Will Revocation and Revival Requirements in Maine

At a glance

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).