Delaware Probate Guide | Settled Estate

Delaware probate is the process that proves a will, appoints an executor or administrator, pays the estate's debts in a set order, and passes what is left to the people entitled to it. The State of Delaware has no probate court. The filing office is the Register of Wills of the county where the person died domiciled, and 12 Del. C. § 2501 puts it plainly: in performing the functions of the office, the Register of Wills of each county acts only as a Clerk of the Court of Chancery.

That one sentence shapes everything below. Three counties means three Registers of Wills, in New Castle, Kent and Sussex, with one court sitting behind all of them. The Register takes the petition, admits the will, grants the letters, receives the inventory and the annual account, and mails the notices to creditors and beneficiaries. The Court of Chancery decides what is fought over: a caveat against a will, a review of the proof of a will, and every commission an executor asks to be paid. Find your office in the Register of Wills for your county directory.

Read this page as a map of the proceeding rather than a filing packet. Delaware offers an estate two routes and nothing between them, which is the fact a page built from a neighboring state's template gets wrong. What follows walks the routes, then the appointment, then the steps, then the clocks, then what it costs.

Where You File

12 Del. C. § 1302(a) sends the will to the Register of Wills of the county in which the testator was domiciled at the time of death. Where the testator was not domiciled in Delaware, the will may be proved before the Register of any Delaware county holding goods, chattels, rights, credits, lands or tenements of the deceased. Subsection (b) adds a point worth reading twice: to be effective to prove a transfer of any property or to nominate an executor, a will must be declared valid by admission to probate. A will sitting in a drawer moves nothing.

Letters follow domicile the same way. § 1504(a) grants letters of administration through the Register of the county of domicile. For someone who died domiciled elsewhere, § 1504(b) lets the Register of any Delaware county grant ancillary letters, and the administration first lawfully granted reaches all of the decedent's Delaware estate and excludes the jurisdiction of every other county's Register.

Where the estate is already open in another state and the Delaware asset is land or an account, the question is an out-of-state decedent with Delaware property rather than the domiciliary route below.

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Delaware Gives You Two Routes, and Nothing Sits Between Them

Delaware has no simplified administration, no summary administration and no informal administration. The choice is a sworn affidavit under 12 Del. C. § 2306, or full administration on letters. Anyone can compare the Delaware routes side by side, and the comparison is short because the code names only two.

The small estate affidavit

§ 2306 lets a qualifying person take the decedent's personal estate and distribute it under the will, or under Chapter 5 where there is no will, without waiting for the appointment of a personal representative and without probate of a will. The ceiling moved recently. 85 Del. Laws, c. 281, formerly House Bill 333, approved June 10, 2026, struck $30,000 from the section and wrote in $50,000. Pages written before that date still print $30,000.

Seven conditions in § 2306(a) travel together, and the affiant swears to all of them:

No petition for the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted.
Thirty days have elapsed since the death of the decedent.
The value of the personal estate, other than the property described in § 1901(b) and (c) and other than jointly owned property, does not exceed $50,000.
All known debts of the decedent are paid or provided for.
The surviving spouse's allowance under § 2308 has been paid, provided for, waived, or has expired by lapse of time.
The decedent did not own real estate in Delaware, either solely or as tenants in common.
The affidavit is furnished to whoever owes the money, holds the property or acts as registrar or transfer agent.

Condition six is the one that decides real cases, and it works as a disqualifier rather than as a subtraction. Any Delaware real estate owned solely or in common closes the route at any value. A $12,000 lot plus $20,000 in the bank does not add up to a $32,000 small estate. It is a full administration. Condition three separately measures the personal estate only, so quoting the dollar figure by itself gets the answer wrong in the reader's favor.

Two details worth stating plainly. The route stays open to an estate with a will, because the affidavit distributes in accordance with the decedent's will where one exists. And § 2306(b) sets an order of preference among the people who may swear it: the executor named in the will who is not disqualified under § 1508, then the spouse, a child, a parent, a sibling, a grandchild or a grandparent of the decedent, then a licensed Delaware funeral director. Below that group there is no order of preference.

