diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket.go
index a33c7040e..20a64eab1 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket.go
@@ -1241,6 +1241,23 @@ func resourceAwsS3BucketLifecycleUpdate(s3conn *s3.S3, d *schema.ResourceData) e
 
 	lifecycleRules := d.Get("lifecycle_rule").([]interface{})
 
+	if len(lifecycleRules) == 0 {
+		i := &s3.DeleteBucketLifecycleInput{
+			Bucket: aws.String(bucket),
+		}
+
+		err := resource.Retry(1*time.Minute, func() *resource.RetryError {
+			if _, err := s3conn.DeleteBucketLifecycle(i); err != nil {
+				return resource.NonRetryableError(err)
+			}
+			return nil
+		})
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("Error putting S3 lifecycle: %s", err)
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	rules := make([]*s3.LifecycleRule, 0, len(lifecycleRules))
 
 	for i, lifecycleRule := range lifecycleRules {
diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket_test.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket_test.go
index 38e529b09..221a87fd6 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket_test.go
@@ -566,6 +566,12 @@ func TestAccAWSS3Bucket_Lifecycle(t *testing.T) {
 						"aws_s3_bucket.bucket", "lifecycle_rule.1.noncurrent_version_expiration.80908210.days", "365"),
 				),
 			},
+			resource.TestStep{
+				Config: testAccAWSS3BucketConfig(rInt),
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					testAccCheckAWSS3BucketExists("aws_s3_bucket.bucket"),
+				),
+			},
 		},
 	})
 }