Delaware Estate Planning Attorneys

At Doyle Law, LLC, we view estate planning as a means to care for you, your family, and your assets in the event of disability or death. Our role is to understand you, your family, your desires, and your assets to inform you about the estate planning options that can fulfill your objectives most straightforwardly and conveniently. To meet your goals, we will create a comprehensive plan that includes asset titling, beneficiary designations, “pay on death” and “transfer on death” instructions, alongside your estate planning documents, to form a simple yet thorough plan that meets your objectives in the most tax-advantageous way possible.

We recognize that we’re establishing enduring relationships with our clients and their families, providing counsel and updating estate planning documents as circumstances change, and offering guidance and support to your family when you’re unable to communicate your wishes due to incapacity or death.

Who Needs Estate Planning?

Estate planning is essential for everyone age 18 and over to appoint trusted individuals to have the authority to make decisions on their behalf in the event of incapacity or death. Without such planning, an unexpected incident, illness, or death could lead to a long and expensive court process, potentially disputable by relatives. The court would then have to appoint an agent, possibly an unfamiliar third party, to make decisions for you while living or to manage your estate according to state intestacy laws in the absence of prior arrangements. This planning can be achieved through straightforward and affordable documents like a Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Directive, and Last Will and Testament.

How We Can Help

We routinely prepare comprehensive estate plans for our clients that include, as needed, the following documents: HIPAA Release, Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Directive, Will, Revocable Trust, Trust Amendment, Amended and Restated Trust, Bill of Sale, Assignment of Business Interest, Certificate of Trust, and Delaware Deeds. Further, we assist our clients with proper titling of assets (including out-of-state deeds) to ensure their plan accomplishes the intended goal. We are knowledgeable and equipped to support families in planning for relatives with special needs through the establishment of Special Needs Trusts, ABLE accounts, Miller Trusts for Medicaid eligibility, and other resources.

What Happens in Delaware If You Do Not Have a Will

Dying without a will in Delaware does not mean the state takes your property. It means Delaware’s intestate succession law decides who gets it, and that outcome rarely matches what a family actually wants.

Under Delaware law, a surviving spouse’s share depends on who else survives the decedent. A spouse with no surviving children or parents inherits the entire estate. When parents survive but there are no children, or when every child is also the spouse’s child, the spouse receives the first $50,000 of the personal estate plus half of what remains, along with a life estate in any real property. If the decedent has children from a different relationship, the spouse’s share of personal property drops to half (12 Del. C. § 502).

Anything that does not pass to the spouse is divided among children per stirpes, meaning by branch of the family. Where there are no children, the estate passes to parents, then to siblings and their descendants, then to more distant next of kin. An heir generally must survive the decedent by 120 hours to inherit (12 Del. C. §§ 503-504).

None of this accounts for a blended family, a business partner, a caregiver, or a charity you meant to include. A will lets you name your own beneficiaries, choose a guardian for minor children, and pick the person who settles your affairs, instead of leaving those decisions to a statutory formula.

How Probate Works in Delaware

Probate is the court supervised process of validating a will, paying debts, and distributing what remains to beneficiaries. In Delaware, this process runs through the Register of Wills in the county where the decedent lived: New Castle, Kent, or Sussex. Disputes over trusts, fiduciary conduct, or will contests can move to the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Once an executor is appointed, creditors have 8 months from the date of death to present claims against the estate, regardless of whether formal notice was published. The executor cannot safely close the estate until that window has passed, which is one reason even a straightforward Delaware probate case often takes the better part of a year.

Filing fees, appraisal costs, and the time a family spends gathering financial records and other assets add up. A well-drafted estate plan will not eliminate every step of the process, but it can shorten it considerably and reduce the burden on the person you have named to handle it.

How to Avoid Probate in Delaware

You cannot always avoid probate, but a few tools reduce how much of your estate has to pass through it:

• A revocable living trust holds title to your assets during your lifetime and directs how your assets are distributed to beneficiaries at your death, without court involvement.
• Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and accounts held at financial institutions transfer automatically to the named beneficiary.
• Jointly titled property with rights of survivorship passes directly to the surviving owner.
• Small estates with $50,000 or less in personal property, and no Delaware real estate, may qualify for probate avoidance through a simplified process instead of a formal grant of letters (12 Del. C. § 2306, as raised from $30,000 by House Bill 333).

Pairing these tools with a will as a backup document, sometimes called a pour-over will, gives your family a plan that works whether or not every asset ends up fully titled in your trust.

What a Surviving Spouse Is Entitled to Under Delaware Law

Delaware protects spouses from being cut out of a will entirely. Even if a will leaves a spouse little or nothing, Delaware’s elective share law allows the surviving spouse to claim an amount equal to one third of the elective estate, reduced by any transfers already made to that spouse by the decedent (12 Del. C. § 901).

