character references or personal reference letters. Certain situations require character reference letters of a more personal nature, such as character testimonials or references relating to court proceedings, or for a position in non-business organizations such as councils, trusts, clubs, or societies.pelling note: These references letters tips and references letters samples generally use spellings based on UK-English common form, for example, 'recognise', 'organise', 'specialise', whereas US-English uses the 'ize' spelling.