The mechanics, the county charge for the form and the questions a bank asks live on the $50,000 small estate affidavit page.

Full administration

Everything else runs on letters. 12 Del. C. § 1501 states the rule flatly: no one shall act as the executor or administrator of a domiciliary decedent's estate within Delaware without letters testamentary or of administration granted in accordance with Title 12. So the affidavit is the only way to move a Delaware estate without an appointment, and the rest of this page describes what happens when the affidavit is unavailable.

Who Gets Appointed

Where a will is admitted to probate, § 1502(a) grants letters testamentary to the executor or executors named in it, on any required bond. Where several are named and some have died, failed to give the necessary bond, renounced or become incapacitated, subsection (b) sends the letters to the others named. Where all of them fail that way, or a sole executor does, the Register grants administration with the will annexed.

Where there is no qualifying executor, § 1505(b)(1) sets a ladder of four classes: spouse of the decedent, then children, then parents, then siblings of the whole blood and half blood. Letters go to the first class holding a living member who is not under an incapacity, and within that class to everyone who gives the necessary bond, does not renounce and is not incapacitated. Where every member of that class fails to give the bond, renounces or is incapacitated, § 1505(b)(3) lets those in the class who are not incapacitated agree in writing on someone else, and § 1505(c) sends the question to the Court of Chancery where they cannot agree.

Then comes the clock that catches families off guard. § 1505(d) says that where no person in any of 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 of Wills grants letters to whoever the Register decides. Family priority is not permanent. It lapses on the sixtieth day whether or not anyone knew about it.

Three more appointment rules matter at the counter. § 1508 bars letters to a minor, to a person who is mentally incapacitated, and to a person convicted of a crime disqualifying that person from taking an oath. § 1506 requires an executor or administrator who lives outside Delaware, or a corporation not incorporated here, to file an irrevocable power of attorney with the granting Register before the letters issue, naming that Register as the person who may be served with notices and process. § 1509 has every executor and administrator take and subscribe an oath, affixed to the bond, to perform the duties of the office with fidelity.

Bond is the pleasant surprise. § 1522 requires none before letters, with two exceptions: where the will contains an express requirement of bond, and where the Court of Chancery orders one under § 1524. A bond a will requires may still be dispensed with where the Court determines it is not necessary or desirable. Where bond is required and the amount is unstated, § 1523 has the Register fix it at not less than the best estimate that can be made of the decedent's personal estate, secured by a corporate surety, a pledge of personal property, a mortgage on real estate or other adequate security.

The full role, from the oath through the final account, sits on what the executor has to do.

The Proceeding, Step by Step

Produce the will. § 1301(a) gives anyone holding a document that purports to be a last will 10 days from receiving information of the death to produce and deliver it to the Register of Wills for the county where that holder resides. Subsection (b) makes a willful failure a matter of civil damages to any person aggrieved, and civil contempt after a Court of Chancery order to deliver. The section names no crime.

Petition and prove the will. Proof may be taken without notice to interested persons unless one of them petitions the Court of Chancery for notice under § 1303. A will made self-proved under § 1305, by the testator's acknowledgment and the witnesses' affidavits before an officer authorized to administer oaths, saves the trouble of producing witnesses. Where a witness has died, is serving in the armed forces, is outside the State or is otherwise unavailable, § 1304 accepts proof of that witness's signature, and where no witness signature can be proved it accepts proof of the testator's own.

Letters issue. The Register grants letters testamentary or letters of administration, takes the oath, and files any bond.

Notice to creditors. § 2101(a) has the Register give notice of the granting of letters, carrying the date of the grant, the date of death, and the name and address of the personal representative and of counsel. Subsection (b) requires that notice be posted within 40 days of the grant on the designated county website, in the county courthouse, or both, and also published in one or more newspapers approved by the Register at least 3 times in the same period, not less often than once a week for 3 successive weeks. Where the Register is satisfied that the gross personal estate does not exceed $30,000 and the gross real and personal estate does not exceed $35,000 in the aggregate, the Register may give notice by posting alone. Subsection (c) lets the Register require the cost of posting and publication to be advanced before letters are granted.

