This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for personal injury in Delaware, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a personal injury in Delaware costs on average $5,600, typically $2,250-$11,200 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 6-12 months to resolve. Common related costs include court filing fee ($200-$500) and medical records and bills ($100-$500).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $600 | $1,850 | $3,700 | 3-6 months |
| Moderate | $2,250 | $5,600 | $11,200 | 6-12 months |
| Complex | $5,300 | $15,900 | $31,800 | 12-36 months |
Last verified: June 2026
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</script>Personal injury cost formation works differently from most other legal matters because the attorney fee is usually contingent — a percentage of any settlement or verdict rather than an hourly bill. That percentage typically rises if the case proceeds to litigation or trial rather than settling early, since more attorney hours and case costs are involved. If there is no recovery, the client generally owes no attorney fee, though case costs (filing fees, expert reports) may still apply depending on the retainer agreement.
Separate from the attorney's percentage, a personal injury case accumulates its own case costs: expert witness fees (medical experts, accident reconstructionists), records requests, deposition transcription, and court filing fees if a lawsuit is filed. Simple claims that settle directly with an insurer before litigation avoid most of these costs; complex cases involving disputed liability, multiple parties, or serious injury typically require the full expert and litigation cost stack.
Take a moderate-complexity personal injury matter in Delaware. The recorded median total is $5,600, with reported quotes clustering between $2,250 and $11,200. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,800–$6,000, which leaves roughly $0–$3,800 of the Delaware median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. One further recorded fee is not itemised above and is not in that total.
At $5,600, the median personal injury cost in Delaware runs 14% above the $4,928 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Delaware carries 3 rows — simple, $600–$3,700 at $0–$0/hr over 3-6 months; moderate, $2,250–$11,200 at $0–$0/hr over 6-12 months; complex, $5,300–$31,800 at $0–$0/hr over 12-36 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it above the midpoint, short of the top quarter.
$5,600 is a median, not the middle of the band — $3,350 above the $2,250 floor, $5,600 under the $11,200 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 28.
At 9th of 28, Delaware sits above the midpoint of the personal injury table: $400 more than the $5,200 median state, or 8%, with 8 states recording a higher median.
New York ($5,700) and New Jersey ($5,550) bracket Delaware inside a $150 window — narrow enough that 9th is close to arbitrary.
6 tracked states — Virginia, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey among them — record a median within three percent of Delaware's $5,600. The figure sits in the densest part of the personal injury distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Delaware |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Illinois | $5,950 | +$350 |
| 4 | New Hampshire | $5,900 | +$300 |
| 5 | Alaska | $5,800 | +$200 |
| 6 | Virginia | $5,750 | +$150 |
| 7 | Connecticut | $5,700 | +$100 |
| 8 | New York | $5,700 | +$100 |
| 9 | Delaware | $5,600 | — |
| 10 | New Jersey | $5,550 | −$50 |
| 11 | Wisconsin | $5,550 | −$50 |
| 12 | Colorado | $5,450 | −$150 |
| 13 | Massachusetts | $5,300 | −$300 |
| 14 | District of Columbia | $5,250 | −$350 |
| 15 | Georgia | $5,150 | −$450 |
The 9th position is not a stable fact about Delaware: $100 up or $50 down moves Delaware a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 14 rows, 7 above and 7 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing New Hampshire, Alaska, Virginia, Connecticut, New York and adding $300 to the $5,600 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under New Jersey, Wisconsin, Colorado, Massachusetts, District of Columbia: $350.
$1,050 short of Hawaii ($6,650), $2,100 clear of Arkansas ($3,500).
From $2,250 to $11,200 the moderate band is $8,950 wide, close to the $8,325 peer median.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $622 a month across the 6-12 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $663 a month across the 12-36 months recorded for a complex one.
| Measure | Delaware | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $5,600 | 9th |
| Hourly median | — | — |
| Implied hours | — | — |
| Simple median | $1,850 | 3rd |
| Complex median | $15,900 | 14th |
The tiers rank Delaware very differently. It is 3rd at the simple tier, 9th at moderate, 14th at complex of 28 — a fall of 11 places as the matter becomes harder. The state is expensive to start a personal injury in and comparatively ordinary to finish one in.
$1,850 is 3rd of 28 on a straightforward personal injury, under Hawaii ($1,900) and over Massachusetts ($1,850), $250 over the $1,600 tier midpoint.
$15,900 is 14th of 28 once contested, between Massachusetts ($16,400) and Pennsylvania ($15,900), $0 off the $15,900 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in Delaware: the simple tier reaches $3,700 where the moderate tier starts at $2,250, and the moderate tier reaches $11,200 where the complex tier starts at $5,300. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | Delaware | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,850 | 3rd | $1,600 | — |
| moderate | $5,600 | 9th | $5,200 | — |
| complex | $15,900 | 14th | $15,900 | — |
$1,850 puts Delaware 3rd of 28 on straightforward matters, 6 up on its moderate position, and $250 (16%) over the $1,600 tier midpoint.
Hawaii ($1,900) and Massachusetts ($1,850) bracket it — a $50 window.
4 states sit within three percent of the $1,850 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
$15,900 drops Delaware to 14th of 28 on contested matters, 5 below its moderate position and $0 (0%) over the $15,900 tier midpoint.
Massachusetts ($16,400) and Pennsylvania ($15,900) bracket it — a $500 window.
2 states sit within three percent of the $15,900 here, against 6 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $1,900 |
| 2 | Hawaii | $1,900 |
| 3 | Delaware | $1,850 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | $1,850 |
| 5 | New Hampshire | $1,850 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | California | $16,400 |
| 13 | Massachusetts | $16,400 |
| 14 | Delaware | $15,900 |
| 15 | Pennsylvania | $15,900 |
| 16 | Wisconsin | $15,500 |
In Delaware a personal injury is 5th of 8 at $5,600, between Immigration and Bankruptcy. At 50% of Criminal Defense ($11,150).
The state does not rank uniformly. Delaware is 7th of 28 for DUI / DWI but 22nd for Bankruptcy, a 15-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 9th on personal injury says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 27% above its own midpoint, while Bankruptcy runs 1% above its own midpoint — 26 percentage points apart. A single "Delaware is expensive" or "Delaware is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The largest tracked median in Delaware is 5.2x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
6 of 7 matter types rank Delaware in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 1 between; personal injury is 9th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 70th percentile of the 28 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $4,000 | $11,150 | $31,150 | 33 | 14th | +9% | New Jersey |
| Divorce | $3,300 | $10,200 | $24,000 | 30 | 11th | +19% | New Hampshire |
| DUI / DWI | $3,800 | $8,850 | $20,750 | 29 | 7th | +19% | Colorado |
| Immigration | $2,250 | $6,050 | $13,650 | 20 | — | +27% | — |
| Personal Injury | $1,850 | $5,600 | $15,900 | — | 9th | +8% | New York |
| Bankruptcy | $1,750 | $3,650 | $5,900 | 13 | 22nd | +1% | Colorado |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,250 | $2,400 | $4,600 | 8 | 16th | +8% | Colorado |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $750 | $2,150 | $7,100 | 7 | 17th | +4% | Colorado |
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from New Jersey ($5,550) lands $50 under Delaware; from New York ($5,700), $100 over; from the $5,200 table midpoint, $400 out.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Delawarecourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.