How Delaware Assets Transfer After a Death
Delaware estate transfers start with the asset record: title wording, beneficiary forms, trust ownership, agency title terms, deed records, court authority, and asset-holder requirements.
Use this as a tracker, not a shortcut
Mark each asset as outside probate, estate authority needed, or special review before moving money, signing title paperwork, recording a deed, or making a distribution.
Delaware asset checklist
Use this worksheet view to assign each asset a status, collect the first record set, and decide which detailed Delaware guide to open next.
Real Estate
Usually skips probateEstate authority likely
First records to pull
- The recorded transfer on death deed
- A certified death certificate
- The recorded deed, read for express survivorship language
- The § 1905 survivorship affidavit, filed within 3 months of the death
Bank Accounts
Usually skips probate
First records to pull
- A certified death certificate
- Identification for the beneficiary
- The bank's own claim form
- Identification for the surviving account holder
Vehicles
Usually skips probate
First records to pull
- The original certificate of title showing the TOD designation
- A certified copy of the death certificate of the owner, or of the last surviving joint owner
- Application for Title, Form MV212, in the beneficiary's name
- Proof of Delaware liability insurance and identification
Stocks, Bonds and Brokerage Accounts
Usually skips probate
First records to pull
- A certified death certificate
- The transfer agent's or broker's claim form
- Identification for the beneficiary
- The § 2306 affidavit or a short certificate evidencing the letters
Retirement Accounts and Life Insurance
Usually skips probateEstate authority likely
First records to pull
- A certified death certificate
- The provider's claim form
- Identification for the beneficiary
- A short certificate evidencing the letters
Household Goods and Personal Effects
Usually skips probateEstate authority likely
First records to pull
- The § 2306 affidavit, or letters, depending on the size of the personal estate
- The will
- The separate writing
Not sure which applies?
Answer a few questions to see whether Delaware probate is likely and which transfer path fits each asset.
Take the 2-minute assessmentSort each asset into a transfer bucketThe tracker steps and the outside-probate, estate-authority, and special-review buckets
Delaware estate transfers move faster when every asset has a source-backed status. The same estate can include POD accounts, title assets, real estate that needs deed review, small personal property, trust assets, and probate property that waits for representative authority.
If the person received Medicaid long-term care benefits, check Delaware Medicaid estate recovery before transferring or distributing the home, so a recovery claim does not surface after the deed work is done.
- Identify the asset record. Start with the title, deed, account agreement, beneficiary form, trust ownership, or company record rather than family memory.
- Place the asset in a transfer bucket. Mark each asset as outside probate, estate authority needed, or special review based on the record and source requirements.
- Collect proof before moving the asset. Gather death certificates, letters, small-estate affidavits, title forms, claim forms, deed records, and value support before asking for release or retitling.
- Route the hard assets to their task pages. Use the asset-transfer, vehicle, court, form, and probate guides when an asset needs more than a tracker note.
- Save receipts and transfer confirmations. Keep recorded deeds, agency receipts, title confirmations, bank confirmations, claim packets, settlement statements, and beneficiary releases with the estate file.
Usually Outside Probate
These pass by contract, by title or by a recorded instrument, with no personal representative and no Register of Wills file.
- Life insurance and retirement accounts with a living named beneficiary, which 12 Del. C. § 1901(c) also keeps out of the estate inventory
- A bank account in trust form or payable on death under 5 Del. C. § 924
- A deposit in the names of two or more persons payable to the survivor under 5 Del. C. § 923
- Real property under a transfer on death deed recorded before the owner died (25 Del. C. ch. 2)
- A vehicle title carrying a transfer-on-death designation under 21 Del. C. § 2304, made with DMV Form MV2025
- Securities registered in transfer-on-death form under the Uniform TOD Security Registration Act, 12 Del. C. ch. 8
- Real property held as joint tenants with right of survivorship where the deed expressly says so (25 Del. C. § 701), or by spouses as tenants by the entireties
- Assets already titled in a living trust
Usually Needs the Register of Wills
Property in the decedent's sole name with no survivorship and no beneficiary, where the asset type or the size of the estate puts it beyond the § 2306 affidavit.
- Any Delaware real estate the decedent owned solely or as a tenant in common, at any value, because 12 Del. C. § 2306(a)(6) closes the affidavit route outright when it exists
- A sole-owner bank account with no beneficiary where the personal estate exceeds $50,000
- A claim or lawsuit belonging to the decedent
- A business interest with no buy-sell or transfer provision
- A half interest in property the family assumed was joint, where the deed in fact created a tenancy in common, which is what 25 Del. C. § 701 presumes
Special Review Needed
Delaware rules that do not match the national pattern, or where a nonprobate route does not settle who ends up keeping the property.
