Delaware FOIA: 15 Business Days, Fees, and Attorney General Petitions

Delaware's Freedom of Information Act gives a public body 15 business days to respond, and it offers something most states do not: a free petition to the Attorney General asking for a written determination that a public body violated FOIA. Who may request is a genuinely nuanced question in Delaware, and this page presents it precisely.

Information last verified on 2026-08-04. This article presents general legal information and has not been reviewed by a licensed Delaware attorney.

This page covers Delaware state and local records. Federal agencies are governed by the separate federal Freedom of Information Act; see how to file a FOIA request. For a fifty-state comparison, see the public records laws by state hub.

What Delaware's FOIA covers

Delaware's Freedom of Information Act occupies Chapter 100 of Title 29, sections 10001 through 10008. Like Connecticut's, it governs both records and open meetings. It reaches state agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts, and the bodies caught by the chapter's definition of a public body.

Section 10001 states the purpose:

"...to further the accountability of government to the citizens of this State, this chapter is adopted..."

Section 10003(a) states the right:

"All public records shall be open to inspection and copying during regular business hours by the custodian of the records for the appropriate public body. Reasonable access to and reasonable facilities for copying of these records shall not be denied to any citizen."

Note the difference between those two sentences. It is the subject of the next section, and it is the thing most guides get wrong in one direction or the other.

Who can request Delaware public records

Delaware appears on most lists of states that restrict public records access to their own residents. That characterization is directionally right but textually imprecise, and the distinction matters if you are an out-of-state requester deciding whether to file.

Here is what the statute actually says. The operative access clause, section 10003(a), provides that reasonable access and reasonable copying facilities "shall not be denied to any citizen." It does not say "any citizen of this State." The chapter's policy declaration at section 10001, by contrast, does frame the law in terms of "accountability of government to the citizens of this State."

So the residency limitation is clearer in the statement of purpose than in the black-letter grant of access. This page does not attempt to resolve that tension, because resolving it is a question for Delaware courts and the Attorney General rather than for a general information page.

What that means for you as a practical matter:

• If you live in Delaware, say so in your request. There is no ambiguity about your standing.
• If you do not, understand that a public body may raise residency as a ground for refusal, and that Delaware is commonly treated as a resident-restricted state. You may still ask. If the body refuses on residency grounds, that is a question worth putting to the Attorney General under section 10005(e) or discussing with a Delaware attorney rather than treating as settled.
• Do not assume the label decides your case either way. A guide that says flatly "only Delaware residents may request" and one that says flatly "anyone may request" are both stating more than the statutory text supports.

The 15-business-day deadline

Delaware's timing rule is one of the clearest in the country, and it is a genuine response deadline rather than a mere acknowledgment requirement.

Section 10003(h)(1) provides that the public body shall respond to a FOIA request as soon as possible, but in any event within 15 business days after receipt, by doing one of three things:

1. Providing access to the requested records.
2. Denying access to the records or parts of them.
3. Advising that additional time is needed, but only on one of three grounds the statute enumerates: the request is for voluminous records, it requires legal advice, or a record is in storage or archived.

That third option is where most large requests land, and the statute constrains it more tightly than a general "we need more time" reading suggests. Those three grounds are a closed list. Section 10003(h)(1) provides that if access cannot be provided within 15 business days, the public body shall cite one of the reasons in that subsection why more time is needed and provide a good-faith estimate of how much additional time is required. An extension notice that names no ground, or rests on a ground outside the three, does not meet the statute. Ask in writing which of the three enumerated grounds applies, and for the estimate, citing section 10003(h)(1).

Because the clock runs from receipt, send the request in a way that documents delivery, and count business days rather than calendar days.

Fees

Delaware sets its fee structure in the statute rather than leaving it to each agency, which makes an invoice easy to check.

Copies. The first 20 pages of standard black-and-white copies are provided free of charge. Beyond that, the charge is 10 cents per sheet for single-sided copies and 20 cents per sheet for double-sided copies. Oversized copies and color copies carry their own surcharges.

Administrative time. A public body may charge an administrative fee for requests that require more than one hour of staff time. The rate is constrained in a way worth knowing: it is billed at the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employee who is qualified to perform the work. A public body cannot bill a records search at a department director's salary if a records clerk could have done it.

Fee waivers. Delaware permits waivers but structures them differently from the federal FOIA, and the waiver reaches only one of the two charges above. The waiver clause sits inside section 10003(m)(2), the administrative fee provision: a FOIA policy adopted by a public body may include provisions for the waiver of some or all of the administrative fees, provided that the waiver applies equally to a particular class of persons, such as nonprofit organizations. Nothing in the statute authorizes waiving the per-sheet copying charges set by section 10003(m)(1). It is also not a case-by-case discretionary waiver for an individual requester who makes a persuasive argument.

That structural point is worth acting on. If you are with an organization that would fall inside a defined class, ask whether the public body has adopted an administrative fee waiver policy and what classes it covers. If you are an individual, the realistic cost levers are the free first 20 pages, staying inside the free first hour of administrative time, and asking for electronic delivery.

