Will Revocation and Revival Requirements in New York

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and scope

The current paper-will rules are in EPTL §§ 3-4.1 and 3-4.6, with divorce and remarriage effects in § 5-1.4. New York has enacted a separate electronic-wills part, but the amended enactment does not take effect until December 12, 2027, so its custody-removal route is not current law on this page's verification date.

Later will, codicil, or writing

Under § 3-4.1(a)(1), another will may revoke or alter the will or any part of it. A separate writing also works if it clearly indicates the testator's revoking or altering intent and is executed and attested with will formalities. An unsigned or informal instruction does not meet that express statutory route.

Physical or electronic revoking act

The current § 3-4.1(a)(2) route revokes a will through burning, tearing, cutting, cancellation, obliteration, or other mutilation or destruction. The enacted future § 3-6.7 (2026 N.Y. Laws ch. 89, § 1 (S. 8887)) will treat removal of an electronic will from Unified Court System custody as revocation beginning December 12, 2027; before then, that provision is not yet effective.

§ 3-6.7 Revocation (a) An electronic will may revoke all or part of a previous will.

Act by another person

A person other than the testator may perform the physical act only in the testator's presence and by the testator's direction. The statute adds a proof rule: at least two witnesses must establish those facts, and neither may be the person who performed the revoking act.

Partial revocation

Section 3-4.1(a)(1) expressly permits another will or a formal writing to revoke or alter “a will or any part thereof.” The destructive-act paragraph instead says “a will may be revoked.” The current statutory text therefore supplies a partial route through a later instrument or formal writing, not an express partial-by-mutilation route.

Intent, proof, and presumptions

Section 3-4.1 begins with intent: a revocation or alteration must be intended by the testator and may occur only through the listed methods. The special two-witness rule applies when another person performs the act. The same section also preserves narrow nuncupative and holographic declarations for people and circumstances authorized by EPTL 3-2.2; those are not a general informal-revocation option for ordinary wills.

Divorce, annulment, and other family events

Section 5-1.4 reaches a final divorce, annulment, and the statute's defined judicial separation. Unless the governing instrument says otherwise, it revokes revocable dispositions or appointments for the former spouse, powers conferred on the former spouse, and nominations to fiduciary or representative office. The affected terms operate as if the former spouse predeceased the testator. Remarriage to that former spouse revives provisions revoked solely by this section.

Revival after a later will or revoking act

There is no automatic revival. Section 3-4.6(a) says revoking or altering the later will does not, by itself, revive the prior will or any provision of it.

Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect

Section 3-4.6(b) gives three restoration routes: a codicil that incorporates the prior will or provision by reference; a will-formal writing declaring revival; or reexecution and reattestation before original or new witnesses. Separately, § 3-4.1(c) makes revocation of the will revoke all codicils to it.

What trips people up

New York distinguishes partial revocation by formal instrument from physical destruction. A later will or will-formal writing may target a provision; the destructive-act paragraph is written as a route to revoke the will. Hand-editing a gift clause therefore does not carry the same express statutory footing as executing a proper codicil or revoking writing.

Judicial separation is included only as § 5-1.4 defines it: a final decree or judgment of separation recognized as valid under New York law and rendered against the spouse. Informal separation is not the statutory event described in the current text.

Common questions

Can the person who tears up the will also be one of the two proof witnesses?

No. When someone other than the testator performs the act, § 3-4.1(a)(2) requires two witnesses and excludes the person who performed the act from serving as either.

Does retrieving an electronic will from the court revoke it today?

Not yet under the enacted electronic-wills provision. The custody-removal rule takes effect with the electronic-wills act on December 12, 2027.

Must the original witnesses watch a prior will be republished?

No. Section 3-4.6(b)(3) allows reexecution and reattestation before the original witnesses or new witnesses, provided the required formalities are met.

Statutes and sources

• N.Y. EPTL § 3-4.1 — methods and codicils. Establishes the exclusive intended-revocation routes, formal-writing partial route, destructive acts, directed-person proof, and the rule that revoking the will revokes its codicils. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• N.Y. EPTL § 3-4.6 — revival. Rejects automatic revival and supplies the incorporating-codicil, formal-writing, and reexecution routes. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• N.Y. EPTL § 5-1.4 — divorce, judicial separation, and remarriage. Revokes former-spouse dispositions, powers, and offices, applies a deemed-predecease rule, and revives on remarriage. Official text (accessed 2026-08-01).
• 2026 N.Y. Laws ch. 89, § 1 (S. 8887) — future electronic-will revocation. Amends the electronic-wills act, including § 3-6.7 and its effective-date clause; it is not effective until December 12, 2027. Official bill text (accessed 2026-08-20).