Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 1905 – Inventory and appraisal; filing requirements, form, contents and …
(a) Every executor or administrator shall, within 3 months after the granting of letters testamentary or of administration, file in the office of the Register of Wills of the county in which the letters have been granted, an inventory and appraisal and shall also file a copy of said inventory and appraisal in the office of the Register of Wills of any county in which the decedent owned real estate, which shall contain an inventory of all goods and chattels of the decedent, a list of all debts and credits due or belonging to the decedent or to the decedent’s estate, and a statement setting forth a general description of every parcel of real estate in this State of which the decedent died seized, which description shall include the parcel identification number assigned to said parcel, and the name of each party entitled to any estate or interest in any part of such real or personal estate and the relationship, if any, of each such party to the decedent. Each item of property included in such inventory, list and statement, shall be separately valued at its fair market value as of the date of death of the decedent and such value shall be stated in the inventory and appraisal.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 1905
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Appraisal: A determination of property value.
- Court: means the Court of Chancery. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Party: means the respondent, petitioner, guardian, conservator, or any other person allowed by the Court to participate in a guardianship or protective proceeding. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Probate: Proving a will
- real property: is synonymous with the phrase "lands, tenements and hereditaments. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, a federally recognized Indian tribe, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
(b) The inventory and appraisal shall be supported by an affidavit of each executor or administrator.
(c) The executor’s or administrator’s affidavit shall be as follows:
“________________ makes solemn oath (or affirmation) that due inquiry concerning the goods, chattels and money of, and the debts and credits due or belonging to ____________________, deceased has been made, and that this inventory and list contains all the goods, chattels and money of, and debts or credits due or belonging to the said ____________________, which have come to the knowledge of the deponent (or affirmant) and that the information contained in the statement of real estate and the information pertaining to transfers of property, powers of appointment, entireties and jointly owned real and personal property and annuity contracts is true to the best of deponent’s (or affirmant’s) knowledge and belief.”
(d) Every executor or administrator shall, in the event [that] any action affecting title to real estate of the decedent in Delaware is brought in any court, whether by way of caveat, petition for review, petition for instructions or otherwise, within 10 days after such action, file a notice of the pendency of such action in the office of the Register of Wills of any county in which the decedent owned real estate other than the county in which letters had been granted. Nothing in this subsection shall affect any other notice that may be filed concerning such an action.
(e) When real property passes to a person by virtue of joint ownership with right of survivorship or tenancy by the entireties with a decedent, the personal representative or the surviving joint tenant shall, within 3 months after the decedent’s death, complete and file an affidavit in the office of the Register of Wills of the county in which the real property is located with a statement setting forth a general description of the real estate and the name of the surviving owner. A filer is not required to produce a certified or exemplified copy from the jurisdiction in which the decedent resided at the time of the decedent’s death, or to make certifications regarding the decedent’s probate status in another jurisdiction, to remove the decedent from the title of property held by joint ownership with right of survivorship or tenancy by the entireties.
Code 1852, §§ ?1807-1812; 25 Del. Laws, c. 225, § ?3; 27 Del. Laws, c. 269, § ?1; Code 1915, §§ ?148, 3365, 3366; 37 Del. Laws, c. 8, § ?1; 40 Del. Laws, c. 10, § ?1; Code 1935, §§ ?139, 3830, 3831; 41 Del. Laws, c. 191, §§ ?1, 3; 12 Del. C. 1953, § ?1905; 59 Del. Laws, c. 384, § ?1; 64 Del. Laws, c. 252, §§ ?2, 3; 68 Del. Laws, c. 142, § ?1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § ?1; 72 Del. Laws, c. 342, § ?1; 79 Del. Laws, c. 352, § ?1; 83 Del. Laws, c. 509, § 1;