Maine: Will Revocation and Revival Requirements
The short answer
Maine permits a later will or codicil to revoke expressly or by inconsistency, and permits burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying all or part of the will by the testator or by another person acting at the testator's direction and in the testator's conscious presence. Divorce or annulment revokes specified revocable provisions for a former spouse and qualifying former-spouse relatives unless an exception applies. Revival depends on whether the earlier will was wholly or partly revoked, how the later will is revoked, and evidence of the testator's intent.
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This is the general rule in Maine. Ask about your specific facts and see which parts of current Maine law apply, with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and scope | 18-C M.R.S. §§ 1-201(66), 2-506–2-508, and 2-804. 'Will' includes a codicil and a testamentary instrument that only revokes or revises another will. |
|---|---|
| Later will, codicil, or writing | Execution of a subsequent will revokes expressly or by inconsistency (§ 2-506(1)(A)). A complete estate disposition creates a rebuttable replacement presumption; an incomplete disposition creates a rebuttable supplement presumption. Both require clear and convincing evidence to rebut (§ 2-506(2)–(4)). No informal separate-writing route is stated. |
| Physical or electronic revoking act | Burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying the will or any part (§ 2-506(1)(B)). A burn, tear, or cancellation need not touch the will's words. The section states no separate electronic-record act. |
| Act by another person | Allowed when another individual performs the act in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction (§ 2-506(1)(B)). The section states no witness requirement for the act. |
| Partial revocation | Expressly allowed by either route: a subsequent will may revoke the previous will 'or part,' and a revocatory act may target the will 'or any part of it' (§ 2-506(1)). Under the supplement presumption, inconsistency revokes only to its extent (§ 2-506(4)). |
| Intent, proof, and presumptions | A personal revocatory act requires intent and purpose to revoke (§ 2-506(1)(B)). Complete disposition presumptively means replacement; incomplete disposition presumptively means supplementation, each rebuttable only by clear and convincing evidence (§ 2-506(2)–(4)). Section 2-506 states no missing-original presumption or separate quantified proof standard for the physical act itself. |
| Divorce, annulment, and other family events | Unless an express governing-instrument term, court order, or marital-estate contract provides otherwise, divorce/annulment revokes revocable dispositions, powers, and fiduciary nominations for the former spouse and qualifying former-spouse relatives (§ 2-804(1)–(2)); legal separation without terminating spouse status is not divorce. Revoked provisions operate under the statute's disclaimer/predecease rules and revive on remarriage or nullification (§ 2-804(4)–(5)). Other changed circumstances do not revoke except as §§ 2-507 and 2-804 state. |
| Revival after a later will or revoking act | If a later will wholly revoked the earlier will and is revoked by act, the earlier will stays revoked unless circumstances or declarations show intent to revive. If the later will only partly revoked it, the revoked part is revived unless the same evidence shows contrary intent. If another later will revokes the revoking will, revival extends only as its terms show (§ 2-508). |
| Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect | Section 2-508 uses intent-based revival and states no separate reexecution or republication requirement. It gives no distinct revoked-codicil restoration presumption; § 1-201(66) includes a codicil within 'will,' so the statutory will framework applies. |
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Maine separates revocation from revival. Section 2-506 identifies what can revoke a
will or part of it and supplies presumptions for deciding whether a later will
replaced or merely supplemented the earlier one. Section 2-508 then asks a different
question: after the later will is revoked, what evidence shows that the earlier will
or provision should operate again?
Requirements one by one
Later will, codicil, or writing
Section 2-506(1)(A) permits revocation by executing a subsequent will that revokes the
earlier will or part "expressly or by inconsistency." Because § 1-201(66) defines
"will" to include a codicil and a testamentary instrument used only to revoke or
revise another will, the route is not limited to a document labeled a new last will.
The statute does not authorize revocation by an informal note that is not a will.
When the later will does not expressly revoke the earlier one, the intended scope
matters. A complete disposition of the estate creates a presumption that the later
will replaces the earlier will. An incomplete disposition creates the opposite
presumption—that the later will supplements the earlier one. Clear and convincing
evidence is required to rebut either presumption.
