Will Revocation and Revival Requirements in Louisiana

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and scope

Louisiana is a civil-law jurisdiction and calls a will a testament. Articles 1606 through 1610 separate revocation of the entire testament from revocation of a legacy or other provision. Article 1570 supplies the form premise: a disposition at death may be made only in an authorized testament form.

Later will, codicil, or writing

To revoke the entire testament without destroying it, the testator may declare revocation in one of the prescribed testament forms or in an authentic act. A second route is a writing that identifies and clearly revokes the testament and is entirely handwritten and signed by the testator.

At the provision level, a prescribed testament form can revoke a legacy, and a subsequent incompatible testamentary disposition or provision also revokes to the extent of that incompatibility. Louisiana does not use a UPC replacement- versus-supplement presumption.

Physical or electronic revoking act

Physical destruction is a route for revoking the entire testament. Article 1607 does not list burning, tearing, canceling, or obliterating separately; it uses the broader phrase “physically destroys.”

For a single legacy or provision, Article 1608 authorizes a signed writing on the testament itself that clearly revokes the provision. It does not separately say that an unsigned mark, torn page, or deleted electronic record revokes only part.

Act by another person

The testator may have another person physically destroy the entire testament at the testator's direction. Article 1607 does not add a presence condition, witness count, or quantified evidence standard to the directed destruction.

Partial revocation

Louisiana's provision-level routes are broader than merely executing a new testament. A legacy or provision may be revoked through a testament-form declaration, a later incompatible testamentary disposition, disposition of the thing during life without reacquisition, a signed writing on the testament, or the qualifying divorce rule.

Physical destruction in Article 1607 addresses the entire testament, not the destruction of only one part.

Intent, proof, and presumptions

The fully handwritten whole-testament revocation must identify and clearly revoke the testament. A writing placed on the testament to revoke a legacy or provision must likewise clearly revoke and be signed. The cited articles state no clear-and-convincing or other quantified standard and no missing-original revocation presumption.

Divorce, annulment, and other family events

Article 1608 revokes a legacy or provision for a spouse when the testator divorced that legatee after executing the testament and remains divorced at death, unless the testator provided otherwise. Testamentary designations and appointments of the spouse are revoked under the same circumstances.

The text does not extend this rule to the former spouse's relatives and does not state a general marriage, birth, adoption, annulment, or separation revocation rule. Because the trigger requires the testator to be divorced at death, remarriage to the same person removes that stated condition.

Revival after a later will or revoking act

Article 1609 supplies Louisiana's restoration mechanism. If the revocation of a testament, legacy, or provision was made by a juridical act and that revocation is itself revoked before death, the original revocation is not effective.

The article expressly excludes three categories from that result: physical destruction of the testament, a later inter vivos disposition of the thing, and divorce. Revoking or undoing a revocation document therefore does not restore a physically destroyed testament or erase those other completed events under Article 1609.

Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect

Louisiana's cited provisions do not use codicil or republication terminology. Article 1610 instead says any other modification must use one of the prescribed testament forms. Restoration after a juridical-act revocation is governed by Article 1609, while physical destruction remains outside that revoke-the- revocation mechanism.

What trips people up

The whole-testament and provision-level lists are not interchangeable. Physical destruction revokes the entire testament, while revoking one legacy by marking the document requires a clear, signed writing on the testament itself.

Louisiana also treats revocation of the revocation differently depending on the first method. It can neutralize a juridical-act revocation, but it does not undo physical destruction, disposition of the thing during life, or divorce.

Common questions

Can a Louisiana testator revoke an entire testament with a handwritten note?

Yes, if the writing identifies and clearly revokes the testament and is entirely written and signed in the testator's own handwriting.

Can someone else destroy the testament?

Yes. Article 1607 permits physical destruction by another person at the testator's direction and states no separate presence or witness requirement.

Does revoking a revocation restore the original testament?

For a qualifying juridical-act revocation, Article 1609 makes the revocation ineffective if it is itself revoked before death. That rule does not apply to physical destruction, an inter vivos disposition of the legacy's object, or divorce.

Statutes and sources

• La. Civ. Code art. 1570 — authorized testament form. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• La. Civ. Code art. 1606 — the nonrenounceable right to revoke. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• La. Civ. Code art. 1607 — methods for revoking the entire testament. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• La. Civ. Code art. 1608 — methods for revoking a legacy or other provision, including divorce. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• La. Civ. Code arts. 1609 to 1610 — revoking a revocation and the form for other modifications. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).