Delaware Homestead Exemption: Amount, Filing & Savings
Delaware’s statewide senior homeowner benefit is a school-tax credit: 14 Del. C. § 1917(c) takes 50% of school property tax, up to $500, off the home of an owner 65 or older who meets a domicile test. File with the county by April 30 before the tax year. County senior exemptions are separate. So is equity protection: $200,000, in bankruptcy or state insolvency only.
The credit lowers the school tax that the county collects. The $200,000 figure in 10 Del. C. § 4914 applies “In any federal bankruptcy or state insolvency proceeding” and does nothing for the tax bill. They are covered separately below.
The Senior School Property Tax Credit, § 1917(c)
The credit exists “If authorized by majority vote of the whole school board of the local school district pursuant to § 6102(q) of Title 29.” Section 6102(q) funds it from the state’s “Elderly Property Tax Relief and Education Expense Fund,” deposited at $13,000,000. The credit applies to “qualified property”: a dwelling owned and occupied as the principal residence of a “qualified person.”
Who is a qualified person
- Age 65 or more “as of June 30 immediately prior to the beginning of the county fiscal year.”
- Domicile, by the date the claimant established legal domicile in Delaware:
- after December 31, 2012 and on or before December 31, 2017: at least 3 consecutive years of domicile by that June 30;
- after December 31, 2017: at least 10 consecutive years by that June 30.
- Seasonal or temporary residence “of whatever duration” is not domicile. A 12-month absence is prima facie evidence of abandoning it, and the claimant carries the burden of proof.
How much
The maximum is the lesser of 50% of the school tax remaining after any Title 9 or Title 22 exemption and any § 6102 tax reduction, or $500. The receiver of taxes or county treasurer applies it after any change to the current expense tax rate.
Ownership rules written into the statute
- With tenants in common or joint tenants, the claimant’s credit is limited to the claimant’s proportionate share of assessed value, which is presumed equal unless shown otherwise. More than one co-tenant may claim, but no more than one full credit per property per year. If claimants disagree, the credit is split by their interests.
- Spouses owning as tenants by the entirety: each is treated as the whole owner, but only one credit per year.
- Title held by a partnership counts to the extent of the claimant’s partnership interest. A guardian, trustee, committee, conservator or other fiduciary may hold title for someone who would qualify. A corporation may not.
- A taxpayer who has not paid the full tax bill by the end of the tax year loses the credit for the next year. It can be regained after taxes and penalties are paid in full before a later tax year begins.
Deadline, waiver and penalties
The application is on a form prescribed by the Secretary of Finance and “shall be filed with and received by the receiver of taxes or county treasurer no later than April 30 immediately prior to the beginning of that tax year.” The state form says it plainly: “STATEWIDE DEADLINE IS APRIL 30TH FOR THE UPCOMING TAX YEAR” and “THIS CREDIT IS NOT PERMITTED RETROACTIVELY.” It also says an owner who is delinquent in property taxes does not qualify, and asks for a copy of any irrevocable trust holding the home.
The one statutory way around April 30, in § 1917(c)(3), is for a claimant who is “financially disabled.” That means unable to manage one’s financial affairs because of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, not caused by voluntary alcohol use or unlawful drug use, that is expected to result in death or has lasted or will last at least 12 months. It does not cover someone whose spouse, guardian or another person is authorized to handle their finances. The Secretary of Finance decides.
A credit claimed in disregard of the conditions can be assessed back with a 20% penalty and 1% interest per month from the filing date, unless the claimant shows reasonable cause and no wilful neglect. A denied claimant may appeal “in the same manner as provided for appeals from property tax assessments generally.”
Sussex County’s page adds a county-level point: “Exemption does NOT transfer to new property. You must complete a new application if you move.”
Disabled veterans: § 1917(d)
Where the school board has authorized it under 29 Del. C. § 6102(r), a veteran gets a credit for the full school tax on a principal residence. The veteran must receive VA disability compensation at 100% for a service-connected permanent and total disability, based on individual unemployability or a 100% rating, and must have been domiciled in Delaware at least 3 consecutive years. The same April 30 deadline applies.
A surviving spouse keeps the credit if all of the following hold: the veteran was claiming it right before death, the spouse was a titled owner before the death, the spouse has not remarried, and the spouse owns and occupies the home as a principal residence. The spouse loses it on remarriage, on ceasing to be a titled owner, or on moving out. Someone who qualifies under both (c) and (d) takes (d) only.
