Will Revocation in Singapore: How to Revoke a Will Properly
In Singapore, you can revoke a will in four ways under the Wills Act 1838: by marrying, by making a later will or codicil, by signing a written declaration of revocation with will formalities, or by destroying the will with the intention to revoke it. Anything less formal, such as scribbling “cancelled” across a page or telling your family you have changed your mind, is unlikely to work. This guide explains each route, what marriage and divorce do, what happens when an original will goes missing, and what to do so your wishes survive.
TL;DR
Section 15 of the Wills Act lists the only routes: marriage, a later will or codicil, a formally executed written declaration, or destroying the will with intent to revoke.
Marriage revokes an existing will unless the will was made in contemplation of that marriage. Divorce is not on the statutory list.
Changes written onto a signed will generally have no effect unless they are executed with will formalities or the original words stay legible.
If the original cannot be found after death, the court starts from a rebuttable presumption that you destroyed it on purpose.
Writing a new will that opens with a clear revocation clause is the safest way to revoke an old one.
Table of Contents
What revocation means, and why the method matters
Revoking a will means cancelling its legal effect, in whole or in part, so that it no longer controls who receives your estate. The law treats a will as a serious document. Once you sign it with the right formalities, it stays in force until you undo it in a way the statute recognises.
That is why the method matters more than the intention. A court will not ask only whether you wanted the will gone. It asks whether you did something the Act accepts as revocation. If the answer is no, the old will can still be admitted to probate, often years later and at the worst moment for your family.
If you have never had a will drafted, our guide to the three steps to a valid will in Singapore covers the formalities first.
The four legal ways to revoke a will in Singapore
The Wills Act 1838 on Singapore Statutes Online sets out the routes in section 15, with marriage dealt with alongside section 13. The 2025 International Bar Association estate-planning guide for Singapore summarises the same four.
Route | What you do | Typical risk |
Marriage | Marry, unless the will was made in contemplation of that marriage or falls under the section 13 exceptions | Revocation happens automatically, often unnoticed |
Later will or codicil | Execute a new will or codicil with the statutory formalities | A vague new will can leave gaps or conflicts |
Written declaration | Sign a document declaring intent to revoke, executed like a will | Easy to forget to tell the executor |
Destruction | Burn, tear or otherwise destroy the will with intent to revoke | Leaves no replacement, and intent can be disputed |
1. A later will or codicil
This is the route most people should use. A new will that expressly revokes all earlier wills and codicils leaves little room for argument. A codicil, which is a short amendment to an existing will, can also revoke it in part or in whole, but it must be executed with the same formalities.
The formalities are not complicated, but they are strict. Per the IBA guide, a Singapore-law will is generally in writing and signed by the testator in the presence of at least two witnesses present at the same time, who then sign in the testator’s presence. MoneySense adds that witnesses must not be beneficiaries or spouses of beneficiaries.
A practical point: a later will does not automatically cancel an earlier one just because it is later. If the new will contains no revocation clause and simply conflicts in places, the courts have to reconcile the two documents. Say so expressly.
2. A written declaration of revocation
You can revoke without making a new will by signing a written declaration of your intention to revoke, executed with the same formalities as a will. This suits someone who wants the old will gone while they take time to decide what to replace it with.
Be careful here. Revoking without replacing leaves you intestate, which means the Intestate Succession Act decides who inherits (more on that below). For most families with children, a spouse or a business, that outcome is worse than the will they were unhappy with.
3. Destroying the will
The Act accepts burning, tearing or otherwise destroying the will, either by you or by another person in your presence and at your direction, as long as you intend to revoke. Both parts matter. Accidental damage does not revoke a will, and neither does destruction by someone else behind your back.
The practical difficulty is proof. If the will was destroyed with no witness and no record, your family may argue for years about whether you meant it. We recommend that anyone who wants to revoke by destruction also signs a short formal declaration or a replacement will first, so the intention is documented.
Also remember that destroying one copy achieves nothing if the signed original sits with a lawyer, a bank or a relative. Track down the original.
4. Marriage
Marriage is the one route that works without you doing anything. Section 15 provides for revocation by marriage, subject to section 13, which includes the case where the will is expressed to be made in contemplation of that marriage. MoneySense likewise notes that a will is cancelled when the maker marries or remarries.
The lesson for anyone planning a wedding is simple: write a new will that either states it is made in contemplation of the marriage or is signed after the ceremony. Do not assume the old one will carry over. If you are blending families, read our piece on stepchild inheritance in Singapore before you sign anything.
Does divorce revoke a will in Singapore?
Divorce is not listed as a method of revocation in section 15 of the Wills Act. That is the reason many people are caught out: they assume a divorce wipes the slate clean, and it does not do so by that route.
In practice, this means a will you made during the marriage should be reviewed the moment divorce proceedings begin, and certainly once the order is final. If it names your former spouse as a beneficiary, executor or guardian, you should not leave that to chance. The statute gives you no automatic revocation to rely on, so the safe course is to make a new will that expressly revokes the old one.
A wider caution applies. A will is only one part of an estate. CPF savings, insurance policies with nominations and jointly held property pass by their own rules, often outside the will. A divorce can leave old nominations pointing at the wrong person. Our article on three estate fixes Singapore families must make walks through the CPF and trust pieces. Take advice from a family lawyer on the divorce side and an estate planner on the will side.
Changing a will without revoking it: alterations and codicils
Sometimes you do not want to revoke the whole will, just change a name or a share. This is where homemade fixes go wrong.
Section 16 of the Wills Act provides that obliterations, interlineations or alterations made after the will was executed generally have no effect, unless the original wording is no longer apparent or the alteration is itself executed with will formalities. Crossing out a beneficiary and writing a new name in the margin may therefore achieve nothing, or may create a document that is partly effective and wholly confusing.