File the inventory and appraisal. § 1905(a) allows 3 months after the granting of letters. It goes to the Register who issued the letters, with a copy filed in every county where the decedent owned real estate. It lists all goods and chattels, all debts and credits due or belonging to the decedent, and a general description of every Delaware parcel the decedent died seized of or that transferred by a transfer on death deed under Chapter 2 of Title 25, including each parcel identification number. Each item is valued separately at fair market value as of the date of death. § 1906(a) attaches a personal penalty of $1.00 per day for delinquency, running one month after the Register's notice of it.

One filing here happens even when nobody opens an estate. Where real property passed by joint ownership with right of survivorship or by tenancy by the entireties, § 1905(e) requires the personal representative or the surviving joint tenant to file an affidavit within 3 months after the death, in the county where the property sits, describing the real estate and naming the surviving owner. A family that skipped it meets it again at settlement.

Pay in the statutory order. § 2105(a) ranks claims after administration expenses, fees and commissions are paid. First is the surviving spouse's allowance under § 2308. Then funeral expenses; child support arrears or retroactive support due as of the date of death; reasonable bills for medicine and medical attendance during the last sickness and for nursing and necessaries for it; wages of servants and laborers in household affairs or farm cultivation, capped at one year's wages; taxes imposed by the State; rent for not more than one year; judgments against the decedent; recognizances, mortgages and other obligations of record; obligations and contracts under seal; contracts under hand; and other demands. Subsection (b) allows no preference within a class, and a claim already due takes no preference over one not yet due.

Account, then close. § 2301(a) requires an account to the Court of Chancery every year from the date of the letters until the estate closes and a final account passes. § 2301(c) lets the Register extend the time for accounting by up to 6 months for sufficient cause, or dispense with an account where an affidavit shows no transactions in the year, with an appeal to the Court of Chancery from that decision. When an account is filed, § 2302(b) has the Register mail every beneficiary written notice that it is open for inspection and exception for 3 months, and § 2302(d) refuses to consider an exception filed after that window. § 2311 gives the executor or administrator 1 year from the date of letters to settle the estate, except where circumstances justify a longer period.

The Clocks

Task	Deadline	Clock starts at	Source
Deliver the will to the Register of Wills	10 days	Receiving information of the death	12 Del. C. § 1301(a)
Family priority to be appointed lapses	60 days	Date of death	12 Del. C. § 1505(d)
Post notice of the grant of letters	40 days	Grant of letters	12 Del. C. § 2101(b)
Newspaper publication	3 times, at least weekly for 3 successive weeks	Within the same 40-day period	12 Del. C. § 2101(b)
Inventory and appraisal	3 months	Grant of letters	12 Del. C. § 1905(a)
Affidavit for real property held jointly or by the entireties	3 months	Date of death	12 Del. C. § 1905(e)
Surviving spouse's written demand for the allowance	9 months from death or 6 months from letters, whichever is shorter	Whichever clock runs out first	12 Del. C. § 2308(b)
Elective share petition	6 months	Grant of letters	12 Del. C. § 906(a)
Review of the proof of a will	6 months	Entry of the order of probate	12 Del. C. § 1309(a)
Creditor claims arising before or at the death	8 months	Date of death	12 Del. C. § 2102(a)
Suit on a rejected claim	3 months	Written notice of the rejection	12 Del. C. § 2102(c)
First annual account	1 year, then yearly	Date of the letters	12 Del. C. § 2301(a)
Exceptions to an account	3 months	Register's mailing of the notice	12 Del. C. § 2302(d)
Settlement of the estate	1 year	Date of the letters	12 Del. C. § 2311
Claims barred where no letters ever issue	10 years	Date of death	12 Del. C. § 2109

Those floors put a clean Delaware administration past eight months at the earliest, because the creditor bar runs from the death and cannot be shortened by filing early. Add the 3 months an account stays open for exception and a straightforward estate rarely closes inside a year. How long Delaware probate takes turns the table into a schedule.

