Delaware Creditor Claims

A Delaware creditor has 8 months from the date of death to present a claim. 12 Del. C. § 2102(a) bars everything that arose before or at the death after that, including a claim of the State, and the subsection says the bar applies whether or not the Register of Wills ever gave notice of the grant of letters.

Every rule below was read on September 10, 2026 in Title 12 and Title 25 of the Delaware Code at delcode.delaware.gov, in the Rules of the Court of Chancery published by the Delaware Judiciary, and in the fee schedule each of the three Registers of Wills publishes for its own county. Delaware has no probate court, so a claim filed with a court office goes to the Register of Wills of the county where letters were granted, and the directory of all three offices says which one that is. This page sets out how Delaware law reads rather than how it applies to one estate, so confirm your own dates with the Register holding the file or with a licensed Delaware attorney.

The Bar Counts From the Death, Not From Any Filing

The Delaware creditor window does not start when a notice is published, and a page that says otherwise is describing some other state's code.

12 Del. C. § 2102(a) reaches all claims against a decedent's estate that arose before or at the death, including claims of the State and any subdivision of it, whether due or to become due, absolute or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, and founded on contract, tort or other legal basis. Unless presented as § 2104 provides within 8 months of the death, they are barred against the estate, against the personal representative, and against the heirs and devisees. Two qualifiers sit inside that same sentence. Debts of which notice is presumed under § 2103 are excepted from the bar entirely. And a claim that another statute of limitations has already killed stays dead, because the subsection reaches only claims not barred earlier.

The consequence runs in both directions. A family that waits three months to open the estate has spent three months of the creditor period rather than postponing it. A creditor waiting for a published notice before doing anything is watching a clock that started at the funeral.

Nothing in the statute gives a known or reasonably ascertainable creditor a second window measured from actual notice. That mechanism is common elsewhere and Delaware does not have it, so there is no later date to compute and no argument under Title 12 that a creditor the estate should have found gets extra time.

What the Register's Notice Actually Does

The notice still matters, and knowing what it is keeps a creditor from misreading it as the start of something.

Under 12 Del. C. § 2101(a) the Register of Wills gives notice of the granting of letters. The notice states the date letters were granted, the date of the decedent's death, and the name and address of the personal representative and of counsel, if there is any. § 2101(b) requires it to be posted within 40 days from the grant of letters on the designated county website, in the county courthouse, or both, in the county where the decedent resided at death, or, for a nonresident decedent, in the county that granted letters. The same subsection requires publication in one or more newspapers approved by the Register at least 3 times inside that period, no less than once a week for 3 successive weeks.

One estate size skips the newspaper. Where the Register determines from satisfactory evidence at the time letters are granted that the gross personal estate does not exceed $30,000 and that the gross real and personal estate does not exceed $35,000 in the aggregate, § 2101(b) lets the Register give notice by posting alone. § 2101(c) lets the Register require the actual costs of posting and publication to be advanced before letters are granted, and requires the Register to note the giving of notice and its form in the docket.

The subsection creditors overlook is § 2101(d). The Register sends a copy of the notice to the State Treasurer within 40 days from the grant of letters, and the Treasurer, within 40 days of receiving it and at least monthly, forwards the information it contains, in a convenient or summary form, to each state agency that requests it without charge. State agencies do not depend on reading a newspaper. They are on a mailing route.

How a Claim Is Presented

A phone call to the executor presents nothing, and neither does a bill still addressed to the decedent. 12 Del. C. § 2104 names the methods.

Under § 2104(1) a claimant may deliver or mail a written statement of claim to the personal representative indicating its basis, the name and address of the claimant and the amount claimed. Or the claimant may file a written statement of claim with the Register of Wills, in the form prescribed by rule of the Court of Chancery. The claim is presented on the first to occur of the personal representative receiving the statement or the claim being filed with the Register. A claim not yet due states the date it will become due. A contingent or unliquidated claim states the nature of the uncertainty. A secured claim describes the security. Failing to describe the security, the uncertainty or the due date correctly does not invalidate the presentation.

