Using a Codicil to Amend a Louisiana Will

Understanding Codicils

A codicil is a special, written document that amends a will. Codicils typically explain, modify, or revoke a previous will provision.

Uses of a Louisiana Codicil

• Name a new beneficiary
• Designate a new guardian for a minor child
• Remove an heir from the will
• Explain a disinheritance decision

While a codicil can be used to alter a last will and testament in any number of ways, estate planning attorneys usually recommend that it only be used for minor modifications. If a codicil is used to overhaul a will in its entirety, it is often easier to simply re-write the will than to ensure that the codicil does obfuscate the testator’s intent.

What Makes a Louisiana Codicil Valid? 

• The testator must be at least 18 years of age.
• The testator must be of sound mind and free from undue influence.  
• The codicil must be in a valid form recognized for testaments.
• Typically, scratch-throughs and notes added to a will after it is executed are not valid to change a will and are not legally enforceable.

How to Execute a Valid Codicil in Louisiana

Knowing what a codicil is matters less than knowing how to execute one correctly. A defective codicil can fail entirely — leaving the original will unchanged — or create contradictions that require a court to resolve. When a codicil fails, the estate distributes according to the original will or, if no valid will remains, under Louisiana’s intestate succession rules. Here is the proper process:

• Step 1 — Draft the codicil clearly. The document should identify: (a) the date of the original will it amends; (b) the exact provisions being changed, added, or revoked; and (c) the date of the codicil itself. Ambiguity in a codicil often becomes the basis for a legal challenge.
• Step 2 — Sign before a notary and two witnesses simultaneously. All parties must be present at the same time: the testator (will-maker), the notary, and two competent witnesses. The testator must sign or acknowledge the codicil in the notary’s and witnesses’ presence. This is identical to the formality required for a notarial testament.
• Step 3 — Sign each page. Louisiana requires the testator to sign the bottom of each page of a notarial testament — the same rule applies to a codicil with multiple pages.
• Step 4 — Store the codicil with the original will. A codicil does not need to be filed with any court or registry while you are alive. Keep it physically attached to or immediately alongside the original will so they are found together after your death.
• Step 5 — Probate them together. At death, the codicil is presented to the court together with the original will. Both are read and interpreted together; the codicil’s amendments control over the original will’s conflicting provisions.

Does a Louisiana Codicil Need to Be Notarized?

Yes — if the original will is a notarial testament, the codicil must also be executed with the same formalities: notary plus two witnesses, all simultaneously present.

This surprises some people who assume that a handwritten note attached to their will is sufficient to change it. It is not. A handwritten note — even if signed and dated — does not constitute a valid codicil to a notarial testament in Louisiana. Courts have consistently held that a codicil must be executed with the same formality as the type of testament it amends.

Can a codicil be olographic (handwritten)? Technically yes, if the original will was itself an olographic testament. An olographic codicil must be entirely handwritten, dated, and signed by the testator — the same requirements as an olographic will. However, attaching a handwritten codicil to a formal notarial testament creates a formality mismatch that can complicate probate and invite challenges. The safest practice is always to use the same or higher formality as the original will.

Codicil vs. Rewriting Your Will: Which Makes More Sense?

A codicil is an amendment — it changes parts of an existing will while leaving the rest intact. A new will revokes the old one entirely and starts fresh. Choosing between them depends on the scope of the change you need to make.

When a codicil makes sense:

• Changing a single beneficiary without affecting the rest of the distribution plan
• Updating the name of your executor or substitute executor
• Naming or changing the guardian for a minor child
• Adding a specific bequest you forgot (leaving a piece of property or money to a specific person)
• Revoking one specific provision of the will

When rewriting the will is the better choice:

• Major life change: marriage, divorce, death of a spouse, second family
• Multiple changes throughout the will (multiple codicils are confusing and invite interpretation disputes)
• The estate plan has evolved significantly and the original will no longer reflects your intent
• You want to add trust provisions or forced heirship planning that requires restructuring
• You can’t locate the original will to attach the codicil to

A practical rule of thumb: if you’re making more than two or three targeted changes, or if the changes affect the fundamental structure of your estate plan, a new will is usually cleaner and less prone to challenge than a patched original with multiple amendments. The cost of redrafting a will is typically modest compared to the cost of litigation over an ambiguous codicil.

If you have already submitted or filed a copy of your will with your parish probate court, you should also file a copy of your codicil in the same court. Keep a copy of the codicil alongside your will. 

Can Codicils Be Challenged?

It’s possible for a codicil to be challenged just as a will might be challenged and for many of the same reasons.

Common Reasons for Challenging a Louisiana Codicil

• The testator was under undue influence. The person writing the will and codicil cannot be pressured or influenced by a third-party into making any specific inheritance decisions. If a creditor, beneficiary, or other interested person believes that the testator was coerced into including a provision or disinheriting an heir, they could challenge the codicil on grounds of undue influence.
• The will was not executed in accordance with state law. If one of Louisiana’s formal requirements for creating a will and codicil was not fulfilled, the codicil could be challenged. However codicil challenges often have unintended consequences. While they could lead the court to simply dismiss the codicil, they can also lead to the will being scrutinized and cast aside. If the will is discounted in its entirety, the estate could be forced into intestate proceedings.
• The testator was mentally incapacitated. Louisiana law presumes that most adults have the mental capacity to create and amend a will. However, if an interested party furnishes compelling evidence that the testator was not of sound mind when they wrote the codicil, the court could be persuaded to strike the specified amendments.