What Probate Costs in Delaware

Delaware prices probate by county, and it says so in the statute. 12 Del. C. § 2510 gives the governing body of each county the power to determine the fees charged by the Register of Wills of that county, and § 2511 makes every Register keep, for public inspection, "a printed or written list of the fees then in effect". There is no statewide Delaware probate filing fee and no statewide schedule. The judiciary's own fee index carries schedules for the Supreme Court, the Court of Chancery, the Superior Court, the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Courts, and no Register of Wills entry of any kind.

Each county schedule has three parts. A petition fee of roughly $5 per personal representative. A fee to grant letters, bracketed by value and starting at $25. Then a closing cost taken as a percentage of the net personal estate when the final account passes, which is normally the largest single charge in a Delaware probate and is collected at the end rather than at the counter.

County	Closing charge on the net personal estate	Effective rate
New Castle	1.75% closing cost plus a separate 0.25% technology cost	2.00%
Kent	1.75% of net personal estate, real estate excluded unless directed to be sold	1.75%
Sussex	1.25% of net for adjusting, setting and certifying accounts	1.25%

On a $400,000 personal estate that runs roughly $5,000 to $8,000, against an opening cost under $100. An estimate built from filing fees alone misses almost the whole bill.

Ask the Register for the current list before you budget. § 2511 makes that list public, and two of the three counties publish a schedule carrying no printed revision date, so a figure copied from an old printout can go stale with no signal at all. What a self-filer actually pays, and what each counter will and will not do, sits on filing it yourself.

Who Serves, and What They Are Paid

Delaware publishes no commission percentage, and that absence is the answer rather than a gap in the research. 12 Del. C. § 2305(a) hands the whole question to the court: commissions and attorneys' fees shall be allowed as provided by rule of the Court of Chancery.

The rule is Court of Chancery Rule 192. Subsection (a) allows commissions of personal representatives and the fees of their attorneys in a reasonable amount. Subsection (b) lists eleven things the Court may weigh: time spent, the risk and responsibility involved, the novelty and difficulty of the questions presented, the skill and experience of the personal representative and the attorney, any provisions of the will regarding compensation, comparable rates for similar services in the locality, the character and value of the estate assets, the character and value of assets outside the probate estate that must still be valued and reported on a death tax return, the time constraints imposed, the loss of other business caused by accepting the administration, and the benefits obtained for the estate. It then says commissions and fees are not unreasonable merely because they rest exclusively on hourly rates, exclusively on the value of the probate estate, or exclusively on the value of the assets includible for tax. Rule 192(b) permits a percentage calculation without endorsing a percentage, so a Delaware executor fee published as a flat 2 percent to 4 percent has no source in Delaware law.

Rule 192(d) presumes commissions and fees reasonable unless a beneficiary files an exception to the account under 12 Del. C. § 2302(d), while leaving the Court power to reduce an amount it finds unreasonably high even with no exception filed. The window to object is the 3 months after the Register mails notice that an account has been filed, rather than some general contest period.

Two smaller traps ride along. § 2305(b) still withholds a commission from an executor who has not complied with Chapter 13 of Title 30, the inheritance tax chapter Delaware repealed effective January 1, 1999. The sentence reads like a live requirement and is not one. And § 2305(c) lets the Court reduce commissions and attorneys' fees where the accounts Chapter 23 requires are filed late.

What the Surviving Spouse and Family Keep

Delaware gives the family one figure and one deadline, and saying so plainly serves a reader better than a comforting number.

§ 2308(a) entitles the surviving spouse to cash up to $7,500 out of the estate, which the executor or administrator pays as soon as convenient, and it ranks first in the § 2105 order, ahead of funeral expenses. § 2308(b) then makes that allowance of no effect unless the spouse notifies the Register of Wills of the county where letters were granted, and the executor or administrator, in writing, demanding a specific sum, within 9 months from the date of death or 6 months from the grant of letters, whichever is the shorter period. Read the whichever-is-shorter clause carefully. Where letters issue quickly the 6-month clock binds, and where a family waits more than three months to open the estate the 9-month clock binds.

