State requirements / Delaware
Delaware parenting class requirement
Required, certified statewide, 180-day clock
Delaware courts order parents in any case with children up to age 17 to pay for and complete a Parenting Education Course. Certification is statewide through the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families, online delivery is already accepted, and in a divorce the petition is dismissed if the certificate does not arrive within 180 days.
The requirement at a glance
| Who must attend | Parents in any case where there are living children of the marriage up to age 17, unless the court decides on motion that participation is not necessary. Family Court applies it more broadly: all parents in a divorce with children up to 17, all parents who are party to a custody proceeding, and a parent in a visitation proceeding where the other party is also a parent of the child. Parties do not have to attend the same course. |
| Hours required | 4 to be certified; programs run 6 to 8 |
| Deadline | In a divorce, the certificate is due within 180 days of the date the petition was filed. In a custody or visitation case, both the petitioner and the respondent must complete the class before the final hearing. |
| Authority | 13 Del. C. 1507(h) |
| Fees and waivers | The fee is capped at $100 per adult, and listed providers offer financial assistance. |
| Our price | $25 for one parent, $50 for both parents on the same case. Scholarship seats are funded by donors, so no parent is turned away for money. |
| Our registry status | On our active build and filing list. We will announce the day this state accepts us, and not a day before. |
What the law actually says
“the Court shall order that the parties pay for and participate in a “Parenting Education Course” unless the Court, upon motion, determines that participation in the course is deemed not necessary”
13 Del. C. 1507(h)Quoted from the official text. Read it yourself at the source below.The part nobody explains
Filing your certificate
The course gives you a certificate and you give the original to the Court. It can be mailed or emailed to the Court's divorce ancillary address. To use a comparable out-of-state program you file a motion attaching the curriculum and ask the Court to recognize it.
If the deadline passes
In a divorce case, if the certificate of completion does not arrive within 180 days of filing, the petition is dismissed. In a custody or visitation case, failure to attend may be weighed in deciding the case, or may result in dismissal. That 180-day dismissal is a Family Court practice rule rather than statutory text, but it is real and it is enforced.
Who approves providers in Delaware
Delaware is the cleanest statewide door in the country: the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families certifies the course, and Family Court publishes the approved list by county. Online delivery is already accepted, and the published list names both local providers delivering by video conference and an out-of-state online provider. A litigant with a demonstrable history of domestic violence is ordered into a separate, more intensive course, and the parents may not attend the same one.
What you get from us
- The full course, start to finish, on a phone or a laptop, with your progress saved. Lifetime access, no thirty-day expiry and no extension fees.
- Your certificate the moment you finish, by email, free. A mailed paper copy is optional.
- Free instant verification for your court. A clerk or judge confirms the certificate at our verification page with no account and no phone call.
- Our acceptance guarantee: if your specific court declines this certificate, you get a full refund, no processing fee and no deadline to claim it.
Check us on the law
Every fact on this page traces to an official source. Read them yourself.