Hawaii Probate and Intestate Succession: What Happens Without a Will (2026)

Hawaii probate cases are heard by the Circuit Court's Estate and Probate Branch, and Hawaii is one of the few states that adopted the Uniform Probate Code closely enough that a court registrar, not a judge, can open an uncontested estate in about a week.

Information last verified on 2026-07-16. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How Probate Works in Hawaii

Hawaii genuinely adopted the Uniform Probate Code, codified as Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 560 (Title 30A), and its procedural tracks follow the UPC model closely rather than approximating it. Probate is handled by the Circuit Court in whichever of Hawaii's 4 judicial circuits the decedent lived; the larger circuits, including the First Circuit on Oahu, maintain a dedicated Estate and Probate Branch and a separate Small Estates Office.

Informal probate, under HRS Chapter 560, Article III, is the most common and lowest-friction track. A court registrar, not a judge, reviews the application, and if it is in order, issues a Statement of Informal Probate along with Letters appointing the personal representative, without any court hearing. It is available only for uncontested matters, and practitioner sources report that appointment can often happen within about 5 to 7 business days of a complete application.

Formal probate is a court-supervised judicial proceeding, required when there is a will contest, a dispute among heirs, or another complication that needs a judge's determination. Once opened, formal proceedings further split into unsupervised and supervised administration, consistent with the standard three-tier UPC structure; supervised administration, where the court stays actively involved throughout, is used rarely, typically when a beneficiary needs ongoing court protection.

Hawaii also has a summary administration track for estates where assets, after allowances and costs, are insufficient to pay all claims in full. In that situation, the personal representative can close the estate by filing a closing statement without completing the full formal process.

Intestate Succession in Hawaii: Who Inherits Without a Will

This is where Hawaii's genuine UPC adoption matters most. Unlike states that give a surviving spouse a flat fraction of the estate, Hawaii's intestate succession statute, HRS § 560:2-102, uses a dollar-bracket formula: the spouse (or "reciprocal beneficiary," a Hawaii-specific legal status distinct from marriage) receives a fixed dollar amount off the top, plus a fraction of whatever balance remains, and both the dollar amount and the fraction change depending on who else survives.

The table's dollar-bracket rows are the ones that distinguish Hawaii from a simple 50/50 or one-third split, but the most common real-world case, a spouse and only their shared children with no children from outside the marriage on either side, actually falls under the very first scenario: the spouse takes the entire estate under HRS § 560:2-102(1)(B), the same result as if there were no descendants at all. The dollar brackets apply only once a blended family is involved. One bracket covers a blended family where every one of the decedent's children is also the spouse's child, but the spouse separately has children of their own from a prior relationship; the spouse's dollar bracket there is $330,000. The other bracket covers the opposite blended scenario, where the decedent has at least one child who is not the surviving spouse's child, such as a child from a prior marriage; there, the spouse's dollar bracket drops to $220,000. Both brackets carry a one-half share of whatever balance remains after the dollar amount, but which bracket applies depends entirely on whose children they are.

Whatever does not pass to the spouse, or the entire estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes under HRS § 560:2-103: first to the decedent's descendants by representation; if none survive, to the decedent's parents equally; if no parent survives, to the issue of the parents, meaning siblings and their descendants, by representation; and if none of those survive, to grandparents or their issue, split between the paternal and maternal sides. Hawaii is not a community-property state, so this framework governs the full probate estate rather than just one spouse's separately-owned half.

One way to make sure your property goes to the people you actually choose, rather than following Hawaii's intestate succession order, is to have a valid will in place. recordinglaw.com's free Hawaii Last Will and Testament Generator can help you create one, with no account required.

Small Estate and Simplified Probate in Hawaii

Hawaii's small estate affidavit, under HRS § 560:3-1201, is available when the gross value of the decedent's estate located in Hawaii is $100,000 or less. Motor vehicles registered in the decedent's name may be transferred regardless of value and do not count against the cap; the statute contains no exclusion for property passing to a surviving spouse. No court filing is required. The affidavit, along with a certified death certificate, is presented directly to the bank, institution, or person holding the decedent's personal property, using official form 3CE210 available through the Hawaii State Judiciary. It cannot be used to transfer real property.

Because Hawaii's median home price far exceeds the $100,000 threshold, this affidavit is realistically usable mainly for estates consisting of personal property only, or very modest estates with no in-state real property. Estates that include a home typically need to use the informal or formal probate track instead, or the summary-closing option described above.

Hawaii Estate Tax

Unlike most states, Hawaii levies its own state estate tax, separate from and in addition to the federal estate tax; it does not have a separate inheritance tax, since the tax is assessed against the estate rather than individual beneficiaries. The 2026 exemption threshold is $5.49 million per individual, with rates graduated from 10% up to 20%, and the top 20% rate applying to the portion of a taxable estate above $10 million. Portability lets a married couple shelter roughly $10.98 million combined. This is separate from the federal estate tax, which in 2026 applies only above $15,000,000 per person.

Do You Need a Probate Attorney?

A probate attorney is worth engaging when a will contest is likely, when the estate includes real property that pushes it past the small estate affidavit's threshold, when the family is blended in a way that puts the spouse's share into a different dollar bracket than expected, or when the estate is large enough to raise Hawaii's own estate tax. For a straightforward, uncontested estate, Hawaii's informal probate track, handled by a registrar without a hearing, is specifically designed to be navigable without one. See Probate by State for how Hawaii's dollar-bracket approach compares to other states' intestate succession rules.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about probate and intestate succession in Hawaii as of the verification date above. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for advice from a probate attorney licensed in Hawaii, particularly for a contested estate, a blended family, or an estate large enough to raise Hawaii's state estate tax. Figures and thresholds change; verify current details directly with HRS Chapter 560 or the Hawaii State Judiciary before relying on any figure here.

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Last updated: 2026-07-16. Figures and statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-07-16.

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