Writing Required to Effect Partial Revocation Satisfied By Will Itself

Testator obliterated a paragraph of her will, added the word “delete”, the date, and her signature. At the foot of the page appeared the signatures of two other individuals, the same date, and the individual’s addresses. Both individuals testified that the testator asked them to witness the deletion of the paragraph and to sign.  The New York statute requires that a partial revocation of a will be accomplished by a writing executed with the formalities of a will (EPTL 3-4.1). The court held that the paragraph was revoked, the will itself being the required writing and the formalities having been observed. In re Litwack, 2006 WL 2988372 (N.Y.Sur.).