There is no Delaware homestead exemption, no family allowance beyond that $7,500, and no exempt-property set-aside. The $200,000 principal-residence figure in 10 Del. C. § 4914(c)(1) belongs to bankruptcy and state insolvency, because every operative subsection of § 4914 opens with the words "In any federal bankruptcy or state insolvency proceeding". It reaches neither an ordinary judgment creditor nor a decedent's estate. The nearest thing Title 12 offers is § 1901(b), which keeps the family Bible, the decedent's clothes and the family stores laid in before the death out of the inventory. It awards them to nobody and shields them from no creditor.

Where there is no will, § 502 is the section that surprises people. The surviving spouse takes the first $50,000 of the intestate personal estate, plus one half of the balance of the personal estate, plus a life estate in the intestate real estate, where the decedent left surviving issue all of whom are also the spouse's issue, or left a parent and no issue. Where any surviving child is not also the spouse's child, the spouse takes one half of the intestate personal estate plus the life estate and no $50,000. The spouse takes the entire intestate estate only where no issue and no parent survive. A life estate is not ownership of the house, and the remainder passes under § 503 to the issue per stirpes, then to parents, then to the issue of the parents, then to the next of kin. The details are on who inherits when there is no will.

A spouse left out of a will has a separate claim. § 901(a) gives the surviving spouse of a person dying domiciled in Delaware a right to elect one third of the elective estate, less all transfers to the surviving spouse by the decedent. § 906(a) requires the petition to be filed in the Court of Chancery and delivered to the personal representative within 6 months after the grant of letters, and lets the Court extend the time only on a petition made before the time to elect has expired. Asking after the window closes is too late.

Creditors Get Eight Months, and It Runs From the Death

Delaware runs one claim clock for debts that predate the death, and it starts at the death. 12 Del. C. § 2102(a) bars every claim that arose before or at the death, including a claim of the State and any subdivision of it, unless presented within 8 months of the decedent's death, "whether or not the notice referred to in § 2101 of this title has been given". Publication does not start that clock. Opening the estate early does not shorten it. A known creditor gets no separate actual-notice window, because the section ties the bar to the death rather than to any notice.

Four other clocks sit around that one. A claim arising after the death is barred 6 months after the personal representative's performance is due, or 6 months after the claim arises (§ 2102(b)). A claim the executor rejects is barred forever unless suit is commenced within 3 months of the written rejection, extendable by the executor's consent or by the Court of Chancery to avoid injustice (§ 2102(c)). A deficiency claim on a bond secured by a mortgage dies at 8 months, though the mortgage itself stays foreclosable (§ 2102(e)). And where no letters have been granted within 10 years of the death, every creditor and beneficiary claim is barred except one evidenced by a mortgage or judgment (§ 2109). Recorded mortgages and judgments that were liens at the date of death sit outside the ordinary bar entirely, because § 2103 deems the executor to have notice of them.

Presenting, allowing and rejecting a claim is covered on the eight-month creditor bar page.

Delaware Charges No Death Tax, and Still Wants One Filing

Delaware repealed its estate tax by 81 Del. Laws, c. 52, approved July 2, 2017, which repealed 30 Del. C. §§ 1501 through 1507 and made the repeal effective for estates of decedents dying after December 31, 2017. The published Code now heads that chapter "Estate Tax [Repealed]". The inheritance chapter, 30 Del. C. ch. 13, carries "[Repealed]" in its own heading too.

One filing survived all of it. 12 Del. C. § 2304(b) requires an affidavit in a form approved by the Director of Revenue, filed with the Register of Wills of the county where the real property is located, where no return is required under Chapter 15 of Title 30 and either real property passed by joint ownership with right of survivorship or by tenancy by the entireties, or letters were granted and the decedent owned real property. All three counties charge about $10 for it. The federal estate tax is a separate question that turns on federal thresholds rather than on anything in Title 12.

When the Person Lived Somewhere Else

A will proved elsewhere can be admitted here. § 1307(a) lets the written will of a testator who died domiciled outside Delaware, but who owned real estate or personal property in Delaware, be admitted to probate and recorded here, by filing a verified copy of the will and of the record admitting it to probate in the domiciliary jurisdiction. Where the will has not been admitted there, it may be proved in Delaware under §§ 1302 through 1305.