Exemptions and police records

Section 10002 contains Delaware's definitions and exclusions, and the exemptions operate mainly by carving categories out of the definition of a public record. They cover the familiar ground: personnel files where disclosure would constitute an invasion of personal privacy, records specifically exempted by statute, investigatory files compiled for civil or criminal law enforcement purposes, trade secrets and commercial or financial information, and similar categories.

The FOIA chapter contains no body-worn camera provision and no dedicated law enforcement track. A police record request is analyzed under the investigatory files exclusion and any other statute the agency invokes.

Practical guidance that follows:

• Ask the agency to identify the specific exclusion and the specific records withheld, in writing. The grounds are a statutory right, not a courtesy: section 10003(h)(2) provides that if a public body denies a request in whole or in part, its response shall indicate the reasons for the denial. The limit set by the same subsection is that the body is not required to provide an index, or any other compilation, as to each record or part of a record denied, so expect stated grounds rather than a document-by-document log.
• An open investigation is a temporary condition. A request renewed after a case closes often succeeds where the first one did not.
• Ask whether a redacted version can be produced where only part of a file implicates the exclusion.
• Ask about the retention schedule for any recording before it is overwritten.
• If the denial looks unsupported, the section 10005(e) attorney general petition described below costs nothing and produces a written determination.

For the general framework on emergency call recordings, see our explainer on whether 911 calls are public records.

How to file a Delaware FOIA request

Delaware has no single statewide portal covering every public body, though many state agencies publish their own request forms and a designated FOIA coordinator.

1. Send the request to the public body's FOIA coordinator or records custodian. For state agencies, the coordinator is usually listed on the agency's website. For counties and municipalities, start with the clerk.
2. Cite the act. Reference the Delaware Freedom of Information Act, 29 Del. C. section 10001 et seq., and cite section 10003(h)(1) when you note the 15-business-day deadline.
3. State your Delaware residency if you are a resident, given the textual question described above.
4. Describe the records specifically, naming the record type, custodian, and date range.
5. Ask for electronic copies where the records exist electronically, to avoid per-sheet charges beyond the free first 20 pages.
6. Ask for a fee estimate before any work beyond the first hour of administrative time.
7. Keep proof of the delivery date. The 15-business-day clock and the 60-day suit deadline both run from dated events.

Our public records request generator will draft a Delaware request with the correct citations. It runs in your browser and stores nothing.

Delaware's two enforcement tracks

Delaware gives a denied requester more than one road, and choosing correctly saves both time and money.

Track one: petition the Attorney General. Section 10005(e) allows any citizen to petition the Attorney General for a determination of whether a violation of FOIA occurred.

The mechanics of that petition come from the Delaware Department of Justice's own Open Government page rather than from the statute, and they are worth following exactly. According to that page, the Department reviews the petition, contacts the public body for a written response where necessary, and issues a written determination to the parties. Petitions are submitted in writing to the DOJ FOIA Coordinator, must describe the alleged violation, and should attach supporting documents such as the request, the denial, and relevant correspondence. The Department publishes its FOIA determinations as opinions, which are searchable and are useful precedent when you are arguing with another public body about the same issue.

Know the limit of this track, which the same Department of Justice page states plainly: the Attorney General's office cannot issue injunctions and cannot assess penalties against a public body. What you get is a written determination, which carries real persuasive weight and often resolves the dispute, but it is not a court order.

Track two: sue. Section 10005(b) allows a requester to bring suit within 60 days of the denial, in the county or city court where the public body ordinarily meets or where the plaintiff resides. Meeting-related violations go to the Court of Chancery. Sixty days is short, so if you are pursuing the Attorney General petition first, keep the litigation deadline in view.

The mandatory sequence. There is one situation where the order is not up to you. For records held by an office that the Attorney General is statutorily obligated to represent, the requester must first petition the Attorney General's Chief Deputy, and may then appeal an adverse determination to the Superior Court within 60 days. That exists because the Attorney General cannot simultaneously represent the agency and adjudicate a suit against it.

If you are unsure which track applies to the body you are dealing with, ask the DOJ FOIA Coordinator, and speak with a Delaware attorney before letting the 60-day window run.

Vital records are separate

Delaware birth, death, and marriage certificates are not FOIA requests. The Delaware Division of Public Health's Office of Vital Statistics issues them under eligibility rules that restrict certified copies to specified relatives and representatives.

If a death certificate is what you need, start with our guide to Delaware death records rather than filing under section 10003.

A note on scope

This page describes the Delaware Freedom of Information Act as of August 2026. It is general legal information, not legal advice, and it does not catalogue every exclusion in 29 Del. C. section 10002 or the separate statutes covering court and vital records. Where the statute's own text leaves a question open, as with the residency language, this page presents the text rather than resolving it. For a specific denial, consult an attorney licensed in Delaware.