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Delaware source record

Every source behind the Delaware guide

4 primary records, quoted verbatim and checked against 16 named presence or absence conditions that must pass against the live government text. Open the record, read the words the publishing body actually used, and confirm the current rule for yourself.

Last full re-fetch September 15, 2026

What each source establishes

The Delaware guide rests on the source-backed rules this site can verify for the state: which simplified procedure exists and what it limits, what the court charges, how the person administering the estate may be paid, and the statutory creditor-deadline clocks the official text states.Every published rule below is quoted in the publisher’s own words rather than summarised.

Simplified-procedure rule

12 Del. C. 2306

State of Delaware (Delaware Code Online) · 85 Del. Laws, c. 281, § 1 · Verified August 9, 2026

(2) Thirty days have elapsed since the death of the decedent. (3) The value of the personal estate of the decedent other than property described in § 1901(b) and (c) of this title and other than jointly owned property, does not exceed $50,000.

What this means: The delcode.delaware.gov page now decodes correctly (the false charset=utf-16 is overridden). Section-history parenthetical '85 Del. Laws, c. 281' shows a recent amendment. The affidavit does not transfer real estate (condition (6): 'Decedent did not own real estate in Delaware').

What was published from this source

  • DE 12 Del. C. 2306

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • 50000 personalty cap
  • 30-day wait
  • no real estate
  • section identity
  • section identity

Response digest 016dafef040105d8… · HTTP 200

Executor compensation rule

12 Del. C. 2305

State of Delaware (Delaware Code Online) · 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § 1 · Verified August 9, 2026

§ 2305. Allowance of commissions and attorneys' fees. (a) Commissions and attorneys' fees shall be allowed as provided by rule of the Court of Chancery.

What this means: Compensation is delegated to Court of Chancery rule (Rule 192), not fixed by statute; the Court may reduce commissions for late accounts (2305(c)) and no commission is allowed absent Title 30 ch. 13 compliance (2305(b)).

What was published from this source

  • DE 12 Del. C. 2305

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • commissions by chancery rule
  • section identity
  • section identity

Response digest 016dafef040105d8… · HTTP 200

Creditor deadline rule

12 Del. C. 2102

State of Delaware (Delaware Code Online) · 81 Del. Laws, c. 150, § 1 · Verified August 9, 2026

are barred against the estate, the personal representative and the heirs and devisees of the decedent unless presented as provided in § 2104 of this title within 8 months of the decedent's death whether or not the notice referred to in § 2101 of this title has been given.

What this means: 8-month nonclaim bar runs from death regardless of whether notice was given; post-death claims barred at 6 months (2102(b)).

What was published from this source

  • DE 12 Del. C. 2102

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • 8-month nonclaim
  • post-death 6 months
  • section identity
  • section identity

Response digest be48ecca337dca73… · HTTP 200

Executor compensation rule

Ct. Ch. R. 192

Delaware Judiciary (Court of Chancery) · Publisher states no currentness signal; manual session review required · Verified August 9, 2026

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.

What was published from this source

  • DE Ct. Ch. R. 192

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • DE reasonable commissions standard
  • DE reasonableness factors
  • DE Rule 192 section identity
  • section identity

Response digest 77d43045c99d0cf0… · HTTP 200

Statutes read in full for Delaware

These are the Delaware provisions read end to end on the enacting state’s own site, rather than summarised from a secondary source. The middle column is what reading each one actually established for Delaware — not a restatement of the topic — and the last column records the date the wording was read, so a later amendment can be spotted by comparing dates.

CitationWhat reading it establishedRead on
12 Del. C. § 2102Delaware runs eight months from the death itself, whether or not anyone published notice — creditor deadline note2026-09-17
12 Del. C. § 2306What Delaware’s $50,000 affidavit route actually requires — small estate route note2026-09-17
12 Del. C. § 2305Delaware sets no statutory commission percentage — representative pay note2026-09-17

Delaware source decision map

How the Delaware records fit together

The source record is most useful when each citation has a job. This map links the Delaware procedure, cost, compensation, and deadline records to the decision each one can and cannot answer.

QuestionRecorded Delaware answerCarry 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?$50,000Use 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.

Decision boundary

What the Delaware source set does not silently decide

The Delaware records establish the rules listed above, but they do not turn a source citation into advice about title, family priority, tax filing, contested proceedings, or the exact clerk practice in every county. Those questions stay with the official court or a qualified adviser. The useful next step is to match the question to the citation rather than treating the longest quote as the answer to every estate problem.

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 amountComparison to the Delaware ceilingWhat it does not decide
$37,500Below $50,000Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$62,500Above $50,000Whether another statutory route or court process applies

Next evidence to collect

Open the quoted record for the row you rely on and check the publisher's current text before filing.

  1. Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
  2. Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
  3. Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
  4. Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.

Official 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.

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

What Delaware courts publish

The statutes on this page state the rule. These are the documents the court itself publishes. Every link is probed before release, and any link that stops resolving fails the build rather than staying on the page.

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.

Checking these Delaware records against the publishers

Every citation above links to the body that publishes it, and every quoted sentence is reproduced exactly, so a text search on the publisher’s own page should land on it. Where the publisher’s current wording differs from what is recorded here, the publisher governs and this page is wrong; naming the citation and the language you see maps the difference onto a specific condition rather than a general complaint. The full procedure, including how a source qualifies in the first place and what disqualifies one, is set out once on the methodology page instead of being restated on each of the254 state records.

These records cover the cost and route questions this site answers for Delaware. They do not cover intestate succession shares, spousal and family allowances, creditor priority, tax filing obligations, real-property transfer mechanics, or contested proceedings. Where an answer would require one of those, the site says so rather than estimating.

Return to the Delaware estate guide ·All 254 records ·Dataset overview and citation ·How sources are selected