New Hampshire: Will Revocation and Revival Requirements

New Hampshire puts nearly its entire revocation rule in RSA 551:13. It recognizes a
later valid testamentary instrument, a will-formal revocation writing, and several
physical acts. The next section preserves implied-by-law revocation from changed
circumstances, but the chapter supplies no general rule for reviving an earlier will.

Requirements one by one

Later will, codicil, or writing

Under RSA 551:13, I, another valid will or codicil may revoke the existing will or a
clause. A separate writing can do the same only when it is "executed in the same
manner"—the will formalities in RSA 551:2.

The revocation section states no express-versus-inconsistency formula. It also does not
create an informal signed-note route. A document that is not itself a valid will or
codicil and was not executed with will formalities does not fit the written methods
listed in § 551:13, I.

Physical act and another person's act

The listed acts are canceling, tearing, obliterating, and otherwise destroying the
will or clause. Section 551:13 does not separately name burning, cutting, deletion,
or loss of control over an electronic record.

Another person may perform the act with the testator's consent and in the
testator's presence. New Hampshire's wording is consent, not the more common
"direction," and the section adds no witnesses to the revoking act.

Partial revocation

Partial revocation is express. Section 551:13, I applies to "no will or clause
thereof" and then supplies all three revocation routes. A valid later instrument,
same-formality writing, or physical act can therefore reach a clause rather than the
entire will.

The statute does not restrict physical cancellation to the signature or require the
act to destroy the whole instrument.

Intent, proof, and implied revocation

Section 551:13 lists the revoking acts without an express statutory phrase requiring
"intent to revoke." It also states no quantified proof standard, later-will
replacement presumption, or missing-original presumption.

Section 551:14 then preserves "any revocation of a will, implied by law" from a change
in the circumstances of the testator, family, devisees, legatees, or estate between
execution and death. This is statutory preservation of an implied-by-law rule, not a
license to predict that any particular life event revokes a will.

Divorce, descendants, remarriage, and the statutory tension

Unless the will expressly provides otherwise, divorce or annulment revokes former-
spouse property dispositions and appointments, general or special powers, and
nominations as executor, trustee, conservator, or guardian.

The construction rule goes further. The will operates as if the former spouse and the
former spouse's descendants who are not also the decedent's heirs failed to survive.
A gift to such a descendant that was contingent on the former spouse predeceasing the
testator is also revoked unless the will says otherwise.

Remarriage revives provisions revoked solely by § 551:13, II. A separation that
preserves marital status is not divorce.

The current chapter contains a facial tension. Section 551:13, II ends by saying no
other changed circumstance revokes a will; § 551:14 immediately says the preceding
section does not control or affect implied-by-law revocation from changed
circumstances. The statutes do not reconcile those sentences.

Revival after a later will or revoking act

Current Chapter 551 states no general rule deciding whether revoking a later will or
undoing a physical cancellation revives an earlier will or clause. It provides no
whole-versus-partial default and no circumstances/declarations test.

The only express revival in these sections is family-specific: remarriage to the former
spouse revives provisions revoked solely by the divorce paragraph. That rule should not
be generalized to revocation by a later instrument or physical act.

Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect

Chapter 551 contains no general statute on reexecution, republication, revival by
codicil, or the effect of revoking a codicil on the underlying will. A new valid will
or codicil, or a same-formality writing, may make a new revocation under § 551:13,
but the chapter does not say that destroying a later will republishes an earlier one.

The remote-execution provision in § 551:2, III allows attorney-supervised counterparts
for a will or codicil, but expressly says it does not authorize an electronic will or
codicil.

What trips people up

• The actor needs consent, not statutory direction. The testator must still be
  present when another person performs the act.
• Partial revocation is clause-based. Every listed route can reach a clause.
• The divorce rule reaches some former-spouse descendants. It is not limited to
  striking the spouse's name.
• The two changed-circumstance sentences point in different directions. Both
  §§ 551:13 and 551:14 must be preserved in a neutral summary.
• There is no general statutory revival rule. Do not infer automatic revival from
  destruction of the later will.

Common questions

Can a separate writing revoke a New Hampshire will?

Yes, if it is executed in the same manner required for a will. An informal note does
not fit RSA 551:13, I's written route.

May another person destroy the will?

Yes, if the testator consents and the act occurs in the testator's presence.

Does divorce revoke the entire will?

No. It revokes the specified former-spouse provisions and applies the special
construction and contingent-descendant-gift rules.

Does destroying the later will revive the earlier one?

Chapter 551 does not state a general statutory answer. Its express revival provision
is limited to remarriage after divorce-based revocation.

Statutes and sources

• RSA 551:13 — whole/clause revocation by later instrument, formal writing, or
  physical act; divorce/annulment, descendants, construction, and remarriage. Official
  Chapter 551 text (accessed
  2026-08-20).
• RSA 551:14 — implied-by-law revocation savings clause for changed circumstances.
  Official Chapter 551 text
  (accessed 2026-08-20).
• RSA 551:2, III — attorney-supervised counterpart/remote witnessing and express
  electronic-will prohibition. Official Chapter 551
  text (accessed 2026-08-20).