Expressing sympathy
Firstly, thank you to Ashikaga for answering my last query.
I am writing an email to express sympathy. My friend's parent is ill. Is it appropriate for me to write this?:
それを読んでとても残念です。
Also I want to say something on the occasion of interring someone's ashes. Is it appropriate to write this?
心中お察しいたします。
Usually I am confident on the expressions I use but on this occassion I want to be absolutely sure I am not using the wrong expression because they are serious events.