How much does probate cost in Delaware?
7 Aug 2026
Delaware fixes neither fee — a Court of Chancery rule makes both reasonable and nothing more — and the court cost is set county by county: a small opening band plus a percentage of the net personal estate when you close.
That closing percentage is where the money is, and it is the one number that changes with the county: New Castle charges 1.75% plus a 0.25% technology cost, Kent charges 1.75%, and Sussex charges 1.25%. The opening bands differ too — the same $40,000.00 estate opens at $25.00 in New Castle and $50.00 in Kent or Sussex. Delaware also runs a deemed-consent rule on fees that no other state has: when the account is filed the Register of Wills mails a notice, and a beneficiary who does not file an exception is treated as having agreed the fee was reasonable.
Del. Ct. Ch. R. 192; 12 Del. C. §2305 and §2510 — Delaware Courts and the Delaware Code · Verified 7 Aug 2026
Informational only, not legal advice. Figures verified on the date stamped. Details: /disclaimer/
Work it out on your own number
Delaware is a computed-court-fee state with a twist: the computation has two parts and the second part differs by county. The compensation rows return no number; the court cost does, three times over.
| Opening band — New Castle, personal property under $50,000.00 | $25.00 |
| Opening band — Kent and Sussex, $1.00 to $29,999.00 | $25.00 |
| Opening band — New Castle, $50,000.00 to $99,999.99 | $50.00 |
| Opening band — Kent and Sussex, $30,000.00 up to $100,000.00 | $50.00 |
| Opening band — all three counties, $100,000.00 up to $500,000.00 | $75.00 |
| Opening band — New Castle and Sussex, $500,000.00 up to $1,000,000.00 | $100.00 |
| Closing cost — New Castle, of the net personal estate | 1.75% |
| Technology cost — New Castle, of the net personal estate | 0.25% |
| Closing cost — Kent, of the net personal estate | 1.75% |
| Adjusting, settling and certifying accounts — Sussex, of the net estate | 1.25% |
Worked through: a net personal estate of $40,000.00 pays $825.00 in New Castle ($25.00 to open plus $800.00 to close), $750.00 in Kent ($50.00 plus $700.00) and $550.00 in Sussex ($50.00 plus $500.00). At $250,000.00 it is $5,075.00 in New Castle, $4,450.00 in Kent and $3,200.00 in Sussex — a spread of $1,875.00 on the same estate, decided by nothing but where the person lived.
The closing percentage runs on the net personal estate, which is a narrower base than the estate value — real estate is not counted unless it has to be sold. Sussex percentage is printed on the net estate rather than the net personal estate, and we quote it as printed rather than assuming the counties mean the same thing.
What each part costs
Every row is one figure, one source, one date. Where Delaware fixes no price, or hands the figure to the county, the row says so instead of guessing.
| Fee | Amount or formula | Set by | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney feeOrdinary services | No statutory rate — a reasonable amountJoined by law: Delaware treats the attorney and the representative pay as one pot — one court rule sets the standard for both, with one presumption of reasonableness covering both. §2305(a) defers the whole question to a rule of the Court of Chancery, and Rule 192(a) allows commissions and fees in a reasonable amount with no percentage, no band and no schedule. Rule 192(b) lists twelve things the court may weigh, including the time spent, the risk and responsibility, the novelty and difficulty, the skill and experience of both, what the will says, comparable local rates, the character and value of the estate assets, the value of non-probate assets that still had to be valued for a death tax return, time constraints, business lost by taking the administration on, and the benefits obtained. It also says plainly that a fee is not unreasonable merely for being charged purely by the hour, or purely on the value of the probate estate, or purely on the value of the assets includible for tax. | Court of Chancery rule — a reasonable amount, presumed unless excepted to | Del. Ct. Ch. R. 192(a), (b), (d), (e), with 12 Del. C. §2305 The whole rule set is one PDF; Rule 192 is at pages 223 to 224 · applies to deaths on or after 1 Sept 1996 | 8 Aug 2026 |
| Personal representativeCommissions | No statutory rate — a reasonable amountJoined by law: Delaware treats the attorney and the representative pay as one pot — one court rule sets the standard for both, with one presumption of reasonableness covering both. The commission is governed by the same Rule 192 and the same twelve factors. Two reducers stack on top of it and only one is discretionary: under §2305(c) the court may reduce commissions and fees where the accounts required by chapter 23 are not filed in time, and under §2305(b) no commission at all may be allowed to an executor or administrator who has not complied with the estate tax requirements of chapter 13 of Title 30 — that bar biting one month after the Division of Revenue gives notice of the delinquency. Where part of the estate passes from one representative to another, §1544 stops the commission being allowed twice on the same subject matter. | Court of Chancery rule — a reasonable amount, presumed unless excepted to | Del. Ct. Ch. R. 192, with 12 Del. C. §2305(b) and (c) and §1544 Rule 193 also bars anyone employed in a Register of Wills office from taking a fee on an estate | 8 Aug 2026 |