Even bad-faith challenges to a codicil could be costly. If the petitioner does not prevail in court, the personal representative may have to use the estate’s resources to defend the codicil. Since probate litigation can be costly and time-consuming, a codicil challenge could drain an estate’s resources before beneficiaries ever receive their inheritances.

Contact a Louisiana Succession Attorney

A codicil is not always the best way to update an estate plan. Since codicils can be easily challenged, you should always have an experienced Louisiana estate planning attorney review your revisions before you execute your codicil. Please send Scott Law Group – Estate Counsel a message online, or call us at 504-264-1057 to schedule your consultation.

When a Codicil Is the Right Tool — and When to Start Fresh

A codicil is a formal amendment to an existing will that modifies, adds to, or revokes specific provisions of that will without replacing it entirely. Like the will itself, a codicil is a testamentary instrument — it only takes legal effect at the testator’s death — and it must be executed with the same formalities required for the type of will it amends. A codicil to a notarial will must be executed before a notary and two witnesses. A codicil to an olographic will must be entirely handwritten, dated, and signed by the testator. These requirements reflect Louisiana’s approach to testamentary instruments: the law demands formal execution to protect against fraud, coercion, and confusion about what the testator actually intended.

A codicil is the right tool when the testator wants to make a limited, clearly defined change to an otherwise satisfactory will. Common examples include updating the identity of the executor or succession representative (a change that is necessary when the originally named executor has died, become incapacitated, or declined to serve); modifying a specific bequest (for example, changing the recipient of a particular item of personal property or adjusting the amount of a cash bequest); adding a new specific bequest for a beneficiary who was not included in the original will; or correcting a minor error in the description of property or the identity of a beneficiary. For changes of this character — surgical, specific, and limited in scope — a properly executed codicil is a practical and legally effective solution.

Louisiana’s forced heirship rules must be considered whenever a will amendment reduces what a qualifying forced heir would receive — a codicil that reduces a forced heir’s share below the forced portion is subject to reduction. Louisiana’s forced heirship laws protect certain children from being disinherited — specifically, children under twenty-four years of age and children of any age who are permanently incapable of caring for themselves due to physical or mental infirmity. A forced heir is entitled to receive a minimum share of the estate (the forced portion) regardless of the testator’s wishes. A codicil that purports to disinherit a forced heir or reduce their share below the forced portion is not void outright, but it is subject to reduction — a legal action that restores the forced heir’s minimum share — and this legal vulnerability must be carefully considered when drafting any will amendment.

Writing an entirely new will is the better choice when the changes the testator wants to make are extensive, when there are already multiple codicils creating a complex layered testamentary scheme, or when the testator has moved from another state and the original will was drafted under a different state’s law. Multiple codicils stacked on top of each other create interpretation challenges — when the codicil modifies a provision that was itself modified by a prior codicil, establishing what the testator’s final intent was requires careful legal analysis that can itself be the subject of dispute. A clean, consolidated, properly executed new will that restates the testator’s complete testamentary plan is far more likely to be administered smoothly and to accurately reflect the testator’s intentions than a patchwork of amendments to an aging document.

It is also worth noting that a revocable living trust used alongside the will may be easier to update than repeatedly executing new codicils, since trust amendments (called trust amendments or restatements) do not require the same notarial and witness formalities as a will. Trust amendments in Louisiana can typically be executed with fewer formalities than a notarial will or codicil, making them easier to update as circumstances change — a beneficiary’s situation evolves, property is added or removed from the trust, or the grantor’s estate planning goals shift. For clients whose circumstances change frequently, structuring the estate plan around a revocable trust as the primary dispositive instrument — with a pour-over will as a backstop — can reduce the need for repeated formal codicil execution over the years.

Formal Requirements for a Valid Louisiana Codicil

A notarial codicil to a Louisiana notarial will must be signed by the testator in the presence of a notary public and two competent witnesses, following the same execution formalities required for a notarial will. The testator must declare to the notary and witnesses that the instrument is a codicil to their will, and both the testator and the witnesses must sign in each other’s presence and in the presence of the notary. The notary then executes an attestation clause confirming these formalities were completed. Louisiana courts enforce these requirements strictly — a codicil that fails to satisfy the required execution formalities is invalid, regardless of how clearly it expresses the testator’s intent, and the original will controls as if the codicil had never been executed.

An olographic codicil follows the same rules as an olographic will — it must be entirely handwritten by the testator, dated (day, month, and year), and signed by the testator. Not a single word may be printed, typed, or written by another person — if any portion of the document is not in the testator’s own handwriting, the olographic codicil is invalid. This requirement reflects the purpose of the olographic form: the entirely handwritten nature of the document is itself the evidence of authenticity, substituting for the witnesses and notary required for a notarial instrument. While olographic codicils are convenient in that they require no witnesses or notary, they carry a greater risk of execution errors, and the lack of a notary’s verification means their probate requires an additional step of proof in the succession proceeding.

