Article: Reforming Revocation by Physical Act

This article is a companion piece to The Pathologies of Revocation by Physical Act. There I documented the various problems that are created by the law’s recognition of the power of a testator to revoke his will in whole or in part by physical act. That article canvassed five different areas of law in which such difficulties arise: ineffective attempts at revocation; the presumption of revocation; partial revocation by physical act; dependent relative revocation; and revival. In this article I first explore the asymmetries within the law of wills created by the persistence of revocation by physical act. I then offer some reflections on possibilities for reform.