Court of Chancery Rule 192 governs: commissions of personal representatives, and the fees of the attorneys who represent them, shall be allowed in a reasonable amount. Rule 192(b) lists the factors used to fix a reasonable figure — time spent, risk and responsibility, novelty and difficulty of the questions, skill and experience, any will provision on compensation, comparable local rates, and the character and value of the estate assets — and provides that commissions and fees are not unreasonable merely because based on hourly rates, on the value of the probate estate, or on the value of assets. Delaware publishes no percentage schedule; the amount is set case-by-case by the court.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
Case details
Your working estimate
Delaware estate snapshot
Gross probate propertyNot yet counted
Court chargeSet locallyDelaware probate filing fees are set at the county level by each Register of Wills (New Castle, Kent, Sussex) acting as an arm of the Court of Chancery; there is no statewide statutory opening-fee figure. Fees typically scale with estate value under each county's published schedule. Apply the county-variability doctrine: the statewide figure is an honest unknown with an official Register of Wills pointer.
Scheduled executor compensationMore information needed2 asset entries have no value entered.Court of Chancery Rule 192 governs: commissions of personal representatives, and the fees of the attorneys who represent them, shall be allowed in a reasonable amount. Rule 192(b) lists the factors used to fix a reasonable figure — time spent, risk and responsibility, novelty and difficulty of the questions, skill and experience, any will provision on compensation, comparable local rates, and the character and value of the estate assets — and provides that commissions and fees are not unreasonable merely because based on hourly rates, on the value of the probate estate, or on the value of assets. Delaware publishes no percentage schedule; the amount is set case-by-case by the court.
This route check is general information, not legal advice. It does not test every eligibility condition, creditor issue, will provision, local fee, or asset-title fact.
How Delaware executor compensation works
In Delaware, the personal representative (executor) is the person the court appoints, or the will nominates, to administer the estate. Delaware compensation is governed by state statute and, where the statute permits, by the terms of the will or a court order, so the lawful Delaware fee is whatever those authorities set — not a national rule of thumb.
Delaware does not set a statewide percentage schedule.
The amount is not computable from estate value alone. This page therefore publishes no percentage result; it reports the reasonable-compensation standard the reviewed record supports instead.
What this state does not set
Delaware does not set one statutory percentage to multiply by the estate. Do not substitute a neighboring state's rate or an informal fee table. The amount depends on the services and accounting in the particular administration, and the will may affect the compensation analysis where the governing rule allows it.
The governing compensation standard
Rule 192. Commissions and Fees (a) Commissions of personal representatives, and fees of the attorneys who represent them, shall be allowed in a reasonable amount. (b) In determining what constitutes reasonable commissions and fees, consideration may be given to the 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 which are not part of the probate estate but which must be valued and reported on any federal, state, local, or foreign death tax return, the time constraints imposed upon the personal representative and the attorney, the loss of other business necessitated by acceptance of the administration, and the benefits obtained for the estate by the administration.
How the amount is fixed
Court of Chancery Rule 192 governs: commissions of personal representatives, and the fees of the attorneys who represent them, shall be allowed in a reasonable amount. Rule 192(b) lists the factors used to fix a reasonable figure — time spent, risk and responsibility, novelty and difficulty of the questions, skill and experience, any will provision on compensation, comparable local rates, and the character and value of the estate assets — and provides that commissions and fees are not unreasonable merely because based on hourly rates, on the value of the probate estate, or on the value of assets. Delaware publishes no percentage schedule; the amount is set case-by-case by the court.
Keep the estate accounting, time and task log, receipts, and any will or compensation agreement together. Before taking a fee, ask the Court of Chancery (Register of Wills) how compensation is presented for review in this estate and whether an order or account approval is required. This page cannot decide what a court will consider reasonable.
Delaware sets no statutory commission percentage
12 Del. C. § 2305(a) is one sentence: "Commissions and attorneys’ fees shall be allowed as provided by rule of the Court of Chancery." Delaware deliberately does not put a percentage in the code, so any figure quoted as "the Delaware executor fee" is coming from a court rule or from custom, not from the statute.
What the statute does supply is two ways a commission can be cut. Subsection (b) bars any commission to an executor or administrator who has not complied with Chapter 13 of Title 30, with the penalty holding off until one month after the Division of Revenue gives notice of the delinquency. Subsection (c) lets the Court of Chancery "reduce commissions and attorneys’ fees if the accounts required to be filed by this chapter are not filed within the required time period."
Both levers are about paperwork rather than effort. A Delaware personal representative who does the work well but files late, or who leaves a Title 30 obligation open, is exposed on compensation in a way that a percentage schedule would not produce.
Source: 12 Del. C. § 2305, read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
Delaware compensation map
Which figure the Delaware fee rule actually measures
A percentage is not a fee answer until its base is known. This Delaware map identifies the compensation standard and the accounting figure it uses, while keeping court approval and extraordinary work outside an invented total.
Delaware estate administration decision map
Question
Recorded Delaware answer
Carry into the case
What route is being screened?
Distribution without grant of letters (small estate affidavit) (12 Del. C. 2306)
Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route.
What property and basis count?
personal probate property only; gross value with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet.
Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?
$50,000
Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?
30 days after death; Delaware's nonclaim bar under 12 Del. C. 2102(a) bars all claims arising before or at death unless presented within 8 months of the decedent's death, whether or not the 2101 notice was given. Claims arising after death are barred at 6 months (2102(b): contract-with-PR claims 6 months after PR performance is due; any other claim 6 months after it arises). Because pre-death and post-death claims carry distinct triggers, it is left unknown with the triggers itemized rather than collapsed.
Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number.
What does the cost record establish?
No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule.
Ask the Court of Chancery (Register of Wills) about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?
Court of Chancery Rule 192 governs: commissions of personal representatives, and the fees of the attorneys who represent them, shall be allowed in a reasonable amount. Rule 192(b) lists the factors used to fix a reasonable figure — time spent, risk and responsibility, novelty and difficulty of the questions, skill and experience, any will provision on compensation, comparable local rates, and the character and value of the estate assets — and provides that commissions and fees are not unreasonable merely because based on hourly rates, on the value of the probate estate, or on the value of assets. Delaware publishes no percentage schedule; the amount is set case-by-case by the court. The relevant base is the estate accounting.
Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.
Compensation record
The Delaware fee record, band by band
This is the registry view of the compensation rule, separate from the calculator result. It shows whether a rate schedule exists and what accounting base the schedule names. A blank band is not permission to borrow a percentage from another state.
Delaware has no tier table this site can price from the accepted record. The controlling record is Ct. Ch. R. 192; read its quoted standard and ask the court how the fee is presented for approval.
Prepare a reasonable-compensation request
Because Delaware does not publish a percentage table here, the useful output is a record of the work and the accounting figure the court can review. Keep the will or appointment order, the the estate accounting the rule names, a dated task log, receipts, and a separate list of extraordinary work. This worksheet does not predict what the Court of Chancery (Register of Wills) will approve.
Rule 192. Commissions and Fees (a) Commissions of personal representatives, and fees of the attorneys who represent them, shall be allowed in a reasonable amount. (b) In determining what constitutes reasonable commissions and fees, consideration may be given to the 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 which are not part of the probate estate but which must be valued and reported on any federal, state, local, or foreign death tax return, the time constraints imposed upon the personal representative and the attorney, the loss of other business necessitated by acceptance of the administration, and the benefits obtained for the estate by the administration.
Record to assemble
Why it matters to the Delaware review
Will, appointment, or compensation agreement
Shows whether a document states a fee or leaves the amount to the reviewed standard.
Accounting base
Separates the estate accounting from the gross asset list.
Dated task and time record
Connects the requested amount to the administration work actually performed.
Receipts and extraordinary-work list
Keeps expenses and separately reviewable services out of an unexplained round number.
Case-file context
Keep the Delaware answer with its neighboring conditions
A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Delaware descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Route context
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.
Under 12 Del. C. 2306 a qualifying successor (spouse, grandparent or a grandparent's lineal descendant, a licensed funeral director, or the named executor, among others) may take the decedent's personal estate for distribution without a grant of letters or probate by executing an affidavit that: no PR is pending or granted; thirty days have elapsed since death; the value of the personal estate (excluding property described in 12 Del. C. 1901(b) and (c) and jointly owned property) does not exceed $50,000; all known debts are paid or provided for; the surviving-spouse allowance under 2308 is satisfied; and the decedent did not own real estate in Delaware. It does not transfer real estate.
Cost context
Delaware probate filing fees are set at the county level by each Register of Wills (New Castle, Kent, Sussex) acting as an arm of the Court of Chancery; there is no statewide statutory opening-fee figure. Fees typically scale with estate value under each county's published schedule. Apply the county-variability doctrine: the statewide figure is an honest unknown with an official Register of Wills pointer.
No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule.
Deadline context
Delaware's nonclaim bar under 12 Del. C. 2102(a) bars all claims arising before or at death unless presented within 8 months of the decedent's death, whether or not the 2101 notice was given. Claims arising after death are barred at 6 months (2102(b): contract-with-PR claims 6 months after PR performance is due; any other claim 6 months after it arises). Because pre-death and post-death claims carry distinct triggers, it is left unknown with the triggers itemized rather than collapsed.
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.
Court-material note: 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.
Arithmetic illustration
See the Delaware amount screen without mistaking it for a result
The recorded Delaware ceiling is $50,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as gross value with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet. Counted that way, $37,500 sits below the Delaware figure and $62,500 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Delaware counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
Illustrative counted amount
Comparison to the Delaware ceiling
What it does not decide
$37,500
Below $50,000
Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$62,500
Above $50,000
Whether another statutory route or court process applies
Next evidence to collect
Bring the stated accounting base and the will or court instructions to the compensation discussion.
Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.
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.
Source trail
Records used by this Delaware map
12 Del. C. 230612 Del. C. 2306 - Distribution of decedent's property without grant of letters where estate assets do not exceed $50,000; reviewed August 9, 2026
12 Del. C. 230512 Del. C. 2305 - Allowance of commissions and attorneys' fees; reviewed August 9, 2026
12 Del. C. 210212 Del. C. 2102 - Limitations on claims against estate; reviewed August 9, 2026
Ct. Ch. R. 192Rules of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, Rule 192 (Commissions and Fees); reviewed August 9, 2026
Compensation source
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
Reviewed source note: Rule 192. Commissions and Fees (a) Commissions of personal representatives, and fees of the attorneys who represent them, shall be allowed in a reasonable amount. (b) In determining what constitutes reasonable commissions and fees, consideration may be given to the 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 which are not part of the probate estate but which must be valued and reported on any federal, state, local, or foreign death tax return, the time constraints imposed upon the personal representative and the attorney, the loss of other business necessitated by acceptance of the administration, and the benefits obtained for the estate by the administration.
Delaware Judiciary (Court of Chancery) · Edition/currentness: Publisher edition or amendment label not stated · Verified September 15, 2026