Sussex County Register of Wills Guide

Note: THERE IS NO STATEWIDE DELAWARE PROBATE FILING FEE AND THIS SCHEDULE IS GRADUATED BY ESTATE VALUE. 12 Del. C. § 2510 provides that the governing body of each county determines the fees charged by the Register of Wills of that county, and § 2511 requires each Register to keep the current list posted for public inspection. The judiciary's own fee index lists the Supreme Court, Court of Chancery, Superior Court, Family Court, Court of Common Pleas and Justice of the Peace Court and carries no Register of Wills entry of any kind, which is the primary source for the negative. The three county schedules differ materially and no figure on one may be carried to another. The Sussex County Register of Wills grants letters on a GRADUATED table measured on the value of the estate as bracketed on the county schedule: $0 > $29,999 = $25; $30,000 > $99,999 = $50; $100,000 > $499,999 = $75; $500,000 > $999,999 = $100; Each $500,00 [as printed on the county schedule] = $100.00 = $100. The petition itself is $5.00 for two personal representatives, or $10.00 for more. THE FEE TO OPEN IS NOT THE COST OF THE ESTATE. Most of the money is the percentage charged when the final account is passed, not the bracket paid at the opening, so an estimate built only from the opening fee understates a large estate by orders of magnitude. In this county the closing charge is 1.25% of net, charged for adjusting, setting and certifying accounts. The inventory is $15.00 for seven pages, then $1.00 for each additional page. SUSSEX IS THE CHEAPEST OF THE THREE COUNTIES AT CLOSING AND THE DIFFERENCE IS NOT SMALL: it charges 1.25% of net for adjusting, setting and certifying accounts where Kent charges 1.75% and New Castle charges 1.75% plus a further 0.25% technology cost. The Small Estate Affidavit is $5.00 PLUS $2.00 per page, so the $5 recorded here is the base and the total depends on length. The last bracket row is transcribed verbatim as the county prints it, 'Each $500,00 = $100.00', with the missing digit left uncorrected. Two figures the other counties publish are NULL here rather than assumed: Sussex's schedule carries no separate line for filing a certified death certificate (the closest is 'Filing any paper in the estate folder not specified $1.00') and no line for depositing a will for safekeeping, even though the office runs a will-safekeeping service by appointment. Null means NOT PUBLISHED ON THIS SCHEDULE, not free. Sussex labels its estate-tax affidavit the 'No Delaware Inheritance Tax Due Affidavit' at $10.00 for all estates; Delaware's inheritance tax was repealed effective January 1, 1999, so the name is a survival, not evidence that an inheritance tax exists. Source: https://sussexcountyde.gov/various-fees, read 2026-09-10. Statutory authority: 12 Del. C. § 2510 (each county council sets these fees) and § 2511 (each Register must keep the current list posted).