Hawaii Inheritance: Plan an Estate or Settle One

The Aloha State

Plan your Hawaii estate or settle a loved one's: free forms, probate courts, calculators, agencies, banks, and attorneys, in one place.

Planning your estate in Hawaii

Free Hawaii estate planning forms, calculators that price a will or trust, and Hawaii estate planning attorneys.

Estate Planning in Hawaii →

Someone died. Settling an estate in Hawaii

Hawaii probate courts, executor forms, probate cost and executor fee calculators, and the agencies and banks to notify after a death.

Hawaii Resources for Executors →

What Makes Hawaii Different

Hawaii has adopted the Uniform Probate Code, has enacted the Uniform Trust Code, and has adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act.

Probate of a simple estate in Hawaii runs 6 months to 9 months; an average estate takes 9 months to 15 months. The court filing fee is $215; attorney fees are reasonable compensation; executor compensation typically runs 2.2% to 3.8% of the estate. On a $500,000 estate the estimated total comes to $28,206. Informal, unsupervised probate is available for uncontested estates.

Certified death certificates come from the Hawaii Department of Health - Vital Records Issuance Section at $10 a copy, $4 for each additional copy ordered with it. Once appointed, the personal representative files the estate inventory within 90 days of appointment and publishes the notice to creditors for 2 consecutive weeks.

A surviving spouse left out of the will can elect to take a statutory share instead. Property left to a minor under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act is released at 21 years of age. Hawaii taxes income at a top rate of 11%. An heir's capital gains on inherited assets: the state's preferential capital gains rates, capped at whichever computation produces the lower tax.

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated September 20, 2026

Legal Sources

Estimated from the 16 state statutes that set an executor fee schedule (median and interquartile range at this estate value)
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 607-5(b)(14), (c)(32); § 607-5.7(a)(2); Hawaii State Judiciary, List of Civil Filing Fees (updated 6/17/2022)
Hawaii Department of Health - Vital Records Issuance Section
HRS § 235-51(c), § 235-2.4(a)(2)(F); Act 46 SLH 2024 (H.B. 2404)
HRS § 235-51(f) (alternative tax on net capital gain, 7.25%) with § 235-51(c) rate table for taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2024 (Act 46, SLH 2024)

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Data sourced from Hawaii statutes and official state code. How we research.

Find Your County’s Probate Court

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Each county in Hawaii handles probate matters through its local court system. Click on any county to view specific court contact information, judges, filing procedures, and local requirements.

All 5 Hawaii counties

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