Will Revocation and Revival Requirements in Delaware

At a glance

Delaware puts its general revocation rule in one sentence. Section 208 permits cancellation, a valid later will, or a signed two-witness writing, while preserving whatever implied revocation otherwise exists. Section 209 separately supplies the former-spouse rule and the chapter's only express revival provision.

Requirements one by one

Later will or witnessed writing

A valid later will can alter or revoke an earlier will or clause. Section 208 does not state whether the later will must speak expressly or whether inconsistency alone is sufficient.

The separate-writing route has stated formalities. The testator must sign, or direct another person to subscribe the testator's name in the testator's presence, and at least two credible witnesses must attest and subscribe in the testator's presence. Those requirements track § 202's core execution rule. Section 208 does not separately state what revocation language the writing must contain.

Cancellation, another person's act, and partial revocation

Cancellation by the testator is the section's express act-based method. Another person may cancel only in the testator's presence and by the testator's express direction. Section 208 does not add witnesses to the cancellation itself.

Partial alteration or revocation is express because the section applies to a last will "or any clause thereof." Unlike many modern statutes, § 208 does not enumerate burning, tearing, obliterating, destruction, deletion, or control of an electronic record.

Intent, proof, and implied revocation

Section 208 states no quantified proof standard, replacement-or-supplement presumption, or missing-original presumption. It also contains no express phrase requiring proof of revocatory intent for a cancellation. The section ends by saying that its clause does not "preclude nor extend to an implied revocation."

Section 209 must be preserved alongside that savings sentence. It says no change or circumstance other than the divorce/annulment events it describes revokes a will or part. The statutes do not provide a broader list of life events from which revocation may simply be presumed.

Divorce, annulment, separation, and remarriage

Unless the will expressly provides otherwise, divorce or annulment revokes property dispositions and appointments for the former spouse, general or special powers of appointment conferred on the former spouse, and nominations of the former spouse as executor, trustee, guardian, or another fiduciary.

The will operates as though the former spouse failed to survive. Provisions revoked solely by § 209 are revived if the testator remarries that former spouse. A separation decree that leaves the marriage intact is not divorce for this rule.

Revival and republication

Current Chapter 2 states no general statutory rule deciding whether canceling a later will or revocation writing restores an earlier will or clause. It also states no reexecution, republication-by-codicil, incorporation, or revoked-codicil restoration rule.

Remarriage is the narrow express exception. It restores only provisions revoked solely by § 209; it does not supply a general rule for later-will or cancellation cases.

What trips people up

• Cancellation is the named physical route. Section 208 does not provide the familiar list of burning, tearing, obliterating, and destroying methods.
• The witnessed-writing route is formal. A writing signed only by the testator does not meet § 208; two credible witnesses must attest and subscribe in the testator's presence.
• Divorce revival is narrow. Remarriage restores provisions revoked solely by § 209, not every earlier instrument affected by another revocation method.

Common questions

Does Delaware automatically revoke a will because the testator later marries?

Section 209 says no change or circumstance other than the divorce or annulment events it describes revokes a will or part under that rule. Separate omitted-spouse rights are outside this revocation survey.

Does § 208 require the cancellation mark to destroy the paper?

The statute says "canceling" and does not impose a destruction requirement or list a required target such as the signature or dispositive words. Whether a particular mark was a cancellation remains a fact-specific proof question.

Statutes and sources

• 12 Del. C. § 202 — signed writing and two-witness execution requirements used by § 208's formal routes. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• 12 Del. C. § 208 — cancellation, valid-later-will, witnessed-writing, clause-level alteration/revocation, and implied-revocation savings language. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• 12 Del. C. § 209 — divorce/annulment revocation, former-spouse construction, remarriage revival, separation, and other changed circumstances. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• Chapter 2, Subchapter I current text — complete official subchapter used to confirm the absence of a general revival/republication section. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).