Sometimes no Delaware administration is needed at all. § 1562 lets anyone who owes money to a nonresident decedent's estate, or holds property or an instrument belonging to it, pay or deliver to the domiciliary foreign personal representative at any time after 60 days from the death, on proof of appointment and an affidavit stating the date of death, that no local ancillary administration or petition for one is pending in Delaware, and that the representative is entitled to payment or delivery. § 1564 stops that cold where a resident creditor of the nonresident decedent has told the holder not to pay or deliver.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which court handles probate in Delaware?

None of them takes the filing. In the State of Delaware you file with the Register of Wills of the county where the person died domiciled, and 12 Del. C. § 2501 says that in performing the functions of the office, the Register of Wills of each county acts only as a Clerk of the Court of Chancery. There are three offices, in New Castle, Kent and Sussex, and one court behind all three. The Register admits the will under 12 Del. C. § 1302, grants the letters, receives the inventory and the annual account, and mails the notices. The Court of Chancery decides the contested pieces, including a caveat under § 1308, a review of the proof of a will under § 1309, and every commission an executor asks to be paid.

How much does probate cost in Delaware?

There is no statewide Delaware probate filing fee. 12 Del. C. § 2510 gives the governing body of each county the power to set the fees charged by the Register of Wills of that county, and § 2511 makes each Register keep the current list posted for public inspection. Each county schedule has three parts: a petition fee of about $5 per personal representative, a value-bracketed fee to grant letters starting at $25, and a closing cost taken as a percentage of the net personal estate when the final account passes. That last part is where most of the money sits. New Castle charges 1.75 percent as a closing cost plus a separate 0.25 percent technology cost, for an effective 2.00 percent. Kent charges 1.75 percent of the net personal estate. Sussex charges 1.25 percent of net for adjusting, setting and certifying accounts.

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, unless it is presented within 8 months of the death, whether or not the notice referred to in § 2101 has been given. Publication does not start that clock, opening the estate early does not shorten it, and a known creditor gets no separate actual-notice window. A claim arising after the death runs on its own 6-month clock under § 2102(b), and a claim the executor rejects is barred forever unless suit is commenced within 3 months of the written rejection under § 2102(c).

Does Delaware have a small estate affidavit?

Yes, and it opens no case at all. 12 Del. C. § 2306 lets a qualifying person collect and distribute the decedent's personal estate on a sworn affidavit, with no petition and no letters. The ceiling is $50,000 of personal estate, raised from $30,000 by 85 Del. Laws, c. 281 (House Bill 333), approved June 10, 2026. Read the conditions together rather than the figure alone. Thirty days must have passed since the death, all known debts must be paid or provided for, the surviving spouse's allowance must be settled, and § 2306(a)(6) requires that the decedent did not own real estate in Delaware, either solely or as tenants in common. Any Delaware real estate held that way closes the route at any value.

Is a bond required of a Delaware executor?

Usually not. 12 Del. C. § 1522 says no bond shall be required of a personal representative before receiving letters, with two exceptions: where the will contains an express requirement of bond, and where the Court of Chancery orders one under § 1524 on the demand of an interested person. A bond a will requires can still be dispensed with if the Court of Chancery determines it is not necessary or desirable. Where bond is required and no amount is specified, § 1523 has the Register fix an amount not less than the best estimate that can be made of the decedent's personal estate, secured by a corporate surety or other adequate security.

How much does a Delaware executor get paid?

Delaware publishes no percentage, and the absence is the answer. 12 Del. C. § 2305(a) delegates the whole question: commissions and attorneys' fees shall be allowed as provided by rule of the Court of Chancery. That rule is Court of Chancery Rule 192, which allows commissions and fees in a reasonable amount and lists eleven things the Court may weigh, including time spent, risk and responsibility, the novelty and difficulty of the questions, any provision of the will about compensation, comparable local rates, and the benefits obtained for the estate. Rule 192(b) says commissions are not unreasonable merely because they rest on hourly rates or on the value of the estate, without endorsing any rate. A Delaware executor fee quoted as a flat 2 percent to 4 percent has no source in Delaware law.