| Court filing feeRegister of Wills, opening and closing | Set county by countySet county by county. No statewide figure exists — each county publishes its own schedule. §2510 puts the Register of Wills fee with each county governing body, §2511 says the Register keeps the list in the office, and Chancery Rule 204 adds that anything the statute does not cover is fixed by court order. The shape is the same in all three counties and the charge comes twice: a banded opening fee for granting letters, keyed to the personal property, plus a percentage closing fee on the net personal estate. The opening band is $25.00 at the bottom everywhere; the closing percentage is the figure that decides your bill — New Castle 1.75% plus a 0.25% technology cost, Kent 1.75%, Sussex 1.25%. Your county sets which applies. On a net personal estate of $250,000.00 that is $5,075.00 in New Castle, $4,450.00 in Kent and $3,200.00 in Sussex. Also charged: $5.00 to file the petition ($10.00 for two or more representatives in Kent and Sussex), $15.00 to file the inventory plus $1.00 a page beyond the first seven, $20.00 to record and index each account, and a short certificate at $5.00 in New Castle and Kent and $3.00 in Sussex. | The county governing body, under 12 Del. C. §2510 | New Castle County Fee Schedule 2026, Kent County Schedule of Fees rev. 4.3.2025 and Sussex County Code ch. 62 art. I §62-1, under 12 Del. C. §2510 and §2511 County variance is the whole row · the Sussex article is read on the county own linked code host, its sole publication venue | 9 Aug 2026 |
| Newspaper publicationNotice of the grant of letters | $7.00 Register order, plus the paper own chargeThe court places the notice and bills you the actual cost. You do not buy this yourself — the Register of Wills gives the notice, posts it on the designated county website or in the county courthouse within 40 days of the grant, and also runs it in a newspaper the Register approves, at least three times, not less than once a week for three successive weeks. Not fixed by statute — the newspaper sets its own rate, and the Register may require the actual costs of posting and publication to be advanced before letters are granted. What is fixed is the county charge for issuing the order: $7.00 in all three counties, with Sussex adding $2.00 for handbills and posting. Published only if needed: the newspaper drops out entirely where the Register is satisfied on the evidence that the gross personal estate does not exceed $30,000.00 and the gross real and personal estate together do not exceed $35,000.00 — both limbs, not either. Then the posting alone is the notice. | The Register places it; the county charges for the order | 12 Del. C. §2101 and §2102, with the three county Register of Wills schedules Amended 77 Del. Laws c. 229 · Kent schedule prints a named-newspaper advertising line of $35.00, which is one paper price and not a rate the law sets | 9 Aug 2026 |
| BondPersonal representative bond | Not required unless the will or the court requires it
|
No bond unless the will or the court requires it; amount is a statutory floor | 12 Del. C. §1521 to §1528 Chapter 15 subchapter II read in full | 7 Aug 2026 |
The county decides the size of your Delaware court bill, not the state. On a net personal estate of $250,000.00 the difference between New Castle and Sussex is $1,875.00, and nothing about the estate causes it — only where the person lived. Check your own county Register of Wills schedule before you budget.
How the Delaware sources are linked. The Delaware Code is published by the state with per-chapter addresses, though the pattern is not uniform — some chapters are served under a subchapter path. The Court of Chancery publishes its whole rule set as a single PDF, so Rule 192 is cited by number and by page. The three county schedules are the counties own publications; the Sussex article is read on the code host the county itself links to, which is its sole publication venue.
What can change the bill — allowances, waivers and one-off charges
- Short certificate — $5.00 each in New Castle and Kent, $3.00 in Sussex. This is the document banks ask for.
- Inventory — $15.00 to file, plus $1.00 for each page beyond the first seven in Sussex; Kent charges $15.00 again for an amended inventory.
- Recording and indexing each account — $20.00. New Castle adds $50.00 to issue the estate closing letter.
- Late and missed-appointment charges — New Castle charges $100.00 for every twelve-month period a document is overdue and $25.00 for a missed appointment; Kent charges $25.00 for documents more than 30 days late and $25.00 for a no-show.
- Reopening — $500.00 in New Castle to reverse an administrative closing, $250.00 in Kent to reopen an estate closed by rule.
- New Castle also runs a complex case assessment fee of $25.00 to $500.00, and Sussex charges $25.00 for a Register of Wills hearing and $50.00 a day for sitting in a chancery trial.
- These aren’t costs — they’re amounts the law protects for the family before creditors, and they change what an estate actually pays out. The surviving spouse allowance under §2308 is $7,500.00 in cash, and it must be demanded within 9 months of the death or 6 months of the grant of letters, whichever is shorter.