The codicil must be clearly identified as an amendment to the specific will it modifies, and it should reference the will by date of execution and (ideally) by the notary before whom it was executed, if applicable. A codicil that fails to identify the will it is amending creates genuine uncertainty about which prior testamentary instrument it was intended to modify, particularly when the testator executed multiple wills over the years. This identification requirement is not merely a technical formality — it is the mechanism by which the court understands how to read the codicil in conjunction with the will and how to resolve any conflicts between the two instruments. A clearly drafted codicil that references the original will unambiguously is far less likely to generate succession litigation than one with loose or uncertain identifying language.

A codicil can expressly revoke prior codicils — either all of them or specific identified ones — and attorneys routinely include such revocation language when a new codicil supersedes or conflicts with a prior one. When a codicil is silent about prior codicils, the court must determine whether the new codicil was intended to supersede the earlier one based on the content of the instruments and the principle that later-executed testamentary instruments control over earlier ones to the extent of actual conflict. To avoid this interpretive uncertainty, well-drafted codicils explicitly state whether they revoke all prior codicils, only the specific codicil being replaced, or none of the prior codicils (where the new codicil adds to rather than replaces prior amendments).

Succession is required to probate both the original will and all valid codicils together — the court considers the will and all codicils as a unified testamentary expression when determining the testator’s final dispositions. This means that in the succession proceeding, all codicils must be located, submitted to the court, and probated alongside the original will. A codicil that is lost or not submitted for probate cannot take effect, which underscores the importance of keeping the codicil with the original will and ensuring that the succession representative knows where to find both documents. The court’s role in probating the combined testamentary scheme — identifying conflicts, resolving ambiguities, and determining the testator’s final intent — depends on having all relevant instruments before it.

Common Mistakes With Codicils and How to Avoid Them

One of the most common mistakes people make when they want to amend their will is writing an informal note — sometimes on the will itself, sometimes on a separate piece of paper — that states their changed intentions without meeting the requirements of a valid olographic or notarial codicil. A handwritten note that is not entirely in the testator’s handwriting, that lacks a date, that lacks the testator’s signature, or that was not executed with the required formalities has no legal effect as a testamentary instrument in Louisiana. The original will remains in effect unchanged, regardless of how clearly the note expresses the testator’s desire to change it. Families who discover such notes after a loved one’s death often find themselves unable to give effect to the stated wishes because the informal document fails to meet Louisiana’s strict testamentary execution requirements.

Crossing out or writing over provisions in an existing will — whether the testator does so with the intention of deleting those provisions or changing them — is another mistake that creates serious legal complications. In Louisiana, crossing out will provisions does not constitute a valid revocation of those provisions unless it meets the requirements for a valid revocation under Louisiana law. An attorney reviewing a will with crossed-out text must determine whether the alterations constitute a valid partial revocation or are simply unauthorized markings that have no legal effect, and the answer to that question is not always straightforward. The safer, cleaner, and legally effective approach is always to execute a properly drafted codicil that expressly modifies or revokes the provisions the testator wants to change.

Failing to update beneficiary designations alongside the will is a mistake that frequently undermines the testator’s intent, and it is particularly common when a codicil is used to update a bequest that the testator believes will be controlled by the will. Life insurance policies, retirement accounts (IRAs, 401(k)s), annuities, and payable-on-death bank accounts all pass by beneficiary designation — completely outside the will and the succession process. A codicil that updates a will provision has no effect whatsoever on a beneficiary designation that names a different person. When a testator’s goal is to change who receives a particular asset, they must determine whether that asset passes through the will or through a beneficiary designation, and take the correct legal action accordingly. Attorneys completing a will amendment should always review the client’s complete beneficiary designation picture to ensure the codicil achieves its intended purpose.

Storing the codicil separately from the original will — in a different location, with a different person, or in a safe deposit box whose location is unknown to the executor — creates a significant risk that the codicil will not be found when needed. A codicil that is not submitted for probate in the succession proceeding cannot take effect, and a codicil that is found after the succession has been completed cannot reopen a finalized proceeding in most circumstances. The practical lesson is simple: the codicil should be kept with the original will, and the testator’s succession representative should know exactly where both documents are located. Many estate planning attorneys offer will storage services or advise clients to store testamentary documents with the notary who presided over their execution, both of which help ensure the documents are locatable when needed.

Creating conflicts between codicil and will language — rather than resolving them — is a drafting mistake that experienced estate planning attorneys work hard to avoid. When a codicil modifies a provision of the will without accounting for related provisions that interact with the modified language, the result can be ambiguity or outright conflict about what the testator intended. For example, a codicil that changes the residual beneficiary without addressing related language about how debts and taxes are to be paid from the residual estate may create uncertainty about the testator’s complete intent. Well-drafted codicils are explicit about exactly which provisions of the will are modified and which are left unchanged, minimizing the interpretive work required of the court and the succession representative and reducing the likelihood that family members will dispute the meaning of the combined testamentary scheme.