§ 2104(2) opens a second door. A claimant may commence a proceeding against the personal representative in any court where the representative may be subject to jurisdiction, so long as the proceeding is commenced inside the time limited for presenting the claim. Where a proceeding against the decedent was already pending at the death, no presentation of claim is required for the matters claimed in it.

Court of Chancery Rule 191 sets out what a statement of claim filed with the Register has to contain. Nine items: the name of the deceased; the name and address of the claimant; the amount of the claim; a statement of the basis of the claim; a copy of any written obligation signed by the decedent, if available; a statement of whether the debt is due or not yet due, with the due date if it is not; a statement of whether the claim is contingent or unliquidated, with the nature of the uncertainty; a statement of whether the claim is secured or unsecured, with the security described if it is; and a statement that the claim is being filed within the time limitation of 12 Del. C. § 2102.

That last item is worth reading twice. The rule asks the claimant to assert on the face of the filing that the 8 months have not run.

What Each Register of Wills Charges

Delaware sets no statewide filing fee. 12 Del. C. § 2510 says the governing body of each county determines the fees charged by the Register of Wills of that county, and § 2511 requires every Register to keep a printed or written list of the current fees in the office for public inspection. The three published schedules were read on September 10, 2026.

Filing with the Register is the more formal route and it produces a docket entry. Delivering the written statement to the personal representative costs nothing and, under § 2104(1), presents the claim just as well if it lands first.

Debts the Executor Is Deemed to Know About

12 Del. C. § 2103 carves a narrow category out of the whole scheme, and its edges are sharp.

An executor or administrator is deemed to have notice only of mortgages, and of judgments that would be liens against real estate at the date of the decedent's death, where those mortgages and judgments are of record in the county of this State in which letters were granted. The exception to the exception is an indexing failure: the presumption falls away where the instrument was never inserted in the general indices of the office in which it should have been recorded. Because § 2102(a) excepts these debts, a recorded mortgage or a docketed judgment lien is not lost by sitting quiet through the 8 months.

The parenthesis inside § 2103 is the part that catches people. The section covers mortgages but not the bonds accompanying such mortgages. The personal obligation and the security travel separately from there. § 2102(e)(1) bars any claim for a deficiency or otherwise on a bond secured by a mortgage on real estate once 8 months have run from the death. § 2102(e)(2) then says that failing to present that claim does not invalidate the bond so as to prevent foreclosure of the mortgage at any time afterwards, though no claim may be asserted against the estate on or by reason of the bond. The lender keeps the house as a remedy and loses the family as one.

Rejection, and the Three Months That Follow

A presented claim is not an allowed claim. Where the executor or administrator rejects one, 12 Del. C. § 2102(c) bars it forever unless an action or suit is commenced within 3 months after the personal representative has notified the claimant of the rejection by a writing delivered to the claimant in person or mailed to the claimant's last address known to the representative.

Two extensions exist and both are narrow. For a claim that is not presently due, or that is contingent or unliquidated, the personal representative may consent to an extension of the 3 months, and the Court of Chancery may order one on petition to avoid injustice. Neither extension may run beyond the applicable statute of limitations. A creditor holding a rejection letter on an ordinary liquidated debt has three months and no statutory route to more.

What the Bar Does Not Reach

Three carve-outs live in the rest of § 2102.

• Legacies and shares. § 2102(d) says subsections (a), (b) and (c) do not apply to claims for legacies or shares of an estate. A beneficiary chasing a distribution is not a creditor on this clock.
• Liability insurance. § 2102(f) says nothing in the section affects or prevents, to the limits of the insurance protection only, a proceeding to establish liability of the decedent or the personal representative for which the decedent is protected by liability insurance. A car accident claim can still be pursued against the policy.
• Older estates. § 2102(g) leaves claims against an estate in which letters were granted before the effective date of the chapter governed by the section as it read then.

An Allowed Claim Still Waits Its Turn

Getting inside the 8 months settles whether a claim survives, not whether it gets paid.

12 Del. C. § 2105(a) puts the payment order after all administration expenses, fees and commissions, and then runs twelve rungs, beginning with the surviving spouse's allowance under § 2308 and funeral expenses. § 2105(b) closes it: no claim gets preference over another claim of the same class, and a claim that is due and payable gets no preference over claims not yet due. The full ladder, and the reason the spouse's allowance sits above the funeral home, belongs with which claims outrank which.

