Louisiana: Will Revocation and Revival Requirements
The short answer
Louisiana calls a will a testament and uses separate rules for revoking the whole instrument and revoking a legacy or other provision. The whole testament may be physically destroyed, revoked in testament form or by authentic act, or identified and clearly revoked in a fully handwritten signed writing. Individual provisions may be revoked by testament form, incompatibility, disposition of the thing, a signed writing on the testament, or qualifying divorce; revoking the revocation restores only the juridical-act categories allowed by Article 1609.
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This is the general rule in Louisiana. Ask about your specific facts and see which parts of current Louisiana law apply, with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and scope | La. Civ. Code arts. 1570 and 1606 to 1610; Louisiana uses 'testament,' 'legacy,' and 'testamentary provision' rather than the common-law will/codicil framework, and separates whole-testament revocation from provision-level revocation |
|---|---|
| Later will, codicil, or writing | Whole: declare revocation in a testament form or authentic act, or identify/clearly revoke in a writing entirely handwritten and signed by the testator (art. 1607). Part: declare in testament form or make a subsequent incompatible testamentary disposition/provision (art. 1608). |
| Physical or electronic revoking act | Whole testament may be physically destroyed (§ art. 1607(1)). A legacy/provision may be clearly revoked by a signed writing on the testament itself; physical alteration alone and electronic deletion are not separately listed (art. 1608(4)). |
| Act by another person | Another person may physically destroy the entire testament at the testator's direction; Article 1607 states no presence, witness-count, or quantified proof requirement |
| Partial revocation | Provision-level routes include testament-form declaration, incompatible later disposition, inter vivos disposition of the thing without reacquisition, signed writing on the testament, and qualifying divorce. Article 1607's physical-destruction route addresses the entire testament, not destruction of only a part. |
| Intent, proof, and presumptions | The handwritten whole-testament writing must identify and clearly revoke; the on-testament partial writing must clearly revoke and be signed. Articles 1607 to 1609 state no quantified proof standard or missing-original presumption. |
| Divorce, annulment, and other family events | A legacy/provision for a spouse—and testamentary designations/appointments of the spouse—is revoked if the testator divorced that legatee after execution and remains divorced at death, unless the testament provides otherwise (art. 1608(5)). The article states no broader marriage, birth, adoption, separation, or relative rule. |
| Revival after a later will or revoking act | If a revocation made by juridical act is itself revoked before death, the original revocation is ineffective. That restoration rule expressly excludes revocation by physical destruction, inter vivos disposition of the thing, or divorce (art. 1609). |
| Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect | Any modification not listed in the revocation articles must use a prescribed testament form (art. 1610). Louisiana's cited provisions do not use codicil/republication terminology; a physically destroyed testament is outside art. 1609's revoke-the-revocation restoration rule. |
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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).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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