A person may be overwhelmed by the dozens and dozens of sympathy notes that come flooding in after their spouse or loved one has passed on.  It may take him or her weeks to go through them all.

Writing a sympathy note to a business associate, client or customer is a bit more formal.  You definitely want to avoid cards with any sort of religious connotations.

Sympathy notes for friends and acquaintances are not too different from co-workers, except you won’t likely be signing a large card from everyone.  Once again, try to respect their religion by not sending something with strong religious connotations that does not fit in with their particular faith o

There are three types of condolence situations that may happen with your closest friends.

Family members are at once the easiest and the most difficult to address when it comes to expressing condolences.

If the person who has passed on or the person who is grieving is not a close personal friend or relative, then a sympathy card is probably sufficient.  When a stronger show of emotional support is called for, you may want to consider some of the following.