Two sections help the personal representative who has to work that ladder. Under § 2106, an executor or administrator who cannot decide between two or more creditors which takes preference may petition the Court of Chancery, have the parties summoned, and get the order determined by the Court; on complying with that determination the petitioner and the sureties are discharged from further liability for the preference. Under § 2107, where more than 3 months have passed since the grant of letters and a claim of higher preference has not yet been presented, paying a claim of lower preference is allowed.

Deciding to reject rather than pay is a fiduciary act with its own exposure, which is why it belongs with what the executor has to do rather than being a private judgment call.

When the Personal Estate Runs Out

Delaware real estate is not automatically available to pay debts. It takes a petition.

12 Del. C. § 2701(a) lets the executor or administrator, where the personal estate is not sufficient to pay the decedent's debts, petition the Court of Chancery of a county holding real estate of the decedent for an order to sell the whole or part of it. § 2701(b) requires written notice of the intention to present the petition, and of the day and place, at least 10 days in advance, to the parties interested, to the guardians of any minor parties, and to the tenants in possession of the premises to be sold. § 2701(c) handles real estate in more than one county: the petition may go to any of them, the Court may order as to Delaware real estate anywhere in the State, the proceedings as to another county are certified and recorded there, and the sale itself is conducted where the land sits.

§ 2702 gives a creditor a lever of its own. A creditor may apply to the Court of Chancery of the county where letters were granted for a citation to the executor or administrator to appear and show cause why the creditor should not present a § 2701 petition. The citation is served at least 10 days before its return. Where the hearing shows a deficiency of assets to pay the debts, and that the creditor will be remediless without a sale, the Court may order the representative to present the petition by a date it fixes. § 2703 then requires the representative to exhibit to the Court, on oath, a true account of all the personal estate and of every outstanding debt that has come to their knowledge, along with the § 1905 inventory or a certified copy of it.

Property that left the estate by a transfer on death deed is reachable too. 25 Del. C. § 215(a) lets the estate enforce liability against it to the extent the probate estate is insufficient to satisfy an allowed claim or a statutory allowance to a surviving spouse or child. § 215(b) apportions that liability among multiple such properties in proportion to their net values at the death, and § 215(c) requires the proceeding to be commenced no later than 8 months after the death.

The Estate Nobody Opened

Where nothing happens at all, two rules answer the question from opposite ends.

12 Del. C. § 2109 closes it out. If no letters have been granted on a person's estate within 10 years from the date of death, all claims of creditors and of persons otherwise beneficially interested are barred afterwards, except those evidenced by a mortgage or a judgment, which stay governed by the law applicable to mortgages and judgments.

A creditor who does not want to wait for the family has a faster route. 12 Del. C. § 1505(e) says any interested person may petition the Register of Wills of a proper county for the appointment of an administrator. § 1505(b) sets the priority classes, running spouse, then children, then parents, then siblings of the whole and half blood. § 1505(d) then says that where nobody in those classes is living and free of incapacity, or where no petition for administration is filed within 60 days from the date of death, the Register grants letters to whomever the Register in their discretion determines. Sixty days of silence is enough to put the question in front of the office.

The Claim Families Do Not Expect

The State is a creditor here like any other, and it is one that already knows about the death.

Delaware runs Medicaid estate recovery through 25 Del. C. ch. 50, administered by the Department of Health and Social Services. The recovery is probate-only in scope, and § 5001(c) defines the estate for that purpose as all real property plus the personal property that constitutes assets of the individual's estate as described in Chapter 19 of Title 12. § 5003 conditions recovery on the death of the recipient and, where a surviving spouse was living in the home on a continuous basis, on that spouse's death as well, and on no protected child, minor child or caregiving relative living in a home a lien attached to. Because it is a claim of the State, § 2102(a) bars it 8 months after the death the same as a hospital bill. The width of the recovery, the lien mechanism and the hardship waiver belong with Delaware Medicaid estate recovery.

