Will Revocation and Revival Requirements in Connecticut

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and scope

The current revocation sequence is Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 45a-257 through 45a-257f. Section 45a-257 makes its listed methods exclusive, while §§ 45a-257a through 45a-257c supply the current family-event rules.

The execution date matters. Under § 45a-257f, those current family rules apply only to wills executed on or after January 1, 1997. Section 45a-257e preserves the former marriage, divorce, annulment, dissolution, birth, and adoption law for wills executed from October 1, 1967, through December 31, 1996.

Later will, codicil, or writing

Section 45a-257 lists a later will or codicil as a revocation method. It does not separately say whether inconsistency alone is enough, how far an inconsistent instrument reaches, or that an informal revocation writing outside a will or codicil is effective.

Physical or electronic revoking act

The listed acts are burning, cancelling, tearing, and obliterating the will or codicil. “Destroying,” discarding, deleting an electronic file, and rendering an electronic record unreadable are not separately listed in § 45a-257.

Connecticut's current sequence contains no separate electronic-will revocation section.

Act by another person

Another person may perform the listed act only in the testator's presence and by the testator's direction. Section 45a-257 does not add a statutory witness count or a quantified evidence standard for proving that direction or act.

Partial revocation

A later codicil is expressly included as a revocation method. The physical-act sentence, however, speaks of burning, cancelling, tearing, or obliterating “it” and does not expressly state whether an act aimed at only one provision is a valid partial revocation. The statute text therefore does not support treating a cross-out as automatically effective.

Intent, proof, and presumptions

Sections 45a-257 through 45a-257f state no quantified proof standard, no separate witness count for a directed act, and no missing-original presumption. Whether disputed facts satisfy uncodified intent or evidentiary doctrines is a case-law question outside this statute-focused survey.

Divorce, annulment, and other family events

For a will executed on or after January 1, 1997, a later marriage does not revoke the will. Under § 45a-257a(a), an omitted surviving spouse receives an intestate-equivalent share unless the omission was intentional or an outside transfer was intended in lieu of a will provision. Under § 45a-257b(a), an omitted after-born or after-adopted child receives a statutory share under its detailed formula rather than revoking the will.

Divorce, dissolution, or annulment does revoke will gifts and property appointments for the former spouse, powers of appointment conferred on that spouse, and nominations of the spouse as executor, trustee, conservator, guardian, or another fiduciary, unless the will expressly provides otherwise. Section 45a-257c treats the spouse as not surviving, revives provisions revoked solely by that section if the former spouses remarry, and says a separation that does not end the marriage is not a trigger.

Revival after a later will or revoking act

The current statutory sequence contains no general rule saying whether revocation of a later will revives an earlier one. Its only express revival rule is family-specific: remarriage revives provisions revoked solely by § 45a-257c.

Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect

Sections 45a-257 through 45a-257f do not prescribe a general reexecution, republication, incorporation-by-reference, or revoked-codicil restoration route. A person can execute a later will or codicil under § 45a-257, but the current revocation statutes do not turn possession of an older original into republication.

What trips people up

The word “destroy” is not a catch-all in the statute. Section 45a-257 lists four specific acts, so merely throwing away or losing the document should not be treated as a safely completed statutory revocation.

The will's execution date can change the family-event answer. The current omitted-heir and divorce provisions apply only to wills executed on or after January 1, 1997; the older 1967–1996 group remains governed by the former rule.

Remarriage supplies a narrow revival rule, not a general one. It restores provisions revoked solely by the divorce statute but says nothing about an earlier will displaced by a later instrument.

Common questions

Who decides the effect of Connecticut's revocation provisions in a probate matter?

Under § 45a-257d, Probate Courts may construe the effect of §§ 45a-257 through 45a-257c for wills admitted in their respective districts.

Do the current post-1997 family rules govern a will signed in 1990?

No. Section 45a-257e sends a will executed from October 1, 1967, through December 31, 1996, to the former statute governing revocation by marriage, divorce, annulment, dissolution, birth, or adoption. The newer rules apply only to wills executed on or after January 1, 1997.

Statutes and sources

• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-257 — exclusive later-instrument and listed physical-act methods, including the directed-person route. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 45a-257a and 45a-257b — post-will marriage and after-born or after-adopted child share rules. § 45a-257a and § 45a-257b (accessed 2026-08-01).
• Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 45a-257c and 45a-257d — divorce, annulment, former-spouse provisions, remarriage revival, separation, and Probate Court construction. § 45a-257c and § 45a-257d (accessed 2026-08-01).
• Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 45a-257e and 45a-257f — the legacy 1967–1996 regime and the January 1, 1997 boundary for current family rules. § 45a-257e and § 45a-257f (accessed 2026-08-01).