Delaware Wills Laws

Created by FindLaw's team of legal writers and editors | Last updated June 20, 2016

A will is not as confounding as Hollywood would have you think. Whenever we encounter wills in books, movies, or on TV, the circumstances always seem ominous. But exactly how do wills work? Put simply, a will is a person’s plan for what happens with his or her property after they die.

Of course, none of us want to think about dying ourselves or losing a loved one, but it’s always better to have a plan in place when the inevitable happens. And the First State has strict regulations on the way a will can be created, who can create one, and what it can cover. This is a brief summary of wills laws in Delaware.

Wills Laws

A person's will could dictate anything from how the family business should be run to who gets a prized automobile. Delaware’s will statutes are generally similar to will laws in other states in most respects, and do not recognize oral, or non-written, wills.

Wills Laws in Delaware

Wills statutes in Delaware are highlighted in the chart below.

Code Section	Tit. 12 §201, et seq.
Age of Testator	18 years or older and of sound and deposing mind and memory
Number of Witnesses	Attested and subscribed in testator's presence by two or more credible, generally competent witnesses; need not be signed in presence of witnesses or that witnesses sign in the presence of each other.
Nuncupative (Oral Wills)	Not mentioned
Holographic Wills	Not specified

Note: State laws are constantly changing -- contact a Delaware estate planning attorney or conduct your own legal research to verify the state law(s) you are researching.

Understanding Wills

The terminology used in Delaware estate planning laws can sound like inscrutable legalese, so the laws can seem confusing when first encountering them. So for clarification:

The “testator” is the person whose after-death wishes are specified in the will;
A “nuncupative” or oral will is one that is spoken or otherwise unwritten, and are not legally binding in Delaware; and
A “holographic” will is a handwritten testament, which is only valid if it is executed by a U.S. Armed Forces serviceperson outside the country and only remains valid for one year.