A validly executed will doesn't lock a person into its terms forever. Florida law recognizes specific, general ways to change or revoke a will in Florida once it's been signed, and understanding those general categories matters just as much as understanding how to execute a will in the first place. The mistake people tend to make isn't failing to update an outdated will — it's assuming an update can happen informally, through a crossed-out line or a conversation with family, when Florida generally expects something more formal.
This post assumes the "why" has already been decided. This guide to when to update Florida estate planning documents covers the life events and periodic reviews that typically prompt someone to look at their will again, along with the general principle that a full replacement document is usually preferred over a piecemeal edit. What follows goes a level deeper on the will specifically: the general mechanics of revocation, what a codicil is, the formalities a change generally has to satisfy, and a common misconception that causes real disputes in probate.
The General Ways to Change or Revoke a Will in Florida
Florida law generally recognizes a will as revoked in one of a few broad ways. The first is executing a new will that expressly revokes all prior wills — the most straightforward and increasingly common approach, since a new will simply supersedes what came before it. The second general category is revocation by physical act: destroying, tearing, burning, or otherwise physically canceling the will with the intent to revoke it.
That second category is worth treating carefully rather than precisely. What counts as a sufficient physical act, and what a court will accept as evidence of the intent behind it, can turn heavily on the specific facts of a given situation — the condition of the document, who did the act, and what can be proven about intent after the fact. Rather than trying to describe a bright-line test for what "counts," the more useful takeaway is that intentional destruction is a recognized general path to revocation, but it's also one of the more fact-dependent and dispute-prone ways a will's status ends up being challenged in probate. Executing a new will that clearly states an intent to revoke prior wills avoids that ambiguity almost entirely.
What a Codicil Is, and Why It's Less Common Today
A codicil is a separate legal document that formally amends specific provisions of an existing will without revoking and replacing the entire thing. Historically, codicils were a practical way to make a small change — updating a single bequest, swapping a named guardian — without redrafting an entire will from scratch.
In modern practice, executing an entirely new will is generally the more common and often-recommended approach, even for a change that might seem small. The reason comes back to the same concern that applies to Florida estate planning documents generally: once there's an original will and a separate codicil in circulation, there's more room for confusion about which provisions are still in effect, particularly if the codicil references or partially overrides sections of the original. A single, fully restated will removes that layered structure entirely. A codicil isn't invalid or obsolete as a concept, and it still shows up in practice, but a full restatement has become the more commonly favored path for most changes today.
Formalities Still Apply to Any Change
Whether someone executes a new will or a codicil, the same general execution formalities that apply to an original will generally apply again. As covered in more detail in this guide to writing your own will in Florida, that generally means a written document, signed by the testator, witnessed by two witnesses present together, ideally paired with a self-proving affidavit. A codicil or new will that skips these steps carries the same execution risk as an original will that skips them — it may not be recognized as valid, no matter how clearly it expresses the testator's updated wishes.
A Common Misconception: Crossing Out or Verbal Changes
One of the most persistent misconceptions about updating a will is the belief that marking up an existing document — crossing out a beneficiary, writing a new instruction in the margin, or initialing a change by hand — updates the will. It generally doesn't. The same is true of simply telling family members about an intended change out loud. Florida generally expects a change to a will to be made through a new validly executed will or codicil, following the same formalities as the original document, not through informal edits or conversations, however clearly they express the testator's intent.
This misconception is also a common source of disputes in probate. A marked-up will can leave a probate court trying to sort out whether handwriting was made by the testator, when it was added, and whether it reflects a genuine change in intent or something else entirely — questions that a properly executed new will or codicil simply don't raise.
Divorce, Ex-Spouses, and Why Relying on a Default Is Risky
Florida law includes general provisions addressing how certain terms in a will affecting a former spouse can be treated after a divorce, without the testator having to revoke or rewrite the will. That kind of default rule can sound reassuring, but relying on it instead of an updated document is exactly the kind of gap this post is about. A statutory default wasn't written with any particular family's specific wishes in mind, and it doesn't address every provision in a will the way a full update would. Executing an updated will after a divorce — or any major relationship change — removes the ambiguity of relying on a general rule to do the work that a clear, current document could do directly.
Keeping a Will Current the Right Way
Changing or revoking a Florida will isn't complicated in concept — a new will, a codicil, or an intentional physical act of revocation are the general paths available — but each one only works if it's carried out with the right formalities. Informal edits and verbal statements generally don't get the job done, and relying on statutory defaults leaves outcomes less certain than they need to be. SunstateDocs' Last Will & Testament walks through a plain-English intake for a complete, current Florida will, with the witness signature blocks and self-proving affidavit already built in, making it straightforward to put an updated document in place whenever a change is needed.
This article is general information, not legal advice. SunstateDocs is not a law firm.