That election is not automatic. The surviving spouse, or a representative, must file the claim within 6 months after letters testamentary or letters of administration are granted, though a court can extend that deadline for good cause shown before it expires (12 Del. C. § 906). The elective share can be paid in cash, in other assets, or a combination of both.

This protection exists because a marriage creates financial obligations that a will should not be able to erase on its own. If your estate plan intentionally provides for your spouse differently than the statute would, or if you are part of a blended family with children from a prior relationship, this is exactly the kind of circumstance an estate planning attorney should review with you directly.

Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives

A will only controls what happens after you die. It does nothing if you become unable to manage your financial affairs or make medical decisions while you are still alive. Two legal documents fill that gap.

A durable power of attorney lets you name an agent to act on your behalf for banking, real estate, and other financial affairs. Under Delaware’s Durable Personal Powers of Attorney Act, the document must be in writing, signed and dated by the principal, signed before a notary, and signed in front of one adult witness who is not related to you and has no interest in your estate (12 Del. C. § 49A-105). It becomes durable, meaning it survives your incapacity, only if it contains language saying so (12 Del. C. § 49A-104), and your agent is expected to act in your best interests at all times.

An advance health care directive names an agent, often called a health care proxy, to make medical decisions if you cannot speak for yourself, and lets you record your own wishes about life-sustaining treatment, pain relief, and end-of-life care (16 Del. C. § 2511). Under Delaware’s statutory form, a witness cannot be your named agent or that agent’s spouse, domestic partner, or cohabitant, and if you live in a nursing home or long-term care facility, the witness also cannot be an employee, contractor, owner, or operator of that facility.

Without these documents in place, your family may need to petition a court for guardianship just to pay your bills or authorize your medical care: a court supervised process that costs more, takes longer, and is entirely avoidable with two properly executed documents.

Delaware’s Tax Advantage for Your Estate

Delaware repealed its estate tax for individuals who died on or after January 1, 2018, and repealed its inheritance tax back in 1999. Property passing to your beneficiaries under a Delaware estate plan is not reduced by either tax.

Federal estate tax is a separate question and a matter of tax law, not state law. For 2026, the IRS set the federal basic exclusion amount at $15,000,000 per person, so most estates owe no federal estate tax at all. Families with larger estates, business interests, or significant life insurance policies still benefit from tax planning, since exclusion amounts change and asset protection trusts, lifetime gifting, and charitable giving can be tax efficient strategies when they are structured correctly.

Some trusts also include what is known as a “5 and 5” power: a federal rule letting a beneficiary withdraw the greater of $5,000 or 5% of the trust’s value each year without triggering gift tax consequences (26 U.S.C. § 2514(e)). We do not provide tax advice, but we work alongside the CPA or tax professional already advising your family whenever a plan calls for it.

The Estate Planning Process: What to Expect

Every estate plan starts with a conversation about your financial situation, your family structure, and your concerns for the people who depend on you. From there, the process generally includes:

1. Gathering information about your assets, debts, and beneficiaries
2. Identifying your goals, including guardianship for minor children and care for family members with special needs
3. Selecting the right documents for your circumstances, such as a will, revocable trust, durable power of attorney, and health care directive
4. Drafting and reviewing documents together until they reflect your wishes
5. Signing and properly witnessing every document under Delaware law

A basic estate plan is not something you set up once and forget. Marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, a new business, or a move to another state all count as major life events that should prompt a review of your existing documents to protect your family’s future.

Choosing the Right Estate Planning Attorney in Delaware

An estate planner and an estate planning attorney are not the same thing. A financial planner can help you think through goals and account structures, but only a licensed estate attorney can draft legal documents, advise you on Delaware estate planning law, and represent your family before the Register of Wills or the Court of Chancery if a dispute arises.

When you are comparing a law firm for this kind of work, ask how they bill. Many firms charge by the hour with an unpredictable final cost. We use flat fee billing for estate planning, so you know the cost upfront before any work begins.

Ask, too, about experience with circumstances like yours: blended families, business succession, trust administration, or planning for a loved one with special needs. An attorney in good standing with the Delaware State Bar Association who takes the time to answer questions and explain your options in plain language is worth more than one who simply hands you a stack of documents to sign.

Protect What Matters Most

Estate planning is not about assuming the worst. It is about making sure the people you love are not left guessing, in court, or without the legal authority to act on your behalf when it matters most. Doyle Law, LLC provides flat fee estate planning built around your family’s goals, including specific legal experience helping families with special needs plan for the future. Call (302) 532-3139 to schedule a consultation and put a plan in place with genuine care behind it.

Contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation to learn more.