Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in Delaware

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and proceeding type

Section 1302(b) says: “To be effective to prove a transfer of any property or to nominate an executor, a will must be declared to be valid by admission to probate.” Delivery of the document and admission to probate are separate steps. The complete Chapter 13 supplies delivery, proof, and admission procedures rather than a statewide ordinary-petition fact checklist.

Court and venue

The custodian-delivery office and probate venue can differ. Section 1301 directs delivery to the Register in the custodian's county; § 1302 places probate in the testator's domicile county. For a nondomiciliary, § 1302 permits proof in a county containing Delaware goods, rights, credits, land, or other listed property.

Original will, copy, and lodging

Section 1301 requires the custodian to “produce and deliver” the instrument. The boundary route in § 1307 applies when a nondomiciliary's will was already probated elsewhere: verified copies of both the will and its probate record support Delaware admission and recording.

Proof and self-proving route

Under § 1310, signature compliance is “conclusively presumed” for a self-proved will and other execution requirements presumed subject to rebuttal. Fraud or forgery affecting the acknowledgment or affidavit remains an express exception. Section 1305 describes the testator acknowledgment, witness affidavits, officer's certificate, seal, and attachment that supply self-proof.

Section 1304 covers dead, out-of-state, incapacitated, and otherwise unavailable witnesses. Its signature-proof alternatives under § 1304 do not remove the Register's power under subsection (c) to require additional witness testimony or pertinent facts.

Notice, hearing, and objections

Section 1303 begins: “Proof of a will may be taken without notice to persons interested, unless such a person requests it by petition filed with the Court of Chancery.” The Court then sets a proof time and issues process, with service or publication for people outside Delaware as it considers proper. The separate objection routes appear below.

Executor qualification, bond, and letters

Section 1501 states: “No one shall act as the executor or administrator of a domiciliary decedent’s estate within this State without letters testamentary or of administration being granted in accordance with this title.” Section 1502 allows qualifying coexecutors to receive letters when another nominee is deceased, renounces, is incapacitated, or fails to give any necessary bond. If no nominee qualifies, administration with the will annexed is the alternative.

Current § 1508 bars minors and mentally incapacitated persons from receiving letters. An oath-disqualifying conviction also bars letters unless the Register grants a good-cause exception; the Register may require Delaware Supreme Court-admitted counsel throughout administration. The fidelity oath is required by § 1509. Under § 1506, a nondomiciliary nominee files an irrevocable service power appointing the Register before letters issue.

Sections 1521-1524 make bond exceptional. Section 1522 also allows Chancery to dispense with a will-required bond when it finds the bond unnecessary or undesirable.

What trips people up

• The delivery clock starts with knowledge. Section 1301 gives the custodian 10 days after receiving information of the death, rather than imposing a universal deadline measured from death on every probate proponent.
• An objection's timing changes its route. Under § 1308, a caveat before the probate order requires a hearing and citations. Under § 1309, an interested person who neither appeared nor received citation or notice has six months after the order to request review. Chancery may affirm probate and letters or reject the will and revoke the letters.
• The conviction exception is current. HB 253 was signed September 24 and took effect then. A qualifying conviction requires a Register-granted good-cause exception for letters; the new rule does not excuse minority or mental incapacity.

Common questions

Can a will be made self-proved after it was signed?

Yes. Section 1305 permits self-proof “at the time of its execution or at any subsequent date,” using the prescribed acknowledgment, affidavits, and certificate.

What if none of the witness signatures can be proved?

Section 1304(b) permits testator-signature proof through two credible, disinterested handwriting witnesses, in person or by deposition, or other sufficient handwriting proof. If one witness signature can be proved, the specified testator-handwriting testimony instead comes from one credible, disinterested person. The Register retains the additional-proof power described above.

Statutes and sources

• 12 Del. C. §§ 1301-1303 — custodian delivery, county for proof, admission's legal effect, and proof without notice. Official Delaware Code (accessed 2026-10-02).
• 12 Del. C. §§ 1304-1305 — unavailable-witness proof and self-proving requirements. Official Delaware Code (accessed 2026-10-02).
• 12 Del. C. § 1307 — verified-copy route for nondomiciliary wills. Official Delaware Code (accessed 2026-10-02).
• 12 Del. C. §§ 1308-1310 — caveat, six-month review, and self-proved-will presumptions. Official Delaware Code (accessed 2026-10-02).
• 12 Del. C. §§ 1501-1502, 1506, 1509 — letters, nominees, nondomiciliary power of attorney and oath. Official Delaware Code (accessed 2026-10-02).
• 12 Del. C. §§ 1521-1524 — when bond is required and how it is filed. Official Delaware Code (accessed 2026-10-02).
• 12 Del. C. § 1508, amended by 2026 Del. Laws ch. 529 (HB 253) — current disqualification and conviction exception. Enacted text and signed status (accessed 2026-10-02).