- Exempt articles never enter the inventory at all: the family Bible, the clothes of the person who died, and the family stores laid in before the death. Death benefits designated to someone other than the estate under an insurance policy, pension, bonus, stock option or other employee benefit plan are also outside it, and the person named takes free of the claims of the representative, creditors, legatees and next of kin.
New Castle County Fee Schedule 2026; Kent County Schedule of Fees rev. 4.3.2025; Sussex County Code ch. 62 art. I §62-1; 12 Del. C. §2308 and §1901(b) to (d) — Delaware Code and the county schedules · Verified 9 Aug 2026
What changes YOUR number in Delaware
- Silence on the Register notice is treated as agreement
- This is the Delaware rule with no parallel anywhere else in this database. Rule 192(d) presumes the commissions and the attorney fee reasonable unless a beneficiary files an exception to the account under §2302(d). Rule 192(e) requires the written notice the Register mails to carry the factor list and to close by telling the beneficiary that unless an exception is filed alleging the fees are unreasonable, the beneficiary is deemed to consider them reasonable. The court keeps a power to cut a fee on its own, but the practical position is that the deadline, not the rate, is what a beneficiary has to watch.
- A percentage is expressly allowed to be reasonable
- Rule 192(b) says commissions and fees are not unreasonable merely because they are based exclusively on hourly rates, or exclusively on the value of the probate estate, or exclusively on the value of assets includible for tax. Delaware sets no percentage — but it declines to treat a percentage charge as suspect.
- One reducer is discretionary and the other is absolute
- File the accounts late and the Court of Chancery may reduce the commissions and the attorney fee. Fail to comply with the estate tax requirements of chapter 13 of Title 30 and no commission shall be allowed at all, the bar biting one month after the Division of Revenue notifies the delinquency. The second is not a reduction; it is a forfeiture.
- The closing percentage is the Delaware probate cost
- The opening band tops out at $100.00 on a $600,000.00 estate. The closing charge on the same estate is thousands. Anyone budgeting Delaware probate from the opening fee alone is out by an order of magnitude — and the county, not the estate, sets the multiplier.
- Two value tests have to be met before the newspaper drops out
- The Register may give notice solely by posting only where the gross personal estate does not exceed $30,000.00 and the gross real and personal estate together do not exceed $35,000.00. A modest bank balance with a house behind it fails the second limb even though it passes the first.
- The creditor clock does not run from the notice
- Claims arising before or at the death are barred unless presented within eight months of the date of death, and §2102(a) says so whether or not the §2101 notice has been given. Almost every other state in this database starts its creditor period at publication. Delaware does not.
- Posting can be digital, and that is in the statute
- §2101(b) lets the notice be posted on the designated county website, in the alternative or in addition to the county courthouse. It is the first statutory digital publication route we have recorded.
Estates under $50,000.00 of personal property, with no Delaware real estate
Estates under $50,000.00 may qualify for the affidavit route under §2306, with no grant of letters and no probate of the will. The base is the personal estate only, excluding jointly owned property and the articles §1901(b) and (c) keep out of the inventory. Any Delaware real estate held solely or as tenants in common disqualifies the estate outright.
- Who may act, and this is the widest list in the database: the spouse, any grandparent, any lineal descendant of a grandparent, the personal representative of any of those if deceased, the guardian or trustee of any of them if incapacitated, the trustee of a trust the person created, a funeral director licensed in the state, or the executor named in the will if not disqualified under §1508.
- Preference runs in a fixed order: the named executor first, then the spouse, any child, any parent, any sibling, any grandchild or grandparent, then a licensed funeral director.
- 30 days must have passed since the death, and no petition for the appointment of a personal representative may be pending or have been granted.
- Two things must be settled before you use the route, which no other affidavit route in this database requires: all known debts of the person who died must be paid or provided for, and the surviving spouse allowance under §2308 must have been paid, provided for, waived, or lapsed by time.
- Within 30 days of the death the named executor and next of kin may take possession of the motor vehicles, enter the premises to remove clothing for the burial or viewing, and enter a residential rental unit to remove belongings.
- A holder who pays on the affidavit is discharged as if payment had been made to a personal representative, and the person who receives the property answers to anyone with a prior right and accounts to any representative later appointed. A holder who refuses can be compelled in the Court of Chancery.
- §1508 disqualifies a minor, a person who is mentally incapacitated, and a person convicted of a crime that disqualifies them from taking an oath.
Any Delaware guide still printing $30,000.00 is out of date. The ceiling was raised to $50,000.00 by 85 Del. Laws c. 281 §1, and both the section title and subsection (a)(3) read $50,000.00 in the current text. Note also that $30,000.00 does still appear in Delaware probate law — as the first limb of the publication test in §2101(b), which is a different rule entirely.