The tidy way is a codicil, signed and witnessed like a will. If you are changing more than one or two clauses, a fresh will is usually clearer. Either way, keep the formalities identical to the original signing.
What happens if a will is revoked?
Once a will is validly revoked, it is treated as if it no longer exists. What follows depends on what you left behind:
A later will exists. Its terms govern the estate. The revoked will plays no part, except that a court may look at it if the validity of the later will is challenged.
Only part was revoked. The unrevoked parts continue, which is why partial revocations need careful drafting.
No other will exists. The estate is distributed under the intestacy rules.
Under the Intestate Succession Act 1967, a surviving spouse and children share the estate, a spouse alone takes the whole of it, and where there is a spouse and parents but no children, the spouse takes half and the parents half. If there is no spouse, children or parents, the Act works outward to siblings, grandparents and more distant relatives. The Act defines “child” narrowly, as a legitimate or adopted child, so unmarried partners and some children can be left out entirely. Different rules can apply to Muslims, so take advice if that is your situation.
For unmarried couples this is especially harsh, and our guide to how unmarried partners can inherit in Singapore starts with CPF nomination. Families should also understand per stirpes distribution, which governs how a share passes down if a child dies before you.
When the original will cannot be found
Lost wills are one of the commonest reasons revocation ends up in court. A drawer is emptied after a funeral, the signed original is not there, and the family does not know whether it was lost or deliberately destroyed.
The High Court dealt with this in 2002 SGHC 50. Where an original will last known to be in the deceased’s possession cannot be found after death, a rebuttable presumption arises that the deceased destroyed it intending to revoke it. The party who wants to prove otherwise carries the burden, on the ordinary civil standard of the balance of probabilities. Evidence that the will was lost, or that another explanation is more probable, can rebut the presumption.
There is also a statutory route. Under the Probate and Administration Act, where a will has been lost or mislaid after death, probate may be granted of a copy or draft, limited until the original is admitted. If no copy or draft is produced, the court may proceed under the Act’s further conditions.
What this means for you:
Store the original somewhere your executor knows about and can reach.
Keep a signed record of where it is, and tell your executor and a trusted family member.
Keep a clear copy and the draft, because both can matter if the original disappears.
If you replace a will, record the date and the replacement, so no one wonders later whether the old one was destroyed on purpose.
A step-by-step approach to revoking a will
Decide what you want instead. Revoking without a replacement almost always makes things worse. Write down how you want your assets distributed, who should be executor, and who should be guardian of any minor children.
Check the assets outside the will. CPF nominations, insurance nominations, joint accounts and company shares follow their own rules. Revoking your will does not change them.
Draft the new will with an express revocation clause. It should revoke all earlier wills and codicils.
Sign it with the right formalities. Two witnesses present together, neither of them a beneficiary nor a beneficiary’s spouse, each signing in your presence.
Deal with the old document. Once the new will is validly signed, the old original can be destroyed with the intention to revoke, but keep a note of when and why.
Tell your executor. Make sure they know where the current will is and that older versions no longer apply.
Review again after marriage, divorce, a new child, a business sale or a large change in assets.
If you are also thinking about shares in a family company, check how your will interacts with the company’s rules first. We explain the traps in our guide to shares in a will in Singapore.
Our perspective: revocation is a planning decision, not a paperwork task
We see revocation questions arrive in the same few forms: someone has married, someone is divorcing, someone has fallen out with a relative, or someone found an old will and wants to know whether it still counts. In each case the real question is not how to cancel a document. It is whether the whole plan still works.
The families we work with typically hold property, CPF savings, insurance, business interests and sometimes foreign assets. A will touches only part of that. A revocation that is technically perfect can still leave a nomination pointing at the wrong person or a business with no succession mechanism. So we look at the structure as a whole, and for some clients a trust, standing alongside the will, does more of the work than the will itself.
Our advice is to avoid cancelling a will in isolation. Replace it, check the assets outside it, and keep one clean, current original in a place your executor can reach. Revoke by writing, not by instinct.
— Joseph
How we can help
We draft wills and trusts for affluent and high-net-worth families in Singapore. A Comprehensive Will (also known as a Testamentary Trust) is priced from $1,250 to $1,900 one-off. If you want the full picture of your assets and how they will pass, our Schedule of Assets, Estate Liquidity Analysis and Asset Nomination service starts from $500 one-off, and Portfolio Structuring and Estate Optimisation starts from $1,500 one-off. Business owners can ask about the Business Value Protection Trust, from $8,000 one-off. See the details on our estate planning services page, or get in touch through our website to discuss replacing an existing will.
If you are planning ahead for wider family needs, our guide on HNW family wealth transfer in Singapore is a good next read.
FAQ
Will marriage revoke a will in Singapore?
Yes, in general. Section 15 of the Wills Act provides that marriage revokes a will, except as section 13 provides, which includes a will expressed to be made in contemplation of that marriage. If you are about to marry, sign a new will that says so, or sign a fresh one after the wedding.
Does divorce cancel my will?
Not by the route of section 15, which does not list divorce as a method of revocation. Your will can therefore stay in force, with your former spouse still named in it. Make a new will that expressly revokes the old one as soon as the divorce is in motion.
What is the most effective way to revoke a will?
Make a new will with an express clause revoking all earlier wills and codicils, and sign it with two witnesses present together. That replaces the old will and leaves a clear record. Destroying the document on its own works only if you intend to revoke, and it leaves you without a will.
Who inherits if someone dies without a will in Singapore?
For most people, the Intestate Succession Act 1967 decides. A surviving spouse and children share the estate, a spouse with no children or parents takes it all, and a spouse with parents but no children takes half. Relatives further out come in only if no closer ones exist. Different rules can apply to Muslims.
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