This page describes Delaware law broadly rather than advising on one estate. Confirm every date and dollar figure with the Register of Wills holding the file, or with a licensed Delaware attorney, before you act on it.

Sources:

Title: 12 Del. C. § 2501, Register of Wills is a Clerk of Court of Chancery. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c025/index.html#2501
Title: 12 Del. C. § 2510, Fees. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. 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. § 1301, Production of will; liability. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c013/index.html#1301
Title: 12 Del. C. § 1302, Proving will. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c013/index.html#1302
Title: 12 Del. C. § 1309, Review of proof of will; procedure. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 75 Del. Laws, c. 97, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c013/index.html#1309
Title: 12 Del. C. § 1501, Necessity for letters testamentary or of administration. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c015/sc01/index.html#1501
Title: 12 Del. C. § 1502, Grant of letters testamentary. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 65 Del. Laws, c. 422, § 4; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c015/sc01/index.html#1502
Title: 12 Del. C. § 1505, Persons entitled to letters of administration. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. 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. § 1522, Exception to bond requirement. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 63 Del. Laws, c. 282, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c015/sc02/index.html#1522
Title: 12 Del. C. § 1562, Payment of debt and delivery of property to domiciliary foreign personal representative without local administration. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c015/sc05/index.html#1562
Title: 12 Del. C. § 1905, Inventory and appraisal; filing requirements, form, contents and supporting affidavits; notice of action affecting title. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 85 Del. Laws, c. 212, § 3; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c019/index.html#1905
Title: 12 Del. C. § 2101, Notice to creditors to present claims; publication. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. 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, Delaware Code Online. 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. § 2105, Order of preference of claims against estate. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. 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. § 2301, Rendering of accounts; extension of time; appeal; authority of Register of Wills and Court of Chancery. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 74 Del. Laws, c. 227, § 4; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c023/sc01/index.html#2301
Title: 12 Del. C. § 2302, Notice of filing of account; waiver; exceptions. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 60 Del. Laws, c. 199, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c023/sc01/index.html#2302
Title: 12 Del. C. § 2305, Allowance of commissions and attorneys' fees. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c023/sc01/index.html#2305
Title: 12 Del. C. § 2306, Distribution of decedent's property without grant of letters where estate assets do not exceed $50,000. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 85 Del. Laws, c. 281, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c023/sc01/index.html#2306
Title: 12 Del. C. § 2308, Surviving spouse's allowance. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. 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, Delaware Code Online. 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. § 502, Share of spouse. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 60 Del. Laws, c. 199, § 6; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c005/index.html#502
Title: 12 Del. C. § 901, Right to elective share. Publisher: State of Delaware, Delaware Code Online. Publication Date: 74 Del. Laws, c. 271, § 1; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title12/c009/index.html#901
Title: 85 Del. Laws, c. 281 (House Bill 333), an act amending 12 Del. C. § 2306 to raise the affidavit ceiling from $30,000 to $50,000. Publisher: Delaware General Assembly, Laws of Delaware. Publication Date: Approved June 10, 2026; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://legis.delaware.gov/SessionLaws?volume=85&chapter=281
Title: 81 Del. Laws, c. 52, an act repealing 30 Del. C. §§ 1501 through 1507, the Delaware estate tax. Publisher: Delaware General Assembly, Laws of Delaware. Publication Date: Approved July 2, 2017; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://legis.delaware.gov/SessionLaws?volume=81&chapter=52
Title: Court of Chancery Rule 192, Commissions and Fees, in the Rules of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware. Publisher: Delaware Courts, Court of Chancery. Publication Date: Not listed; 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. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://www.newcastlede.gov/DocumentCenter/View/153/Fee-Schedule
Title: Kent County Register of Wills Schedule of Fees, Rev. 2.5.2026. Publisher: Kent County, Delaware. Publication Date: Revised February 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 Various Fees, Register of Wills schedule. Publisher: Sussex County, Delaware. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://sussexcountyde.gov/various-fees
Title: Fees and Filings, the Delaware Judiciary fee schedule index. Publisher: Delaware Courts. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-10. URL: https://courts.delaware.gov/help/fees/

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