Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: New Castle County, Delaware’s Register of Wills grants letters on a schedule tied to personal-property value, starting at $25.00 for estates under $50,000.
If a trust could save your estate this fee in Delaware
A living trust avoids probate entirely in Delaware, which means the estate skips the $5.00 above along with every other cost the court charges once a case is open. LawDepot builds a state-specific one.
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What Delaware charges to open probate
Delaware sets this fee on a statutory tier tied to the estate’s value, starting at $5.00 for petition for authority to act, per representative and rising in steps as the estate gets larger.
| Petition for authority to act, per representative | $5.00 |
| Registering the will’s probate order | $2.00 |
| Granting letters, personal property under $50,000 | $25.00 |
| Granting letters, $500,000-$999,999.99 | $100.00 |
Delaware’s Register of Wills fees are set per county, not by a single statewide statute; New Castle County (Wilmington), the most populous, is shown here.
Where this money goes and who sets it
The authority for this figure is New Castle County Register of Wills fee schedule. In the source’s own words: “Filing Petition for Authority to Act as Personal Representative – $5 per Representative”
What this fee doesn’t cover
Because Delaware prices this by tier, the fee jumps at each threshold in the table above rather than climbing smoothly with the estate’s value. Either way, this is the court’s own charge just to open the file and issue letters, separate from what an attorney charges to actually handle the estate and separate from any state estate or inheritance tax the estate itself might owe.
Sources
Source: New Castle County Register of Wills fee schedule.