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Section V   The Revocation and Lapse of Wills and Legacies

Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2022)

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Section V   The Revocation and Lapse of Wills and Legacies

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    828.   Wills and legacies cannot be revoked by the testator except:

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      1.     By means of a subsequent will revoking them either expressly or by the nature of his or her dispositions;

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      2.     By means of a notarial or other written act, by which a change of intention is expressly stated;

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      3.     By means of the destruction, tearing or erasure of a holograph or English will, deliberately effected by the testator or by his or her order, with the intention of revoking it; and in some cases by reason of the destruction or loss of the will by a fortuitous event which has become known to him, as explained in the Third Section of the present Chapter;

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      4.     By his alienation of the thing bequeathed.

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    829.   A will is held to be revoked by the subsequent marriage or divorce of the testator, except in the case mentioned in article 112.

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    Revocation of a will or of a legacy may be demanded:

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      1.     On the ground of the complicity of the legatee in the death of the testator; or by reason of grievous injury done to his or her memory, in the same manner as in the case of legal succession, or, if the legatee hindered the revocation or modification of the will.

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      2.     By reason of the resolutive condition:

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    Without prejudice to the causes for which the validity of the will or legacy may be impugned.

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    The subsequent birth of children to the testator does not effect a revocation.

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    Enmity springing up between him or her and the legatee does not establish a presumption of revocation.

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    (Amended by Acts 34 of 1956 and 4 of 1988)

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    830.   A subsequent will or notarial act, which does not revoke the preceding one in an express manner, annuls only those dispositions which are at variance with it.

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    831.   A revocation contained in a subsequent will retains its full effect, although such will should remain inoperative by reason of the incapacity of the legatee or of his or her refusal to accept.

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    A revocation contained in a will which is void by reason of informality, is also void.

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    832.   In the absence of express dispositions, the circumstances and the indications of the intention of the testator determine whether upon the revocation of a will which revokes another will, the former will revives.

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    833.   Every alienation by the testator of the right of ownership in the thing bequeathed, even in a case of necessity, or by forced means, or with right of redemption reserved, or by exchange, carries with it, unless he or she has otherwise provided, a revocation of the will or legacy for all that has been thus disposed of, even though, if it were voluntary, the alienation be void. But a will or legacy is held to affect property which, though alienated by the testator subsequently to the will, is owned by him or her and in his or her possession at his or her death.

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    834.   A person cannot, otherwise than by the effect of gifts in contemplation of death made by contract of marriage, forego his or her right to dispose of his or her property by will or by gift in contemplation of death, or to revoke his or her testamentary dispositions. Nor can a person subject the validity of any future will to formalities, expressions or signs not required by law.

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    835.   Heirs cannot be excluded from successions, unless the act excluding them is clothed with all the formalities of a will.

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    836.   Every testamentary disposition lapses if the person in whose favour it is made, or his or her children, do not survive the testator.

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    837.   Every testamentary disposition made under a condition which depends on an uncertain event, lapses if the legatee die before the fulfilment of the condition.

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    838.   Conditions which are intended by the testator to suspend only the execution of a disposition, do not prevent the legatee from having an acquired right transmissible to his or her heirs.

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    839.   A legacy lapses if the thing bequeathed perish totally during the lifetime of the testator.

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    The loss of a thing bequeathed which happens after the death of the testator falls upon the legatee, except cases wherein the heir or other holder may be responsible according to the rules applicable generally to things which form the subject of obligations.

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    840.   A testamentary disposition lapses when the legatee repudiates it or is incapable of receiving under it.

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