Pennsylvania: Will Revocation and Revival Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and scope

Sections 2505 and 2506 govern revocation and revival of written wills and codicils.
Section 2507 separately modifies wills when divorce, a qualifying pending divorce,
later marriage, birth, or adoption occurs. Pennsylvania has a pending electronic-
wills bill, but no enacted electronic route is included in the current answer.

Later will, codicil, or writing

Under § 2505(1)–(2), another written will or codicil may revoke or alter the prior
instrument. A separate revoking writing must declare the revocation and be executed
and proved in the same manner required of wills.

Physical or electronic revoking act

Section 2505(3) permits burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying the
document. The act must be done with both the intent and purpose of revocation. The
current section does not supply a separate electronic-record act.

Act by another person

Someone else may perform the act only in the testator's presence and by the
testator's express direction. The direction must then be proved by the oaths or
affirmations of two competent witnesses.

Partial revocation

Pennsylvania's opening language is broad: a written will or codicil “or any part
thereof” may be revoked or altered only through the three listed routes. That makes
partial revocation textually available by later instrument, formal writing, or an
act to the document, provided the required intent and proof exist.

Intent, proof, and presumptions

The document act requires a revocatory intent and purpose. When another person
performs it, § 2505 adds a quantified proof requirement—two competent witnesses
must establish the testator's direction by oath or affirmation.

Divorce, annulment, and other family events

Section 2507(2) makes spouse-related provisions ineffective after divorce unless
the will shows they were intended to survive. It can also apply when a Pennsylvania-
domiciled testator dies during divorce proceedings after statutory grounds have
been established, even though no decree has yet been entered. Later marriage does
not simply revoke the will; the surviving spouse generally receives an intestate
share unless a listed exception applies. A later-born or adopted omitted child also
receives the statutory share described in § 2507(4), absent intentional omission.

Revival after a later will or revoking act

Section 2506 rejects automatic revival. Revoking a later will that expressly or by
necessary implication revoked the earlier one does not, without more, bring the
earlier will back.

Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect

The earlier will revives if the written revocation of the later will declares the
testator's intent to revive it, or if the earlier will is reexecuted after the later
revocation. Section 2506 expressly says oral republication by itself is ineffective.

What trips people up

Pennsylvania's pending-divorce rule is a genuine outlier. A final decree is not
always required: if the testator dies domiciled in Pennsylvania during the case and
the grounds specified through 23 Pa.C.S. § 3323(g) have been established, spouse-
related will provisions can already be ineffective.

The statute also allows partial revocation by an act to the document. That does not
make an informal edit safe—the mark still must be a listed act made with revocatory
intent, and any dispute will turn on what part the testator meant to revoke.

Common questions

Is saying out loud that the old will is valid again enough?

No. Section 2506 says oral republication by itself is ineffective. Use one of the
written or reexecution routes the statute recognizes.

Does a later marriage erase the old will?

Not under § 2507(3). The statute generally supplies the new spouse's intestate share
instead, subject to the will's larger gift or a will made in contemplation of that
marriage.

Is Pennsylvania's electronic-wills proposal current law?

No. SB 1138 remained referred to Senate Judiciary when checked on August 1, 2026.
The current cell therefore applies the written-document rules in §§ 2505–2507.

Statutes and sources

• 20 Pa.C.S. § 2505 — revocation methods. Covers later wills and codicils,
  formal revoking writings, acts to the document, partial revocation, intent, and
  directed-act proof. Official
  text
  (accessed 2026-08-01).
• 20 Pa.C.S. § 2506 — revival. Rejects automatic revival, recognizes a
  written declared-intent route and reexecution, and rejects oral republication
  alone. Official
  text
  (accessed 2026-08-01).
• 20 Pa.C.S. § 2507 — modification by circumstances. Covers divorce,
  qualifying pending divorce, later marriage, and later-born or adopted children.
  Official text
  (accessed 2026-08-01).
• PA SB 1138 (2025–2026) — pending electronic wills. The official page shows
  introduction and referral to Senate Judiciary on January 9, 2026. Official bill
  page (checked
  2026-08-01).