Where This Sits on the Calendar

The 8 months from the death is the floor under everything else. A personal representative has 1 year from letters to settle the estate under 12 Del. C. § 2311, and the surviving spouse has the shorter of 9 months from the death or 6 months from letters to demand the § 2308 allowance in writing. Those figures and the rest of the sequence are laid out in how the claim period shapes the calendar.

When to Bring in a Delaware Attorney

Most Delaware estates work through these sections without help. Call a licensed Delaware probate attorney when:

• the claims on file look larger than the assets, because the twelve classes of § 2105 then decide who is paid and who is not
• you are inclined to reject a claim, since the answer is a lawsuit inside 3 months rather than a letter
• a claim is contingent, unliquidated or secured and the amount to allow is in dispute
• the personal estate will not cover the debts and a § 2701 petition to sell real estate is coming
• a creditor surfaces after 8 months arguing that some other limitations period, or the insurance carve-out in § 2102(f), keeps the claim alive
• the decedent received long-term care under Delaware Medicaid, because the Department's claim and any recorded lien run on rules of their own
• a transfer on death deed moved the house and the probate estate cannot cover an allowed claim

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do creditors have to file a claim against a Delaware estate?

Eight months from the date of death. 12 Del. C. § 2102(a) bars every claim that arose before or at the death, including a claim of the State or any subdivision of it, against the estate, the personal representative and the heirs and devisees, unless the claim is presented under § 2104 within 8 months of the death. The subsection adds that the bar applies whether or not the notice of the grant of letters under § 2101 has been given, so nothing about the family's timing moves the date. A claim already barred earlier by another statute of limitations dies on that earlier date instead.

Does the notice to creditors start the Delaware claim period?

No. Delaware runs no publication-triggered claim window and no separate actual-notice window for a known creditor. The Register of Wills posts notice of the grant of letters within 40 days on the designated county website, in the county courthouse, or both, and publishes it in one or more approved newspapers at least 3 times in that same period under 12 Del. C. § 2101(b). The 8-month period in § 2102(a) counts from the death no matter what the Register did or when.

How does a creditor present a claim in Delaware?

Two ways, under 12 Del. C. § 2104(1). The claimant may deliver or mail a written statement of claim to the personal representative giving the basis of the claim, the claimant's name and address and the amount claimed. Or the claimant may file a written statement of claim with the Register of Wills in the form prescribed by rule of the Court of Chancery. The claim is presented on the first of those two events to occur. § 2104(2) adds a third route: commencing a proceeding against the personal representative in a court with jurisdiction over them, so long as the proceeding starts inside the same period.

What does a Delaware Register of Wills charge to file a statement of claim?

Each county sets its own figure, because 12 Del. C. § 2510 gives the fee-setting power to the governing body of each county. Read on September 10, 2026, New Castle County charges $20 to file a Statement of Claim, plus a $10 returned Statement of Claim fee charged after a second attempt at filing. Kent County charges $30.00 including the first 10 pages, $2.00 per additional page, and $10.00 to refile the same claim. Sussex County charges $5.00, plus $1.00 for each additional page. § 2511 requires every Register to keep a current fee list in the office for public inspection.

What happens if a Delaware executor rejects a claim?

The clock gets much shorter. Under 12 Del. C. § 2102(c) a claim that is not otherwise barred and that the executor or administrator has rejected is barred forever unless an action or suit is commenced within 3 months after the personal representative notified the claimant of the rejection in writing, delivered in person or mailed to the claimant's last address known to the representative. For a claim that is not presently due, or that is contingent or unliquidated, the personal representative may consent to an extension, and the Court of Chancery may order one on petition to avoid injustice. No extension may run beyond the applicable statute of limitations.

Are recorded mortgages and judgments barred after 8 months in Delaware?

No, and the split matters. 12 Del. C. § 2103 says an executor or administrator is deemed to have notice of mortgages and of judgments that would be liens against real estate at the date of death, where they are of record in the county in which letters were granted, unless they were not inserted in the general indices. § 2102(a) excepts those debts from the 8-month bar. The bond that accompanies a mortgage is treated differently: § 2103 excludes it, and § 2102(e) bars a deficiency claim on such a bond after 8 months while leaving the mortgage itself foreclosable.

