Iowa Concern

1-800-447-1985

How can I undo a will that I previously made?

There are 3 primary ways to undue or revoke a will that you have already made.

You can either revoke a will by a cancelation. A cancellation is when you revoke your will going through the same procedure that you had to do to create it. In Iowa you would need to have at least two witnesses and tell them that you no longer want the will to be recoginzed and indicate that on the will or part of the will you wish to revoke. The witnesses must then sign the will as witnesses to the revocation.
You can destroy the will if such an act is accompanied by an intent to revoke.
You can make a new will and all provisions of the old will that are covered in the new will would be considered to be revoked. In order to cancel out the entire first when then you must also include a residuary clause in the second will which basically will tell the court to ignore the first will.

Reference: Iowa Code §633.284

Author: Iowa Concern Attorney

(

Date last updated: 07/05/2002
Technical issues contact: jvohsman@iastate.edu