John Melville Smith: The clear lesson of Tracey Leaning's will dispute

Three animal charities are contesting the last will of one Tracey Leaning, which has her leaving her £340,000 estate to her partner, Richard Guest, and revoking her previous one which had left it to the charities. The disputed will was of the home-made, hand-written variety so beloved of contentious probate solicitors, because they generate far more work than our non-contentious will-drafting colleagues would have had to do by simply preparing a proper will in the first place. The basis of the challenge is that the signature page was not attached to the first page and that there is do...