Delaware probate leads and inheritance data, by county.
If you are researching Delaware probate leads, the public court file is only one part of the inherited-property market. USLeadList starts with death and property records, typically about five weeks after death, and generates an average of 410 records a month across Delaware.
Delaware counties
Browse 3 counties.Every Delaware county has its own page. Highlighted counties currently generate the largest monthly record volume.
How inherited property moves in Delaware
Verified state rules behind the county data.Probate rules matter because they determine when a public court record appears and which inherited properties never appear in an ordinary probate case.
What changes for an heir
Delaware has no inheritance tax and no estate tax. Title 30, Chapter 13 is captioned Inheritance [Repealed], and Chapter 15, the estate tax, was repealed by 81 Del. Laws, c. 52, effective January 1, 2018. Delaware also does not reassess property because it changed hands, so nothing about inheriting a house creates a recurring cost of holding it. What Delaware does is make probate avoidable. The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, 25 Del. C. ch. 2, applies to transferors dying on or after December 4, 2025, and a recorded transfer on death deed passes the house with no filing at the Register of Wills. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship and revocable trusts do the same. The affidavit at 12 Del. C. 2306 does not reach houses at all: it is unavailable if the decedent owned Delaware real estate solely or as a tenant in common.
Where probate records appear
Register of Wills No statewide search reaches estates. CourtConnect covers civil dockets of the Superior Court, the Court of Common Pleas and the Justice of the Peace Court only. Estate records are searched at each county Register of Wills: New Castle County offers a will search and an affidavit search, Kent County offers an estate search, and Sussex County posts Register's Orders and accepts written estate search requests for a fee.
Ways property can avoid ordinary probate
Transfer on death deed under the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, 25 Del. C. ch. 2, enacted by 85 Del. Laws, c. 212 and applying to transferors dying on or after December 4, 2025. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship and revocable living trusts are the older routes. The 12 Del. C. 2306 affidavit covers personal property only and is barred outright where the decedent owned Delaware real estate.
Small-estate route
Distribution without a grant of letters where the personal estate, excluding jointly owned property and property described in 12 Del. C. 1901(b) and (c), does not exceed $50,000, 30 days have elapsed since death, and the decedent owned no Delaware real estate solely or as a tenant in common (12 Del. C. 2306). The $50,000 figure took effect June 10, 2026 under 85 Del. Laws, c. 281, raising the prior $30,000 limit.
Timing investors should understand
A custodian of a will must deliver it to the Register of Wills within 10 days of learning of the death (12 Del. C. 1301(a)). Claims that arose before or at death are barred unless presented within 8 months of the decedent's death (12 Del. C. 2102(a)); post-death claims run 6 months. Notice to creditors must be published in an approved newspaper at least 3 times, once a week for 3 successive weeks, within 40 days of the grant of letters (12 Del. C. 2101). A small estate affidavit under 12 Del. C. 2306 may not be used until 30 days after death. The New Castle County Register of Wills states that administering an estate takes approximately one year.
Delaware inheritance volume
Updated monthly · September 2026 edition.Newly inherited residential properties recorded in Delaware, from the same database that builds the lists. Published nationally in the Inheritance Property Index.
Biggest Delaware counties by volume
- New Castle 2,134
- Sussex 2,048
- Kent 988
Free to cite with attribution: USLeadList Inheritance Property Index, September 2026 edition. See every state and download the data.
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