Dover, Delaware guide

Dover is in Kent County. Kent County's Register of Wills Office is the official local source for estate opening and small-estate questions. Do not confuse it with the Recorder of Deeds, which records land documents rather than appointing estate representatives.

For Dover, Kent County's Register of Wills is the procedural contact for an estate opening, not the Recorder of Deeds. Bring a list separating sole-owned assets, survivorship property, and named-beneficiary accounts when asking which route is available. An institution's Kent County branch does not itself establish estate venue. If the decedent lived in New Castle or Sussex County, check that county's Register rather than assuming the state capital is the statewide estate filing office.

Delaware does not currently impose a state estate tax for 2026 deaths and does not currently impose a separate inheritance tax for 2026 deaths.

Delaware Revenue's archived tax-form guidance explicitly confirms estate-tax repeal for deaths on or after January 1, 2018. That repeal does not cancel a decedent's income-tax debt.

The Delaware guide covers the broader estate process. The local court does not provide a retirement or investment plan. An attorney addresses legal authority, a CPA addresses filings, and an advisor addresses financial planning. SBC has no local office in Dover.