Why Some People Might Have Multiple Wills
Under ideal circumstances, an estate plan should be coherent, consistent, and avoid ambiguity. However, some people might believe it necessary to create more than one will.
Why Someone Creates More Than One Will
- They have properties in other states or countries. A will is meant to account for and disburse property in a particular state. While a will written in Louisiana could be enforced in another state, this could necessitate initiating succession proceedings in different jurisdictions. Some people might create separate wills in an attempt to simplify probate proceedings between different courts.
- They wish to minimize estate taxes. An individual who owns property in another state or foreign country might try to circumvent or diminish their beneficiaries’ expected tax obligations by probating high-value assets in a more tax-favorable setting. However, anyone seeking to alleviate taxes should consult an estate planning professional, as concurrent proceedings could actually result in steep financial penalties.
- They need to alter an existing will. If someone wants to alter an existing will, they might create a codicil to amend its terms. The testator could also create an entirely new will altogether. However, codicils can create complications in succession, and a new will must still be valid under Louisiana law to be recognized by a probate court.
The Succession Risks of Multiple Wills in Louisiana
If your loved one died with multiple wills and failed to leave clear-cut instructions as to their intent, the estate could be driven into conflict.
Potential Problems Caused by Multiple, Unresolved Louisiana Wills
- Confusion. If the deceased person wrote multiple wills but did not make any effort to revoke the previous wills, their loved ones may be unsure which will should be considered valid and submitted to the parish probate court.
- Legal complications. When the estate executor cannot determine which will is legally valid, they could be required to submit a copy of each will to the succession court. The probate clerk or the probate judge may have to order a special hearing to assess each document. Even if the designated heirs do not wish to contest the provisions of any of the estate planning documents, the estate must still bear the financial burden of additional judicial processing.
- Litigation. If the wills contradict one another or request significant alterations—such as the disinheritance of a child or other named beneficiary—the estate could be thrust into litigation. A prospective heir could allege that the most recent will is fraudulent, a product of undue influence, or that the testator lacked the mental capacity to understand and appreciate estate planning decisions.
Regardless of the deceased person’s reasons for having multiple wills, an ambiguous estate plan is significantly more likely to cause friction within families and between loved ones. When creditors cannot be paid or inheritances are put in jeopardy, there is an increased risk of litigation.
Even simple estate challenges can have unexpected consequences. For example, a failed probate lawsuit could drain the estate of its resources or force the succession court to invalidate the existing wills.
If a will cannot be executed, the court may be obliged to place the estate into intestacy proceedings, adhering to a strict legal formula that does not honor the decedent’s last wishes.
Contact a Louisiana Succession Attorney
Trying to make sense of multiple wills can prove to be a challenge even for legal clerks and courts. Scott Law Group – Estate Counsel has years of experience defending estates and legacies across Louisiana.
You do not have to let ambiguity or family disputes put your loved one’s legacy at risk. Please call us at 504-264-1057 to get started on your case today.
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How Louisiana Law Determines Which Will Controls
When multiple wills are discovered after a person’s death, Louisiana law applies clear rules for determining which document controls the estate’s distribution. The general rule is that the most recent valid will revokes all prior wills to the extent of any conflict — a later will supersedes an earlier one wherever their provisions are inconsistent. But “most recent” must be determined by when each will was validly executed, not by when it was discovered, and “valid” requires that each will meet Louisiana’s formal execution requirements. A later-dated will that was improperly executed — lacking required signatures or witnesses, or failing to meet the specific requirements for notarial or olographic wills — is void and does not revoke the prior validly executed will, even though it appears to express more recent intentions.
Express revocation clauses complicate the analysis. Most professionally drafted wills contain a clause that expressly revokes all prior wills and codicils — a clear statement that the new will replaces everything that came before it. When such a clause is present in the most recent valid will, it eliminates all prior testamentary documents regardless of what those documents contained. An heir who received a bequest under a prior will and received nothing under the subsequent will cannot rely on the prior document once the revocation clause takes effect. However, if the most recent will is itself successfully contested and declared void, the revocation clause fails along with the rest of the will — and the prior will, which was not actually revoked by a valid document, may be revived.
