Simplified route
$50,000
Distribution without grant of letters (small estate affidavit) (12 Del. C. 2306); usable 30 days after death.
Eligibility and caveatsDelaware estate administration
Delaware probate: rules, process, costs, executor fees and deadlines
Small-estate limit: $50,000
This guide explains probate in Delaware: Delaware probate is administered by the Register of Wills in each county as an arm of the Court of Chancery. A small estate of personal property under $50,000 may be distributed by affidavit without a grant of letters, and executor commissions are set by Court of Chancery rule rather than by statute.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.
Answer first
Delaware simplified probate route
Up to $50,000; usable 30 days after death. Source: 12 Del. C. 2306.
Distribution without grant of letters (small estate affidavit) (12 Del. C. 2306)Screen a specific Delaware estate with the calculators on the small-estate page and the executor-fee page, or compare states in the full estate navigator.
What the reviewed rules establish
Court cost
Varies locally
Set locally; ask the receiving court.
Delaware sets no statewide statutory probate filing fee. The Register of Wills operates county by county (New Castle, Kent, Sussex) as an arm of the Court of Chancery, and each county Register of Wills publishes its own fee schedule; no single statewide operative figure is published in the Code. Where it is set: County Register of Wills fee schedules (courts.delaware.gov/rowills); 12 Del. C. Chapter 25 (Register of Wills).
Executor compensation
Court-reviewed
No percentage schedule; the court decides what is reasonable. Source: Ct. Ch. R. 192.
Compensation detailCreditor deadline
Multiple triggers
12 Del. C. 2102 (State of Delaware (Delaware Code Online); reviewed August 9, 2026)
Timeline and creditor detailsStatutes read in full for Delaware
Read on the enacting state’s own site, with the date each was read.
| Citation | What reading it established | Read on |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Del. C. § 2102 | Delaware runs eight months from the death itself, whether or not anyone published notice — creditor deadline note | 2026-09-17 |
| 12 Del. C. § 2306 | What Delaware’s $50,000 affidavit route actually requires — small estate route note | 2026-09-17 |
| 12 Del. C. § 2305 | Delaware sets no statutory commission percentage — representative pay note | 2026-09-17 |
Delaware decision map
The four facts that change the Delaware route
Each Delaware answer below links to the page that sets out its source.
| Question | Recorded Delaware answer |
|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Distribution without grant of letters (small estate affidavit) (12 Del. C. 2306) |
| What property and basis count? | personal probate property only; gross value with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet. |
| What is the amount screen? | $50,000 |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 30 days after death; creditor deadlines: separate clocks by triggering event |
| What does the cost record establish? | No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule. |
| What does compensation use? | Reasonable compensation set by the court, measured on the estate accounting. |
Limits and unresolved costs
- Filing fee is county-variable (Register of Wills); no statewide statutory figure exists - modeled as variable per the county-variability doctrine.
- The 2306 value basis excludes 12 Del. C. 1901(b)/(c) property, which the asset model cannot supply, so eligibility near the cap can be indeterminate (valueBasis = gross-less-unmodeled-exemptions).
- Round-one research recorded Rule 192 as an unharvestable 'operative percentage schedule'. Both halves were wrong: Rule 192 sets a REASONABLE-AMOUNT standard with enumerated factors, not percentages, and it harvests fine from the Court of Chancery rules PDF. Corrected centrally after an independent verifier caught it; the earlier UNKNOWN was a research failure, not an indeterminacy.
Continue
What Delaware courts publish
Every link is probed before each release.
- Forms indexDelaware Courts - Register of Wills FormsDelaware Judiciary
- Court resourceDelaware Courts - Register of WillsDelaware Judiciary
- Court resourceDelaware Courts - Locations & ContactsDelaware Judiciary
Limits on court material
- The Register of Wills is an arm of the Court of Chancery and operates separately in each county (New Castle, Kent, Sussex); fee schedules and some forms are county-published.
- No single statewide small-estate form governs the 2306 affidavit; the Register of Wills provides county-level forms and instructions.
Delaware primary sources
- 12 Del. C. 2306 — 12 Del. C. 2306 - Distribution of decedent's property without grant of letters where estate assets do not exceed $50,000
- 12 Del. C. 2305 — 12 Del. C. 2305 - Allowance of commissions and attorneys' fees
- 12 Del. C. 2102 — 12 Del. C. 2102 - Limitations on claims against estate
- Ct. Ch. R. 192 — Rules of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, Rule 192 (Commissions and Fees)
Every quotation, edition label and machine check is on the Delaware source record.
Delaware record: 4/4 verified, 16 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction