notice appeared in the magazine. All his ex college friends knew he was alive, and he was quite pleased not to receive begging letters, so never told them. However, when our son followed him to the same university, one of his tutors said, “He should sue. Being dead can radically impact on your career prospects” – as an unfortunate Romanian gentleman has discovered (Romanian man’s life after ‘death’ leaves him stuck in legal limbo, 17 March).

Margaret Squires

St Andrews, Fife

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