Implied revocation — revocation by inconsistency rather than by express language — applies when a later will disposes of the same property as an earlier will but without a revocation clause. In that situation, the later will’s provisions govern the property covered by both documents, and the earlier will’s provisions survive only for property not addressed by the later will. For example, if an earlier will leaves the family home to one child and the residuary estate to another, and a later will without a revocation clause leaves everything to the decedent’s spouse, the later will’s residuary clause governs. Courts look at the overall scheme of each document to determine whether the later will was intended to replace the earlier one entirely or only to supplement it, which can require a detailed textual comparison of both documents.
Codicils, Amendments, and Partial Revocations
A codicil is a testamentary document that modifies a previously executed will without replacing it entirely. In Louisiana, a codicil must be executed with the same formalities as a will — a notarial codicil must meet the notarial will requirements, and a handwritten codicil must meet the olographic will requirements. When a valid codicil modifies an earlier valid will, the two documents are read together as a single testamentary plan: the will’s provisions govern everything not modified by the codicil, and the codicil’s provisions govern the matters it addresses. The succession attorney must analyze both documents together to understand the complete testamentary scheme rather than relying on either document alone.
Partial revocation — revoking only specific provisions of an earlier will while leaving the rest intact — is legally possible in Louisiana but uncommon in practice, because professionally drafted wills typically include a complete revocation of all prior wills rather than a partial modification. When a testator wants to change specific provisions — adding a new beneficiary, changing the executor, increasing a specific bequest — the conventional approach is to either execute a new complete will that supersedes the old one entirely, or to execute a codicil that specifically modifies the target provisions. A document that purports to partially revoke a prior will without meeting the formal requirements for a codicil may not accomplish the intended modification, leaving the original provision in effect.
The physical destruction of a will by the testator — tearing, burning, or otherwise rendering the document unreadable — constitutes revocation under Louisiana law, but only when the destruction is intentional and done by the testator or at the testator’s direction. A will that is accidentally destroyed, lost, or stolen is not revoked by the physical loss. Louisiana courts have developed rules for proving the contents of a lost will — testimony from persons who read the will, lawyer notes from the preparation, prior drafts — but this process is uncertain and contested. When a will is known to have existed but cannot be found after the testator’s death, the circumstantial evidence and the timing of the disappearance become critical to determining whether it was intentionally destroyed by the testator (revocation) or lost or destroyed by someone else (no revocation).
When Multiple Wills Lead to Contested Succession Proceedings
The discovery of multiple wills after a death almost always raises suspicion among heirs who fare better under one document than another. A beneficiary who received more under an earlier will than under the most recent will has strong motivation to challenge the validity of the most recent will — if the challenge succeeds, the earlier will may govern and the challenger recovers their larger bequest. A beneficiary under the most recent will who is excluded from the earlier will has equal motivation to defend the most recent will’s validity. This adversarial dynamic means that the discovery of multiple wills frequently triggers contested succession proceedings that would not have arisen if only one will existed.
The execution date discrepancy is a common battleground in multiple-will disputes. A challenger may argue that the most recent will’s execution date is fraudulent — that the will was actually prepared earlier than its date indicates, that the date was altered, or that the document was backdated to make it appear to supersede a will that the testator actually executed later. These claims require forensic document examination, witness testimony, and analysis of the surrounding circumstances. A succession attorney who handled the preparation and execution of the later will can be a critical witness, testifying about the circumstances of the signing ceremony and confirming the accuracy of the execution date.
Resolving multiple-will disputes efficiently requires the services of a succession attorney who understands both the substantive law governing will revocation and the procedural requirements for contested succession proceedings. The attorney advises the client on the strength of the position taken — whether the most recent will should be defended, whether a prior will should be offered for probate, or whether a negotiated resolution among competing claimants would produce a better outcome than litigation — and manages the proceeding accordingly. A multiple-will situation that is handled by an attorney familiar with Louisiana succession litigation is far more likely to reach a timely resolution than one where parties attempt to navigate the process without specialized guidance.