Will Revocation and Revival Requirements in Arizona

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and scope

Arizona's core rules are A.R.S. §§ 14-2507 through 14-2509 and 14-2804. Section 14-1201(71) makes the scope explicit: a “will” includes a codicil and may be a paper will or an electronic will. The same revocation and revival rules therefore reach both media unless another electronic-will provision changes the particular issue.

Later will, codicil, or writing

Section 14-2507(A)(1) permits a subsequent will to revoke the earlier will or a part expressly or by inconsistency. A codicil qualifies because Arizona defines it as a will. The later instrument must itself be a will; the statute does not create an informal-note route.

Arizona adds two proof presumptions. A later will that completely disposes of the estate is presumed to replace the earlier will. One that does not completely dispose of the estate is presumed to supplement it, leaving both operative except where inconsistent. Clear and convincing evidence is required to rebut either presumption.

Physical or electronic revoking act

Section 14-2507(A)(2) lists burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, rendering unreadable, and destroying the will or any part. The act must be performed with revocatory intent. For a burn, tear, or cancellation, the damage or mark does not have to touch the words.

Because § 14-1201 says a will may be paper or electronic, the “rendering unreadable” and destruction language is not limited in the statute to paper. Whether a particular act actually affected the operative electronic record remains a proof question.

Act by another person

Someone else may perform the revocatory act only in the testator's conscious presence and at the testator's direction. Section 14-2507 does not add a separate witness count for proving that directed act.

Partial revocation

Both routes permit partial revocation. The later-will paragraph covers the previous will “or part,” and the act paragraph covers the will “or any part of it.” An incomplete later will ordinarily supplements the earlier one and revokes only inconsistent provisions unless the clear-and-convincing rebuttal standard is met.

Intent, proof, and presumptions

The physical or electronic act requires actual revocatory intent. The complete- disposition and incomplete-disposition presumptions address a different intent question—replacement versus supplementation—and each uses clear and convincing evidence for rebuttal.

For revival, § 14-2509 expressly permits evidence from the circumstances of the later will's revocation and the testator's contemporary or subsequent declarations.

Divorce, annulment, and other family events

Subject to contrary instrument terms, a court order, or a marital-estate contract, § 14-2804(A) revokes revocable gifts, appointments, powers, and fiduciary nominations for the former spouse and qualifying relatives of that former spouse. The revoked provisions operate through statutory disclaimer or deemed-death treatment. They revive if the testator remarries the former spouse or the divorce or annulment is nullified.

A decree of separation that does not end marital status is not a divorce or annulment for this section. Section 14-2508 also says other changes of circumstances do not revoke a will or any part, apart from §§ 14-2803 and 14-2804. Marriage, birth, or adoption therefore should not be mislabeled as revoking the will merely because separate omitted-heir rules may apply.

Revival after a later will or revoking act

Section 14-2509 uses three rules:

• If a physical act revokes a later will that wholly revoked the earlier will, the earlier will stays revoked unless the circumstances or declarations show revival intent.
• If a physical act revokes a later will that only partly revoked the earlier will, the revoked part comes back unless the circumstances or declarations show that revival was not intended.
• If another later will revokes the intervening will, the earlier will or part stays revoked unless the terms of that latest will show an intent to revive it.

Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect

A duly executed later will or codicil can expressly revoke and can revive an earlier instrument or provision to the extent its terms show revival intent under § 14-2509(C). The cited sections do not say that merely finding or retaining the old original republishes it.

What trips people up

A mark need not cross out the words. A burn, tear, or cancellation may be a revocatory act even when it does not touch the written terms, but intent is still required.

Complete and incomplete later wills start from opposite presumptions. A complete estate plan points toward replacement; an incomplete one points toward supplementation. Rebutting either requires clear and convincing evidence.

Revival depends on both degree and method. Physically revoking a partly revoking will starts from revival of the affected part, while physically revoking a wholly revoking will starts from no revival. Using another later will instead makes that new instrument's terms controlling.

Common questions

Does separation revoke a spouse's provisions? Not if the decree does not terminate marital status. Section 14-2804's definition excludes that form of separation.

Can someone else tear up my will for me? Only in your conscious presence and at your direction, with revocatory intent.

Does destroying the newer will automatically restore the older one? No. The answer depends on whether the newer will revoked all or only part of the older one and on the evidence of revival intent.

Statutes and sources

• A.R.S. § 14-1201(71) — will includes codicils, paper wills, and electronic wills. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/01201.htm (accessed 2026-08-01)
• A.R.S. § 14-2507 — later wills, revocatory acts, partial revocation, directed acts, and replacement/supplementation presumptions. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/02507.htm (accessed 2026-08-01)
• A.R.S. § 14-2508 — ordinary changes of circumstances do not revoke. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/02508.htm (accessed 2026-08-01)
• A.R.S. § 14-2509 — revival after physical revocation or another later will. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/02509.htm (accessed 2026-08-01)
• A.R.S. § 14-2804 — divorce, annulment, former-spouse and relative provisions, exceptions, deemed effect, and remarriage revival. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/02804.htm (accessed 2026-08-01)