- Any deed to two or more people, because 25 Del. C. § 701 presumes a TENANCY IN COMMON unless the deed expressly grants a joint tenancy and not a tenancy in common. Delaware does not presume survivorship
- A payable-on-death bank account, because 5 Del. C. § 924 allows only ONE beneficiary and no more than TWO depositors per trust account, unless the bank's own agreements or rules provide otherwise
- A transfer on death deed where the transferor died before December 4, 2025, because 25 Del. C. § 203 applies the chapter only to a transferor dying on or after that date
- Anything where Medicaid paid for the decedent's long-term care, because 16 DE Admin. Code 20500 governs estate recovery and liens
- A surviving spouse's elective share under 12 Del. C. ch. 9, which reaches beyond the probate estate and can therefore reach transfers that otherwise looked settled
- A transfer on death deed where the property is subject to a mortgage or lien, because the beneficiary takes it subject to everything recorded against it
- Delaware real estate held by someone who died domiciled elsewhere, which usually needs ancillary letters under 12 Del. C. § 1504(b) even though the personal property may not
Open the task guide that matches the assetDelaware asset-transfer, vehicle, forms, and probate guides for the hands-on work
Transfer assets after death
Asset-by-asset explanations for Delaware bank accounts, title assets, personal property, trusts, beneficiary assets, and estate property.
Vehicle title transfer
Review Delaware title requirements before retitling cars, trucks, boats, trailers, or other titled vehicles.
Probate forms
Match the transfer path to Delaware forms, local filing instructions, and supporting documents.
Probate guide
Use the Delaware probate guide for opening, appointment, notice, inventory, claims, distribution, and closing context.
How to avoid probate
Review beneficiary, trust, survivorship, and transfer-on-death options that may move assets outside probate.
Source notesOfficial references used for this page
The tracker uses Delaware statute, court, agency, recording, deed, and title sources where available. County offices, asset holders, title companies, and tax reviewers may ask for more records before they accept a transfer.
- 12 Del. C. § 212, bequest of tangible personal property by a separate writing. Read in full 2026-09-10. Excludes money, evidences of indebtedness, documents of title, securities and property used in trade or business; must be handwritten by or signed by the testator; a dated writing controls over an inconsistent one. History: 77 Del. Laws, c. 98, § 1.
- 12 Del. C. § 502, the intestate share of the surviving spouse, including the LIFE ESTATE in the intestate real estate.
- 12 Del. C. ch. 8, the Uniform TOD Security Registration Act. Governs SECURITIES only: not vehicles, which are 21 Del. C. § 2304, and not real property, which is 25 Del. C. ch. 2.
- 12 Del. C. § 1504, grant of letters of administration, including § 1504(b) ancillary letters for a nondomiciliary decedent.
- 12 Del. C. § 1901, personal property constituting assets of the estate. (b) the family Bible, the clothes of the decedent and the family stores laid in before the death are kept out of the inventory. (c) death benefits payable to a designated person, trust or corporation under an insurance policy or contract, pension, bonus, stock option or other employee benefit or incentive plan are not assets of the estate.
- 12 Del. C. § 1902(b): nothing in the section gives the executor or administrator any right of possession of the decedent's real estate, although rents and profits that come into the representative's hands are assets for the payment of debts.
- 12 Del. C. § 1905, the inventory within 3 months of letters, the parcel-identification-number requirement, the requirement to describe property that transferred by a transfer on death deed, and the SEPARATE survivorship affidavit due within 3 months of the DEATH where real property passed by joint ownership with right of survivorship or by tenancy by the entireties.
- 12 Del. C. § 2306, the $50,000 affidavit route, with the (a)(6) disqualifier for Delaware real estate owned solely or as a tenant in common and the (a)(7) requirement to furnish the affidavit to the holder, registrar or transfer agent.
- 12 Del. C. § 2307, effect of distribution without letters: a person who pays or transfers on the affidavit is released to the same extent as if payment had been made to a personal representative, and the distributees answer to anyone with a prior right and to any personal representative later appointed.
- 12 Del. C. § 2309, recordation of a certified copy of the death certificate with the Register of Wills for the county where the decedent's interest in real property is situated.
- 12 Del. C. § 2105, the twelve-class order of preference of claims against the estate.