Physical act, another person's act, and partial revocation
The statutory acts are burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, and destroying the
will or any part of it. A testator's own act must be performed "with the intent and
for the purpose" of revoking the will or part. Another individual may perform the
act only in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction.
Partial revocation is express under both routes. A later will may revoke a prior will
"or part," and a revocatory act may be performed on "the will or any part of it."
Section 2-506 does not add a witness requirement for the directed act or a separate
proof standard for the physical act itself.
Revival after a later will is revoked
Section 2-508 applies different defaults to whole and partial revocation. If the
later will wholly revoked the earlier will and is then revoked by physical act, the
earlier will remains revoked unless the circumstances or the testator's contemporary
or later declarations show intent for it to take effect again.
If the later will only partly revoked the earlier will, revoking the later will by
physical act presumptively revives the revoked part. Circumstances or declarations
showing that the testator did not want that part restored defeat revival.
When another, still later will revokes the revoking will, neither default controls.
The earlier will or part is revived only to the extent the terms of the latest will
show that intent. Section 2-508 does not require a separate reexecution or
republication ceremony for these statutory revival routes.
Divorce, relatives, separation, and remarriage
Section 2-804 applies unless the governing instrument expressly says otherwise, a
court order controls, or a qualifying marital-estate contract provides otherwise.
Divorce or annulment revokes revocable dispositions and property appointments,
powers of appointment, and fiduciary or representative nominations involving the
former spouse or a qualifying relative of the former spouse.
The revoked provisions operate as if the former spouse and those relatives
disclaimed them; revoked fiduciary nominations operate as if they died immediately
before the divorce or annulment. Remarriage to the former spouse or nullification of
the divorce or annulment revives provisions revoked solely by § 2-804. A decree of
separation that does not terminate spousal status is not a divorce for this rule.
Section 2-507 supplies the broader baseline: apart from the listed statutory
exceptions, changed circumstances do not revoke a will or part. A later marriage,
birth, or adoption therefore does not by itself operate as a revocatory act under
these sections; separate omitted-heir questions are outside this survey.
What trips people up
- A mark need not touch the text. Section 2-506 expressly says a burn, tear, or
cancellation can be a revocatory act even when it did not touch any words on the
will. The required act and intent still must be proved on the facts. - Destroying the later will has opposite starting points for whole and partial
revocation. A wholly revoked earlier will stays revoked unless intent to revive
is shown; a partly revoked provision returns unless contrary intent is shown. - The divorce statute reaches more than the former spouse. Its defined class can
include relatives by blood, adoption, or affinity who are no longer related to the
testator after divorce.
Common questions
Does Maine treat a codicil as something different from a will here?
No. Section 1-201(66) expressly includes a codicil within the Probate Code's
definition of "will," so the revocation and revival framework applies without a
separate codicil-only section.
Does the divorce rule apply only to testamentary gifts?
No. Section 1-201(21) defines a governing instrument much more broadly, and § 2-804
also addresses nonprobate instruments and joint survivorship property. This page is
limited to the rule's effect on wills and codicils.
Statutes and sources
- 18-C M.R.S. § 1-201(21), (66) — defines "governing instrument" and includes a
codicil and revocation-only testamentary instrument within "will." Official
text (accessed
2026-08-01). - 18-C M.R.S. § 2-506 — later-will and physical-act routes, partial revocation,
directed acts, intent, and replace/supplement presumptions. Official
text (accessed
2026-08-01). - 18-C M.R.S. § 2-507 — changes of circumstances generally do not revoke a will
or part. Official
text (accessed
2026-08-01). - 18-C M.R.S. § 2-508 — whole, partial, physical-act, and later-will revival
rules. Official
text (accessed
2026-08-01). - 18-C M.R.S. § 2-804(1), (2), (4)–(6) — divorce/annulment scope, former-spouse-relative
effects, construction, remarriage/nullification revival, and changed-circumstance
rule. Official
text (accessed
2026-08-01).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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