Codicil
An instrument made in relation to a will, explaining, altering or adding to its dispositions, and deemed to form part of the will (Section 2(b) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925).
Explained
Section 2(b) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 defines codicil as an instrument made in relation to a Will, and explaining, altering or adding to its dispositions, and shall be deemed to form part of the Will. A codicil therefore presupposes a will and is read together with it as one testamentary scheme. Section 3(64) of the General Clauses Act, 1897 likewise provides that will includes a codicil.
Because a codicil is a testamentary instrument, it must be made by a person competent to make a will and executed with the same formalities. For an unprivileged will, Section 63 requires the testator's signature or mark, placed so as to show it was intended to give effect to the writing, and attestation by two or more witnesses. A codicil may revoke a will or part of it: under Section 70 an unprivileged will or codicil can be revoked by marriage, by another will or codicil, by a duly executed writing declaring the intention to revoke, or by burning, tearing or otherwise destroying it with that intention. Under Section 73 a revoked will can be revived only by re-execution or by a codicil executed in the required manner and showing an intention to revive it.
The Act treats a later codicil carefully in probate. Section 225 allows separate probate of a codicil discovered after probate of the will, and a newly discovered codicil that revokes or adds to the appointment of executors is a just cause to revoke or annul the grant under Section 263. A legatee who attests a codicil confirming the will does not lose his legacy (Explanation to Section 67). Many of these rules apply to wills and codicils of Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jainas through Section 57, though under its proviso marriage does not revoke such a will or codicil.
Examiners ask for the definition, whether a codicil can exist without a will, and whether it can revoke or revive a will. A codicil is not a separate schedule to a will; it is part of it.
What the law says
(b) “codicil” means an instrument made in relation to a Will, and explaining, altering or adding to its dispositions, and shall be deemed to form part of the Will;
Section 2(b) defines codicil
Every testator, not being a soldier employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, [or an airman so employed or engaged,] or a mariner at sea, shall execute his will according to the following rules:—
(a) The testator shall sign or shall affix his mark to the will, or it shall be signed by some other person in his presence and by his direction.
(b) The signature or mark of the testator, or the signature of the person signing for him, shall be so placed that it shall appear that it was intended thereby to give effect to the writing as a will.
Execution formalities for unprivileged wills
No unprivileged will or codicil, nor any part thereof, shall be revoked otherwise than by marriage, or by another will or codicil, or by some writing declaring an intention to revoke the same and executed in the manner in which an unprivileged will is herein before required to be executed, or by the burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the same by the testator or by some person in his presence and by his direction with the intention of revoking the same.
Illustrations
(i) A has made an unprivileged will. Afterwards, A makes another unprivileged will which purports to revoke the first. This is a revocation.
Revocation of will or codicil
(1) No unprivileged will or codicil, nor any part thereof, which has been revoked in any manner, shall be revived otherwise than by the re-execution thereof, or by a codicil executed in manner hereinbefore required, and showing an intention to revive the same.
(2) When any will or codicil, which has been partly revoked and afterwards wholly revoked, is revived, such revival shall not extend to so much thereof as has been revoked before the revocation of the whole thereof, unless an intention to the contrary is shown by the will or codicil.
Revival of a revoked will by codicil
(1) If a codicil is discovered after the grant of probate, a separate probate of that codicil may be granted to the executor, if it in no way repeals the appointment of executors made by the will.
(2) If different executors are appointed by the codicil, the probate of the will shall be revoked, and a new probate granted of the will and the codicil together.
Separate probate of a later discovered codicil
Section 3, General Clauses Act
(64) “will” shall include a codicil and every writing making a voluntary posthumous disposition of property;
(65) expressions referring to “writing” shall be construed as including references to printing, lithography, photography and other modes of representing or reproducing words in a visible form; and
(66) “year” shall mean a year reckoned according to the British calendar.]
Section 3(64): will includes a codicil
Example
For example, T makes a will leaving his house to his son. Later he executes and has attested a codicil that also gives his car to his daughter. The codicil is read as part of the will.
For the exam
- Section 2(b) ISA: explains, alters or adds to a will and is deemed part of it.
- Section 3(64) General Clauses Act: 'will' includes a codicil.
- Executed like an unprivileged will: signature and two attesting witnesses (Section 63).
- A codicil can revoke (Section 70) or revive (Section 73) a will.
5 questions in the Law Maker question bank use this term. Practise Family Law questions
Related terms
- WillThe legal declaration of a testator's intention about his property, which he desires to take effect after his death (Section 2(h) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925).
- ProbateThe copy of a will certified under the seal of a court of competent jurisdiction with a grant of administration to the estate of the testator (Section 2(f) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925).
- ExecutorA person to whom the execution of the last Will of a deceased person is, by the testator's appointment, confided. Section 2(c) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925.
- AdministratorA person appointed by competent authority to administer the estate of a deceased person when there is no executor. Section 2(a) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925.
- HeirUnder Section 3(1)(f) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, any person, male or female, entitled to succeed to the property of an intestate under the Act.
Further reading
Checked 6 November 2026. Statutory text is quoted from the Bare Acts library, taken from India Code. See the full glossary.