- 5 Del. C. § 922, read in full 2026-09-10. One sentence: banks, trust companies, savings banks and savings societies may pay out deposits of decedents, without requiring letters of administration to be issued upon the estates of such decedents, when and as provided by 12 Del. C. §§ 2306 and 2307.
- 5 Del. C. § 923, read in full 2026-09-10. Where a deposit is made in the name of 2 or more persons, deliverable or payable to either or to their survivor or survivors, the deposit, any part of it or the increase of it may be delivered or paid to either of the persons, or to the survivor or survivors, in due course of business. History: 28 Del. Laws, c. 107, § 1.
- 5 Del. C. § 924, read in full 2026-09-10. Covers both the Totten trust account and the payable-on-death account. (a)(1) NO MORE THAN 1 BENEFICIARY per trust account and (a)(2) no more than 2 depositors, in each case unless the banking organization's agreements, rules or regulations provide otherwise. (b)(1) revocable during life by withdrawal, by charges, or by a writing received by the bank, but NOT by a will or other similar testamentary disposition. Last amended by 84 Del. Laws, c. 42, § 62.
- 21 Del. C. § 2304, transfer-on-death title for a Delaware vehicle, made on DMV Form MV2025. The beneficiary takes no interest until the owner dies or the last surviving joint owner dies; § 2304(e) provides that a TOD certificate of title is not a testamentary disposition.
- 21 Del. C. § 2506, transfer by operation of law and the duty of the transferee. The section covers a title that passes otherwise than by voluntary transfer, including on the owner's death, and sets the period in which the transferee must apply. DMV Form MV-14 authorises driving a deceased owner's vehicle until the registration expires.
- 25 Del. C. ch. 2, the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, enacted by 85 Del. Laws, c. 212.
- 25 Del. C. § 203, Applicability. The chapter applies to a transfer on death deed made before, on or after the effective date of the act BY A TRANSFEROR DYING ON OR AFTER that date. The act took effect 90 days after its September 5, 2025 approval, which is December 4, 2025.
- 25 Del. C. § 209, a transfer on death deed, and an instrument revoking one, must be recorded before the transferor's death in the public records in the office of the recorder of deeds of the county where the property is located.
- 25 Del. C. § 701, read in full 2026-09-10. No estate in joint tenancy shall be held or claimed under any grant, devise or conveyance made to any persons, OTHER THAN to executors or trustees, unless the premises are expressly granted, devised or conveyed to such persons to be held as joint tenants and not as tenants in common. Delaware presumes a tenancy in common.
- 25 Del. C. § 721, petition for partition to the Court of Chancery of the county where the lands are situate, available to any one or more joint tenants, tenants in common or parceners of lawful age.
- 30 Del. C. § 5401(1)a., which excludes from the definition of a taxable document 'Any will or any transfer on death deed authorized under Chapter 2 of Title 25', so property passing at death carries no Delaware realty transfer tax.
- 30 Del. C. § 5402, the realty transfer tax rate and, at § 5402(g), the rule that a transfer on death deed requires no transfer-tax affidavit under § 5409, no real estate tax return declaration of estimated income tax form, and no other form otherwise required under the chapter or enacted by a county or municipality, in order to be recorded or to be effective.
- 85 Del. Laws, c. 212, AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 12, TITLE 18, TITLE 25, AND TITLE 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE UNIFORM REAL PROPERTY TRANSFER ON DEATH ACT. Read on 2026-09-10 and verified by the literal string AN ACT: 1 occurrence on the real chapter page against 0 on the volume=999&chapter=999 control, and 135,525 bytes against the control's 44,349. Section 8: 'This Act takes effect 90 days after its enactment into law.' Approved September 5, 2025, so the effective date is December 4, 2025.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the first step in Delaware estate transfers?
Start with the asset record. Title wording, account terms, beneficiary forms, trust ownership, agency records, deed records, and court authority decide which transfer path fits.
Do all Delaware estate transfers need probate?
No. Some POD accounts, survivorship accounts, trust assets, beneficiary assets, and title-controlled assets may have a nonprobate path. Sole-owner estate assets often need letters, a small-estate process, a court order, or another estate document.
When should a Delaware transfer tracker point to a task guide?
Use a task guide when the asset needs title work, agency review, a deed or recording step, a small-estate affidavit, sale records, creditor reserves, tax records, or a local court filing.
Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Delaware can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.
Build a Delaware transfer file
Use the probate guide, county packet, and asset-specific guides to keep transfer records connected to the estate workflow.