DE · rules
Del. Fam. Ct. Civ. R. 101
Process; complaint; prayers
(a) In accordance with the authority set forth in 13 Del. C. Section 1508(h), the original
summons shall be returnable 20 days after the issuance thereof, unless the complaint contains
the allegations prescribed by 13 Del. C. Section 1508(b), in which event such summons shall
be returnable 30 days after the issuance thereof. An alias summons shall be returnable 30
days after issuance thereof.
(b) Each original petition for divorce or annulment shall contain, as an exhibit to the petition, an
original or certified copy of the certificate of the marriage or certificate of civil union
between the petitioner and the respondent. Previously filed certificates may be substituted by
reference. Where a marriage certificate or a certificate of civil union is not written in English,
a certified translation of the marriage certificate or certificate of civil unions will also be
submitted. Upon good cause shown, the Court may accept a petition not in conformity with
this requirement.
(c) Every petitioner in a divorce action shall provide the social security number of the petitioner
and respondent to be maintained in the case file. If the respondent’s social security number is
unknown to the petitioner and petitioner is unable to obtain the respondent’s social security
number prior to the filing of the petition, the petitioner must so indicate in an affidavit.
Further, the petitioner must make a good faith effort to obtain the social security number of
the respondent prior to the hearing and, if unsuccessful, be prepared to describe to the Court
reason for unavailability of the respondent’s social security number.
(d) Each original petition for divorce or annulment shall include a designation by the petitioner
whether the petitioner would like his or her divorce or annulment, if uncontested, to proceed
with a hearing or without a hearing pursuant to 13 Del. C. § 1517 so long as all requirements
to proceed without a hearing have been met.
(e) Any prayer for ancillary relief permitted by 13 Del. C. ch. 15 may be included in the petition,
answer or motion, where appropriate to the action.
History
Amended, effective Sept. 1, 1987; Dec. 31, 1999, effective Jan. 30, 2000; Dec. 6, 2004; effective Jan. 30, 2012; effective Nov. 8, 2013; amended, Oct. 5, 2017, effective Jan. 1, 2018; Sept. 22, 2021, effective Dec. 1, 2021.
Provenance
- Source
- courts.delaware.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-23
- Edition
- 2026-09-23
- Content hash
ab238e35cd9a6c9fb1606708857e7e499162922a5f23738cbab90e1cc1f910d0
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.