Probate in Hawaii: do you need a lawyer, and what it costs

Settling an estate in Hawaii

What an executor deals with after the funeral: the will, the court, creditors, tax and closing the estate. Each fact links to the statute it comes from and shows the date we last read it.

Filing the original will

In Hawaii, whoever holds the original will must, when asked by an interested person after the death, promptly hand it to someone who can start probate or, if no one is known, deposit it with the court. The law sets no fixed number of days, and a person who knowingly holds it back can owe damages, possibly tripled.

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 560:2-516Read the source · web.archive.orgchecked Oct 5, 2026

Which court handles probate

In Hawaii, probate is handled by the circuit court for the judicial circuit where the person who died lived. If they lived out of state, it can be opened in any circuit where they owned property.

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 560:3-201Read the source · web.archive.orgchecked Oct 5, 2026

Creditors' deadline to make claims

In Hawaii, a notice to creditors may be published once a week for two weeks in a local newspaper, and known creditors can be sent a written notice. Creditors then have four months from the first publication (or 60 days from a mailed notice, if later) to present claims. If no notice is given at all, claims are cut off 18 months after the death.

Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 560:3-801, 560:3-803Read the source · web.archive.orgchecked Oct 5, 2026

Estate inventory

In Hawaii, the executor or administrator (called the personal representative) must prepare an inventory of what the person who died owned, with values as of the date of death, within three months after being appointed, and file it with the court or mail it. A copy goes to any interested person who asks.

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 560:3-706Read the source · web.archive.orgchecked Oct 5, 2026

The order estate debts are paid

In Hawaii, if the estate can't pay every bill, claims are paid in a set order: the costs of running the estate first, then reasonable funeral costs, then debts and taxes the federal government puts first, then last-illness medical bills, then state-preferred debts and taxes, then other state Medicaid repayment claims, and finally everything else.

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 560:3-805Read the source · web.archive.orgchecked Oct 5, 2026

State estate and inheritance tax

Hawaii has its own estate tax. A return is needed if the taxable estate is more than $5,490,000, which is far below the federal threshold. Hawaii has no inheritance tax, and the return and any tax are due nine months after the death.

Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 236E (§ 236E-6)Read the statute · files.hawaii.govchecked Oct 5, 2026effective Jan 1, 2018

Closing an estate

In Hawaii, an estate can be closed by the executor or administrator filing a sworn closing statement with the court, no earlier than six months after appointment, saying the creditor deadline has passed, the estate is fully settled, and the heirs and beneficiaries got a copy and a written accounting. The role ends one year later if no one has started a court case. A court order of complete settlement is the formal alternative.

Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 560:3-1003, 560:3-1001Read the source · web.archive.orgchecked Oct 5, 2026