12 Del. C. §2306, §2307 and §2308, read with §1508 and §1901 — Delaware Code · Verified 9 Aug 2026
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Delaware probate cost questions
How much does an executor get paid in Delaware?
A reasonable amount, set by Court of Chancery Rule 192 rather than by any percentage in the code. The rule lists twelve things the court may weigh, including the time spent, the risk and responsibility, the difficulty, the skill and experience involved, what the will says, comparable local rates, the size and character of the estate, and what the administration achieved. A commission is not unreasonable merely for being charged purely by the hour or purely as a percentage of the estate.
Does Delaware set probate attorney fees by statute?
No. Section 2305(a) hands both the commissions and the attorney fees to a rule of the Court of Chancery, and Rule 192 sets no figure. One rule and one set of factors covers the attorney and the personal representative together. In practice the fee stands unless a beneficiary files an exception after the Register of Wills mails notice that the account has been filed — silence is deemed agreement.
What does it cost to file for probate in Delaware?
It depends on the county, and there are two charges. A banded opening fee for granting letters, keyed to the personal property and starting at 25 dollars in all three counties, and a percentage closing fee on the net personal estate: New Castle 1.75 per cent plus a 0.25 per cent technology cost, Kent 1.75 per cent, Sussex 1.25 per cent on the net estate as printed. On a net personal estate of 250,000 dollars that is 5,075 dollars in New Castle, 4,450 dollars in Kent and 3,200 dollars in Sussex.
Who pays for the creditors notice in Delaware?
The Register of Wills places it and may require the actual costs to be advanced before letters are granted. The county charge for issuing the order is 7 dollars in all three counties; the newspaper own price is not fixed by the state. The notice is posted on the county website or in the courthouse within 40 days and runs in an approved newspaper at least three times over three successive weeks — unless the gross personal estate is 30,000 dollars or less and the gross real and personal estate together are 35,000 dollars or less, in which case posting alone is enough and the newspaper cost disappears.
What is the small estate limit in Delaware?
50,000 dollars of personal estate, excluding jointly owned property, and only where the person owned no Delaware real estate solely or as tenants in common. Thirty days must have passed, no petition for a personal representative may be pending, and the known debts and the 7,500 dollar surviving spouse allowance must already be paid or provided for. A relative, the named executor, or a licensed funeral director can act on a sworn affidavit with no probate at all.
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown. The Delaware Code is published by the state, the Court of Chancery publishes its rules as a single PDF, and the three county schedules are published by the counties themselves.
- Attorney fee and commissions — Del. Ct. Ch. R. 192, with 12 Del. C. §2305 and §1544 courts.delaware.govVerified 8 Aug 2026 · Rule 192 at pages 223 to 224 of the full rule set, tab dated 6.1.2026 · Chancery amended its rules in May 2026 and republishes the whole PDF, so this is re-opened and re-read annually
- Court cost, New Castle County — New Castle County Register of Wills Fee Schedule 2026 newcastlede.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · the schedule as printed has no band covering 5,500,000 to 5,999,999.99 dollars; we quote it as printed and do not fill the gap · annual re-check
- Court cost, Kent County — Kent County Register of Wills Schedule of Fees, rev. 4.3.2025 kentcountyde.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · the only one of the three served as a direct stable state-or-county link · annual re-check
- Court cost, Sussex County — Sussex County Code ch. 62 art. I §62-1 ecode360.comVerified 9 Aug 2026 · adopted 1981, amended in its entirety 2004 by Ord. 1657 · read on the code host the county itself links to, its sole publication venue, with the ordinance number and adoption dates printed here so the citation stands alone
- The authority for the county schedules — 12 Del. C. §2510 and §2511, with Del. Ct. Ch. R. 204 and R. 205 delcode.delaware.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · anything a county schedule does not cover is fixed by court order · annual re-check
- Publication — 12 Del. C. §2101 and §2102, with the three county Register of Wills schedules delcode.delaware.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · amended 77 Del. Laws c. 229 · the 7 dollar Register order is a county charge; the Kent named-newspaper line is one paper price and is not printed here as the cost of publishing
- Bond — 12 Del. C. §1521 to §1528 delcode.delaware.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · chapter 15 subchapter II read in full · annual statutory re-check
- Small estate — 12 Del. C. §2306, §2307 and §2308, with §1508 and §1901 delcode.delaware.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · the ceiling was raised from 30,000 to 50,000 dollars by 85 Del. Laws c. 281 §1 · annual statutory re-check
Researched and verified by John Terra · Methodology
This page is information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws and fee schedules change; every figure here was verified on the date stamped beside it. For advice about your own situation, consult an attorney licensed in Delaware. Full terms: /disclaimer/ · Privacy
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