Delaware Asset Search

Every link in this guide was opened and verified on Sep. 17, 2026.

Delaware is not a state where an ordinary bank levy should be assumed to work like California's. Its attachment statute generally protects bank deposits from ordinary attachment. That makes the choice of asset and legal route especially important before spending money on bank identification.

An asset appearing in a public record is not automatically available to pay a judgment. This guide separates the public-record search from private financial information and the Delaware collection process.

Follow the documents, not just the name

A Delaware formation record does not mean the company's buildings, accounts or operations are in Delaware. Search the entity's actual operating and property locations as well. An incorporation service's address is not proof of beneficial ownership or the location of collectible property.

Start with the statutory exception, not a generic bank-levy checklist. Title 10, section 3502(b), generally exempts banks and similar institutions from the attachment process described there. The limited employee-wage language is not a general permission to attach customer deposits.

For an ordinary judgment creditor, identifying a Delaware bank account therefore does not establish that an ordinary attachment will be available. Review the actual claim, institution, jurisdiction and any legally available alternative before paying for bank-specific work. Do not treat a different state's ordinary garnishment packet as a solution to this Delaware restriction.

Delaware's court guides describe other collection routes. In the Court of Common Pleas, a writ of fieri facias, usually shortened to Fi. Fa., is used with the sheriff for execution. Its guide also explains transferring a judgment to Superior Court when pursuing a real-estate lien through that court's records.

For a Justice of the Peace judgment, the court provides a separate revival process using CF16. The relevant time period and procedure depend on the court and judgment. Identify the case type first rather than applying a general nationwide renewal calendar.

The applicable official starting points are Delaware Code, title 10, chapter 35: attachment and section 3502(b), Delaware Courts: Common Pleas judgment collection. Use the current issuer's forms and instructions for the particular case.

For a Delaware company, search its formation history and then investigate real property, receivables or business interests where they actually exist. The Common Pleas guide's transfer process is important because a judgment in one court is not automatically the same as a properly docketed real-estate lien in another.

The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 estimates report an owner-occupied housing rate of 73.0% and a median value of owner-occupied housing of $352,000 in Delaware. The rate refers to occupied housing units, not a percentage of people. The value is not an estimate of equity available to creditors. Census QuickFacts: Delaware.

Business-entity tracing, real estate in the three counties and enforceable nonbank property interests can be more useful initial branches than assuming bank deposits are the obvious target.

The costly mistake is ordering an expensive account search before checking whether the proposed attachment route is available. Delaware's bank-attachment rule is a reason to evaluate collectibility first, not a claim that every asset associated with a Delaware person or company is untouchable.

• Delaware Code, title 10, chapter 35: attachment and section 3502(b)
• Delaware Courts: Common Pleas judgment collection
• Delaware Courts: reviving a Justice of the Peace judgment

Compare other states and asset types.

Delaware hears every divorce in one court. Under 13 Del. C. 1504 the Family Court of the State of Delaware has jurisdiction over all actions for divorce and annulment where either party, when the action began, actually resided in the state, or was stationed there as a member of the armed services, continuously for 6 or more months immediately before the action began, and the file is kept in the Records Room of the Family Court location where the case was filed, in New Castle, Kent or Sussex County. Under 13 Del. C. 1516 all hearings and trials are private, though the court may open one to a person with a direct and legitimate interest in the case or a legitimate educational or research interest in the court's work. The Family Court's Public Access Policy of May 8, 2007 states that all case records and information are open to the public except as the policy provides, lists records made inaccessible by statute, common law or court rule, medical and psychological records, criminal history and similar items among the exceptions, and withholds records sealed or closed by court order; the court's own chart on privacy of proceedings ties divorce, alimony and property division to section 1516 and to Family Court Civil Rules 90.1(c) and 42.2, and Rule 90.1(c) makes the records of Family Court proceedings private, open only to the court and its staff, the parties and their attorneys, other courts and public agencies, and persons the court specifically approves because they have a legitimate interest, unless a statute or rule requires otherwise, while section 1516(d) provides that no record or evidence in a divorce case shall be impounded or access to it refused.

The sworn money form

Delaware's financial disclosure comes after the decree. Under Family Court Civil Rule 16(c), a petitioner who requests ancillary relief, which means property division or alimony, completes a notarized written report in the form approved by the court, the Ancillary Financial Disclosure Report, and forwards it to the respondent, who then files the original with the court; the court may waive the requirement on written motion. A divorce with no ancillary claims therefore holds no Ancillary Financial Disclosure Report, and in a case with one the report is filed with the court and sits in the file with the court's property division and alimony orders.

Finding and reading the file

The Family Court offers no online public search of its files. A party or attorney, or another person the court allows to see the file, schedules a visit through the court's online records request form or by calling the records department, and reviews the file at the Records Room of the Family Court location where it is kept, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with photo identification and in the presence of a Family Court staff member. Under the Schedule of Assessed Costs effective July 20, 2026, document copying is $1.00 per page, certified copies $4.00 per page, exemplified copies $5.00 per page, and retrieval of an archived case $25.00; a certified copy of a divorce decree costs $4.00 and a non-certified copy $1.00.

Bankruptcy files for Delaware residents

Delaware is one bankruptcy district, the District of Delaware at deb.uscourts.gov, at 824 North Market Street in Wilmington. Its schedules name each deposit account by institution and the employer by name and are public under 11 U.S.C. 107, and they are read on PACER from anywhere, with none of the Records Room procedure.

After the file: discovery in aid of execution

A Delaware judgment creditor uses discovery in aid of execution under Rule 69 of the Superior Court Civil Rules, taking the judgment debtor's testimony and documents about assets by the ordinary discovery methods before levying. The Delaware judgments and liens page covers the procedure.

• 13 Del. C. chapter 15. What it's useful for: section 1504 on jurisdiction and 1516 on private hearings.
• Family Court Public Access Policy. What it's useful for: which case records are open and which are excepted.
• Family Court Civil Rules. What it's useful for: Rule 16(c), the Ancillary Financial Disclosure Report.
• Access to Family Court records. What it's useful for: the Records Room procedure.
• Schedule of Assessed Costs, effective July 20, 2026. What it's useful for: copy, certification and archive retrieval fees.

The national guide covers what stays private, the collection tools for every asset class and what a search and levy can cost: Asset Search, what public records reveal and what stays private.