it appears that on windows to delete the file i need to be able to modify it (even if I can read and write the file i may not be able to delete it).

Correct! It can also be more complex than that.

The simplest way to get the full DACLs for a file or directory is:

$dir = 'users'; 
$rights = `icacls $dir`; 
print $rights;;
users NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)(F)
      BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)(F)
      BUILTIN\Users:(RX)
      BUILTIN\Users:(OI)(CI)(IO)(GR,GE)
      Everyone:(RX)
      Everyone:(OI)(CI)(IO)(GR,GE)

Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files
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See the help for the icacls command for the explanation of the output

Its not the friendliest format for the information, but it is easily parsed for specific purposes.

Alternatively, take a look at jenda's Win32::FileSecurity. Be warned, it has limitations, lacks documentation and isn't the simplest of interfaces.