Can a Delaware creditor force an estate to be opened?

Yes. 12 Del. C. § 1505(e) says any interested person may petition the Register of Wills of a proper county for the appointment of an administrator, and § 1505(d) lets the Register grant letters at the Register's discretion where no petition for administration is filed within 60 days from the date of death. A creditor who needs real estate sold has a second route in § 2702, which lets a creditor apply to the Court of Chancery for a citation ordering the personal representative to petition for a sale.

Does a Delaware transfer on death deed put the house beyond creditors?

No. 25 Del. C. § 215(a) says that to the extent the transferor's probate estate is insufficient to satisfy an allowed claim against the estate or a statutory allowance to a surviving spouse or child, the estate may enforce that liability against property transferred at death by a transfer on death deed. Where more than one property passed that way, § 215(b) apportions the liability among them in proportion to their net values at the death. § 215(c) gives the estate 8 months from the death to commence the proceeding, the same outer figure as the claim bar itself.

Related Guides

• The Delaware order of preference
• The Delaware probate timeline
• Delaware executor duties
• Delaware Registers of Wills by county

Sources:

• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2101, Notice to creditors to present claims; publication. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 77 Del. Laws, c. 229, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c021/index.html#2101
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2102, Limitations on claims against estate. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 81 Del. Laws, c. 150, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c021/index.html#2102
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2103, Debts of which notice is presumed. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c021/index.html#2103
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2104, Manner of presentation of claims. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c021/index.html#2104
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2105, Order of preference of claims against estate. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 288, § 6; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c021/index.html#2105
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2106, Petition to Court of Chancery to determine order of preference. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c021/index.html#2106
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2107, Payment of claims after 3 months without notice of claim of higher priority. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c021/index.html#2107
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2109, Barring of claims against estates when no letters have been granted within 10 years from death. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c021/index.html#2109
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 1505, Persons entitled to letters of administration. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c015/sc01/index.html#1505
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2308, Surviving spouse's allowance. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 75 Del. Laws, c. 189, § 2; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c023/sc01/index.html#2308
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2311, Time for settling estate; accounting for interest or earnings pending settlement. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c023/sc02/index.html#2311
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2510, Fees. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 64 Del. Laws, c. 76, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c025/index.html#2510
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2511, Posting of fee list. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c025/index.html#2511
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2701, Petition for sale of realty to pay decedent's debts; notice. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c027/index.html#2701
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2702, Application by creditor to compel sale of realty; procedure. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c027/index.html#2702
• Title: 12 Del. C. § 2703, Proof in action to compel sale of realty. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 12. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c027/index.html#2703
• Title: 25 Del. C. § 215, Liability for creditor claims and statutory allowances. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 25. Publication Date: 85 Del. Laws, c. 212, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c002/index.html#215
• Title: 25 Del. C. § 5001, Definitions (Medicaid estate recovery). Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 25. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 545, §§ 1, 2; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c050/index.html#5001
• Title: 25 Del. C. § 5003, Estate recovery. Publisher: State of Delaware, The Delaware Code Online, Title 25. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title25/c050/index.html#5003
• Title: Rules of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, Rule 191 (Presentation of Claims Against an Estate to the Register of Wills). Publisher: Delaware Judiciary, Court of Chancery. Publication Date: Added, effective Dec. 25, 1974; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://courts.delaware.gov/forms/download.aspx?id=160908
• Title: New Castle County Register of Wills Fee Schedule. Publisher: New Castle County, Delaware, Register of Wills. Publication Date: Not listed; PDF modified 2026-06-17, accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://www.newcastlede.gov/DocumentCenter/View/153
• Title: Kent County Register of Wills Schedule of Fees, Rev. 2.5.2026. Publisher: Kent County, Delaware, Register of Wills. Publication Date: Rev. 2.5.2026; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://www.kentcountyde.gov/files/sharedassets/public/v/1/content-publishers/wills/wills-pdf/schedule-of-fees-rev.-2.5.2026.pdf
• Title: Sussex County Register of Wills, Various Fees. Publisher: Sussex County, Delaware, Register of Wills. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://sussexcountyde.gov/various-fees

It is not legal advice.