Will Revocation and Revival Requirements in Texas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and scope

Texas places the revocation methods in Estates Code § 253.002 and the effect of marital dissolution on a will in §§ 123.001–123.002. Section 253.001 separately protects the ability to execute a new will or codicil and to revoke an existing will or codicil in whole or in part.

Later will, codicil, or writing

Section 253.002 permits a subsequent will, codicil, or declaration in writing, but the later document must be executed “with like formalities.” The statute therefore does not create a separate informal-note route merely because a writing uses the word “revoke.”

Physical or electronic revoking act

The listed act route is destruction or cancellation by the testator. Section 253.002 does not list burning, tearing, obliteration, deletion, or another electronic-specific act as separate categories. Whether conduct amounts to statutory destruction or cancellation depends on what occurred; this survey does not resolve that fact question.

Act by another person

The testator may cause the will, clause, or devise to be destroyed or canceled, but the act must occur in the testator's presence. Section 253.002 states no separate witness count for that act.

Partial revocation

Texas expressly reaches a “clause or devise” in a written will, not only the entire instrument. Section 253.001 likewise protects revocation of a will or codicil “in whole or in part.” The same statutory methods still govern the attempted partial revocation.

Intent, proof, and presumptions

Chapter 253 states the authorized methods but supplies no separate intent phrase, quantified evidence burden, or missing-original presumption. That statutory silence should not be read as deciding every intent or proof dispute; it means the current revocation chapter itself does not provide a table-ready evidence standard.

Divorce, annulment, and other family events

Unless the will expressly provides otherwise, § 123.001 applies after divorce, annulment, or a declaration that the marriage is void. All will provisions, including fiduciary appointments, are read as if the former spouse and each former-spouse relative who is not also related to the testator failed to survive.

The section also rewrites a will's transfer to a covered irrevocable trust by treating specified benefits and powers as disclaimed and specified fiduciary nominations as though the affected person died immediately before dissolution. A court order or an express marital-estate contract can provide otherwise for that trust overlay.

Revival after a later will or revoking act

The current Estates Code contains no express statute stating whether revoking a later will revives an earlier will. Estates Code § 123.002 says when a later valid remarriage makes a person a surviving spouse again, but it does not state a general rule reviving will provisions or an earlier instrument. Any nonstatutory revival doctrine is outside this statute-based survey.

Reexecution, republication, and codicil effect

A later codicil is one of § 253.002's authorized revoking instruments when executed with like formalities. The current Estates Code states no separate reexecution, republication-by-codicil, or revoked-codicil restoration rule, so this cell does not infer one from the existence of the codicil route.

What trips people up

Having someone destroy or cancel the document away from the testator does not fit § 253.002's directed-act wording. The statute requires the caused destruction or cancellation to occur in the testator's presence.

The divorce rule reaches more than gifts to the former spouse. Section 123.001 also reaches fiduciary appointments, certain former-spouse relatives, and will provisions that send property to a covered irrevocable trust. The will, a court order, or a marital-estate contract may matter under the stated exceptions.

Common questions

Can a court order prevent someone from changing or revoking a will?

No. Section 253.001 makes the prohibiting portion of such an order void and permits it to be disregarded without penalty or sanction.

Does divorce erase the entire will?

No. Section 123.001 changes how the affected provisions are read, generally using a failed-survival treatment for the former spouse and specified relatives. The remaining will continues to operate according to its terms and the statute.

Can an email revoke a Texas will?

Section 253.002 does not create an email-specific route. A writing must qualify as a subsequent will, codicil, or declaration executed with like formalities, or the destruction-or-cancellation route must be satisfied.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Est. Code §§ 253.001–253.002 — protected authority and revocation methods. Covers later formal instruments, destruction or cancellation, directed acts in the testator's presence, and whole or partial revocation. Official current Chapter 253 (accessed 2026-08-01).
• Tex. Est. Code §§ 123.001–123.002 — marital dissolution and later remarriage. States the failed-survival treatment, irrevocable-trust overlay, exceptions, and surviving-spouse status after a later valid marriage. Official current Chapter 123 (accessed 2026-08-01).