Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Delaware’s compensation statute does not set its own standard. 12 Del. C. § 2305 instead delegates the standard to Court of Chancery Rule 192, and conditions any commission on two gating requirements: timely filing of the required account and compliance with Title 30, Chapter 13 tax-filing requirements. Miss either one, and the Court of Chancery can reduce the commission before it ever weighs whether the amount itself is reasonable.
The statute, and what it delegates
12 Del. C. § 2305(a) provides that commissions and attorneys’ fees shall be allowed as provided by rule of the Court of Chancery. Section 2305(b) adds that no commission shall be allowed to any executor or administrator who has not complied with the requirements of Chapter 13 of Title 30, and Section 2305(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. The statute itself sets no percentage and no fixed schedule.
Who actually decides, and the two gating conditions
The Court of Chancery allows and reviews commissions, though administration of the estate itself runs through the Register of Wills. Court of Chancery Rule 192 directs that any commission sought must be reasonable and may be reduced if unreasonable, the rule no longer contains a fixed presumptive-fee schedule. What is distinctive in Delaware is that the commission is conditioned on two things before reasonableness is even reached: compliance with Title 30, Chapter 13 tax-filing requirements, and timely filing of the annual or final account under Title 12, Chapter 23, late filing can itself reduce the commission.
What that means in practice
Treat the tax filings and the accounting deadline as prerequisites to getting paid at all, not paperwork to clean up later, since Section 2305 lets the Court of Chancery reduce the commission on either failure regardless of how reasonable the requested amount is. Once those boxes are checked, the commission request itself is evaluated for reasonableness under Rule 192, which replaced the old fixed-schedule approach.
What the whole process costs in this state: Delaware probate cost. Every state’s fee model side by side: probate cost by state.
Work out the number: the executor fee calculator. How the standard is applied where no schedule exists: reasonable-compensation states. Whether to take the fee at all: when the executor is also an heir, and how the fee is taxed.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; a court retains the final say on what compensation is allowed.
Related: whether Delaware requires the executor to post a bond.