County senior exemptions: 9 Del. C. §§ 8132 and 8141, and county ordinances
Senior exemptions from county tax are set county by county and are separate from the § 1917 credit. Title 9 carries a baseline: up to $5,000 of assessed value exempt for a resident 65 or older with income of no more than $3,000 a year (§ 8132). “Resident” here means domiciled in Delaware for the 10 years before October of the pretax year (§ 8131), and “income” includes pensions and Social Security. It is unavailable if a spouse living in the home has income over $3,000, and it cannot be added to another exemption. It does not apply to municipal taxes or to ditch and sewer taxes. The application goes to the assessor of the taxing district by a date that district sets, no earlier than 45 days before the end of the pretax year. Annual renewal is not required unless the applicant’s income rises above $3,000, the applicant no longer owns the home, or a spouse’s income exceeds $3,000 (§ 8133(b)). The assessor may still ask for a new application at any time, and the owner must report any change that affects the exemption (§ 8136).
Kent County is carved out. Section 8141 directs the Kent County Levy Court to set its own senior exemption by ordinance, “The provisions of this chapter notwithstanding”; its terms come from the Kent County tax office.
New Castle County grants larger “elderly” exemptions under its County Code. Its 2026 application (revised January 6, 2026; the form sets a June 1 filing deadline) takes up to $173,000 off assessed value for county tax if the applicant is 65 before July 1, 2026, the home is the principal residence of the applicant or spouse, its July 1, 2024 assessed value is no more than $676,000, income (federal adjusted gross income, not counting Social Security or Tier 1 Railroad Retirement) is no more than $65,000 including a spouse’s, the applicant has been domiciled in Delaware for 10 consecutive years before July 1, 2026, and no county taxes or sewer charges are owed unless the owner is current on an approved payment plan. A separate school-tax exemption, also up to $173,000, requires age 65 before July 1, 2026, Delaware residence as of that date, the applicant or spouse living in the home (or the applicant in a health care facility), income of no more than $15,000, or $19,000 combined for a married couple, and record title in the applicant’s name or in a revocable trust of which the applicant is beneficiary. An owner already approved does not reapply while the home stays the principal residence. Where the assessed value is over $676,000 and income is no more than $3,000, the § 8132 exemption applies instead.
Reassessment moves these figures. Since 2025 (85 Del. Laws c. 31, approved June 13, 2025), 14 Del. C. § 1902(a)(3) says of county exemptions carried into school tax: “Upon a county-wide reassessment under § 8306(b) of Title 9, a county shall, by subsequent county ordinance, modify these exemption amounts.”
§ 4914: $200,000 of home equity in bankruptcy
Delaware debtors cannot choose the federal bankruptcy exemptions (§ 4914(a)). Section 4914(c)(1) lets an individual debtor and/or spouse domiciled in Delaware exempt “Equity in real property or equity in a manufactured home … which constitutes a debtor’s principal residence in an aggregate amount not to exceed $200,000.” Subsection (d) caps the principal residence at $200,000 total “in an individual or a joint case.” The figure rose from $125,000 under 84 Del. Laws c. 329 (House Bill 318), which took effect on enactment and was approved August 2, 2024.
Under § 4914(e), no part of the $200,000 is available if the Bankruptcy Court finds, after notice and hearing, that the debtor owes a debt arising from:
- any violation of federal or state securities laws, or a regulation or order issued under them;
- fraud, deceit or manipulation in a fiduciary capacity or in connection with buying or selling a security registered under § 12 or § 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or § 6 of the Securities Act of 1933; or
- any criminal act, intentional tort, or wilful or reckless misconduct that caused serious physical injury or death to another individual in the preceding 5 years.
A separate $25,000 in § 4914(b) covers personal property or real estate equity other than the principal residence.
Questions Delaware owners ask
We moved to Delaware in 2019. When can I get the senior credit?
Once you have been domiciled here for 10 consecutive years as of June 30 before the county fiscal year, and are 65 by then. With domicile established in 2019, that is June 30, 2029 if you arrived by June 30, 2019, and June 30, 2030 if you arrived later that year.
I missed April 30. Can I get it for this year?
Only if you are “financially disabled” as § 1917(c)(3) defines it, and the Secretary of Finance waives the date. The state form says the credit is not given retroactively.
Does the house count if it is in my revocable trust?
A trustee may hold title for a qualifying owner under § 1917(c)(4)c. The state form asks irrevocable-trust owners to attach the full trust agreement.
Does the $200,000 stop a judgment creditor outside bankruptcy?
Section 4914 is written for “any federal bankruptcy or state insolvency proceeding.” Its $200,000 figure is not a rule for ordinary collection.
Delaware on askdoss: Delaware property tax explained, Delaware closing costs, Delaware overview, property tax calculator, homestead exemption by state. Sources: 14 Del. C. ch. 19, 10 Del. C. § 4914, Senior School Property Tax Credit application, New Castle County elderly exemption application (2026).