Publication
Newspaper pricing is commercial rather than a statewide fee.
Delaware court costs
Delaware probate filing cost: not published
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.
not published is not published as a current figure, because the statute states its amounts apply before adjustment by another authority. Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
What the statute charges
Delaware does not fix this amount in a single statewide schedule, so this site reports it as unknown rather than publishing an estimate that no source supports.
Delaware publishes no component breakdown for this cost.
The controlling amount is set below the statute, so this site reports it as unknown rather than estimating it. The linked source explains where the figure comes from.
Costs no statute prices
These are the costs executors most often meet after the filing fee. None of them has a statewide statutory amount, so this site does not estimate them.
Bond
Premiums depend on the bond amount, the estate, and the applicant.
Copies and local charges
Certified copies, recording, inventory, accounting, and county surcharges are billed separately.
Professional fees
Attorney, accountant, and appraiser fees are negotiated or court-reviewed.
State-specific limits
- 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.
Use this as a starting point.
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.
How to verify the amount for this case
Name the proceeding before asking for a total. A small-estate affidavit, an application for letters, formal administration, a later inventory or account, and a certified copy can each carry a different charge. Asking only “what does probate cost?” invites an answer for the wrong filing.
- Identify the county where the proceeding will be filed.
- Identify the exact route or petition you expect to use.
- State the value basis the schedule uses; it is not always the gross estate value.
- Ask the clerk to separate the opening fee, mandatory surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
- Record the schedule date or rule cited.
- Record whether payment is due at filing.
Delaware does not provide one operative statewide total for this page. The exact answer must come from the receiving Court of Chancery (Register of Wills) and its current local schedule; this site will not turn a base charge into a made-up statewide estimate.
Keep that clerk quote with the estate record and compare it with the itemised statutory lines above. For the broader budget, use the probate cost-line guide; court filing is only one category.
Delaware filing-cost map
Separate the Delaware filing charge from the estate budget
The Delaware filing record prices a proceeding, not every cost of settling an estate. This map connects the published amount or schedule to its value basis and identifies the local items that still need a clerk or court schedule.
| 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. |
Filing record
What the Delaware cost record can answer
Delaware has no single statewide schedule in the accepted record.
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. This page therefore names the local confirmation path instead of turning a base charge into a statewide estimate.
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.
Compensation context
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.
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.
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
Name the proceeding and ask for mandatory surcharges, copies, publication, and later filings separately.
- 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.
Official material
- Delaware Courts - Register of Wills FormsDelaware Judiciary
- Delaware Courts - Register of WillsDelaware Judiciary
- Delaware Courts - Locations & ContactsDelaware Judiciary
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