diff --git a/src/main/java/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/UpdateThingShadowRequestHandler.java b/src/main/java/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/UpdateThingShadowRequestHandler.java
index ac71d6c0..c11e091c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/UpdateThingShadowRequestHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/UpdateThingShadowRequestHandler.java
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@
 import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.LOG_SHADOW_NAME_KEY;
 import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.LOG_THING_NAME_KEY;
 import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.SHADOW_DOCUMENT_METADATA;
+import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE;
+import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE_DELTA;
 import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.util.JsonUtil.isNullOrMissing;
 import static software.amazon.awssdk.aws.greengrass.GreengrassCoreIPCService.UPDATE_THING_SHADOW;
 
@@ -129,6 +131,14 @@ public UpdateThingShadowHandlerResponse handleRequest(UpdateThingShadowRequest r
                             .orElseThrow(() ->
                                     new InvalidRequestParametersException(ErrorMessage
                                             .createInvalidPayloadJsonMessage("")));
+
+                    // drop "delta" from the state (if we have a state).
+                    // delta isn't valid for users to set.
+                    if (updateDocumentRequest.has(SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE)
+                            && updateDocumentRequest.get(SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE).isObject()) {
+                        ((ObjectNode) updateDocumentRequest.get(SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE))
+                                .remove(SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE_DELTA);
+                    }
                     // Validate the payload schema
                     JsonUtil.validatePayloadSchema(updateDocumentRequest);
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/UpdateThingShadowRequestHandlerTest.java b/src/test/java/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/UpdateThingShadowRequestHandlerTest.java
index 0fdd3473..db57f49f 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/UpdateThingShadowRequestHandlerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/UpdateThingShadowRequestHandlerTest.java
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
 import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.ERROR_MESSAGE_FIELD_NAME;
 import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.SHADOW_DOCUMENT_METADATA;
 import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE;
+import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE_DELTA;
 import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.SHADOW_DOCUMENT_TIMESTAMP;
 import static com.aws.greengrass.shadowmanager.model.Constants.SHADOW_DOCUMENT_VERSION;
 import static com.aws.greengrass.testcommons.testutilities.ExceptionLogProtector.ignoreExceptionOfType;
@@ -70,10 +71,12 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.notNullValue;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.startsWith;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyLong;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doNothing;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.doThrow;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.lenient;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
@@ -97,6 +100,7 @@ class UpdateThingShadowRequestHandlerTest {
     private final static String GOOD_DOCUMENTS_PAYLOAD_WITH_NO_PREVIOUS_FILE_NAME = "good_documents_payload_with_no_previous.json";
     private final static String GOOD_DELTA_FILE_NAME = "good_delta_node.json";
     private final static String BAD_UPDATE_DOCUMENT_WITHOUT_STATE_NODE_FILE_NAME = "bad_update_document_without_state_node.json";
+    private final static String BAD_UPDATE_DOCUMENT_WITH_DELTA_FILE_NAME = "bad_update_document_with_delta_node.json";
 
     @Mock
     AuthorizationHandlerWrapper mockAuthorizationHandlerWrapper;
@@ -735,6 +739,26 @@ void GIVEN_bad_update_document_with_no_state_node_WHEN_handle_request_THEN_throw
         assertInvalidArgumentsErrorFromPayloadUpdate(null, badUpdateRequest, expectedErrorString, expectedErrorCode, context);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void GIVEN_update_document_with_delta_WHEN_handle_request_THEN_delta_is_dropped_from_data() throws IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        byte[] badUpdateRequest =
+                getJsonFromResource(RESOURCE_DIRECTORY_NAME + BAD_UPDATE_DOCUMENT_WITH_DELTA_FILE_NAME);
+        UpdateThingShadowRequestHandler updateThingShadowIPCHandler = new UpdateThingShadowRequestHandler(mockDao, mockAuthorizationHandlerWrapper, mockPubSubClientWrapper, mockSynchronizeHelper, mockSyncHandler);
+        ArgumentCaptor<JsonNode> documentCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(JsonNode.class);
+        doNothing().when(mockSyncHandler).pushCloudUpdateSyncRequest(any(), any(), documentCaptor.capture());
+        when(mockDao.updateShadowThing(any(), any(), any(), anyLong()))
+                .thenReturn(Optional.of(new byte[]{}));
+
+        UpdateThingShadowHandlerResponse actualResponse =
+                updateThingShadowIPCHandler.handleRequest(new UpdateThingShadowRequest()
+                        .withPayload(badUpdateRequest).withThingName("thing"), TEST_SERVICE);
+        Optional<JsonNode> responseJson = JsonUtil.getPayloadJson(actualResponse.getUpdateThingShadowResponse().getPayload());
+        assertTrue(responseJson.isPresent());
+        // Validate that the state doesn't contain the delta
+        assertThat(documentCaptor.getValue().toString(), not(containsString("delta")));
+        assertFalse(responseJson.get().get(SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE).has(SHADOW_DOCUMENT_STATE_DELTA));
+    }
+
     @Test
     void GIVEN_bad_update_with_non_int_version_WHEN_handle_request_THEN_throw_invalid_argument_error_and_send_message_on_rejected_topic(ExtensionContext context)
             throws IOException, URISyntaxException {
diff --git a/src/test/resources/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/json_shadow_examples/bad_update_document_with_delta_node.json b/src/test/resources/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/json_shadow_examples/bad_update_document_with_delta_node.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..90777bc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/com/aws/greengrass/shadowmanager/ipc/json_shadow_examples/bad_update_document_with_delta_node.json
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+  "version": 1,
+  "clientToken": "device",
+  "state": {
+    "desired": {
+      "a": 1
+    },
+    "delta": {
+      "something": {}
+    }
+  }
+}