Settle a small estate in Hawaii without probate

Collection of personal property by affidavit (HRS 560:3-1201)

Estates of $100,000 or less: administration by the clerk of the court (HRS 560:3-1205)

What counts toward the limit in Hawaii

Add up the gross value of the person's property in Hawaii that is part of the estate. Do not subtract debts or mortgages. Property that passes outside the estate, such as joint or payable-on-death accounts, is not part of the estate.

Law: HRS 560:3-1201, 560:1-201

In this state the total is counted at full value, without subtracting debts.

Source: Official page

Car or vehicle title after a death in Hawaii

If the car was jointly owned, the surviving owner signs the title as seller and as the new owner, and brings the title, the last registration, a current safety inspection certificate and a state-certified copy of the death certificate (no photocopies). If the car was in the person's name only, the small estate affidavit can be used regardless of the car's value; Honolulu provides its Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of the Decedent, CS-L (MVR) 39, and asks you to call (808) 768-4324 or visit a satellite city hall for guidance. Honolulu transfers need an appointment.

Law: HRS 560:3-1201(a)(1), (b)

Agency

County motor vehicle offices (in Honolulu: Department of Customer Services, Division of Motor Vehicles, at satellite city halls)

Form

Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of the Decedent, CS-L (MVR) 39 (Honolulu)

Fee

Honolulu: the title transfer fee is $10 ($60 with penalty by mail after 30 days), plus any registration due. Other counties set their own fees.

Source: Official page

Bank accounts after a death in Hawaii

Money in a joint account with a surviving owner, or with a payable-on-death beneficiary, goes to that person and is not part of the estate. For an account in the person's name alone, a successor can give the bank a small estate affidavit with a death certificate if the gross Hawaii estate is $100,000 or less. The bank is released from liability when it pays on a proper affidavit.

Law: HRS 560:3-1201, 560:3-1202

Source: Official page

Transfer-on-death (TOD) and payable-on-death (POD) in Hawaii

Real estate (TOD deed)

Yes · Transfer on death deed (Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act)

An owner can sign a transfer on death deed that says the transfer happens at the owner's death. It must have the formalities of a recordable deed and be recorded with the Bureau of Conveyances (or filed with the Land Court registrar) before the owner's death. It can be revoked.

Law: HRS 527-5, 527-9

Securities (TOD)

Yes

Law: HRS chapter 539 (Uniform TOD Security Registration Act)

Source: Official page

Surviving spouse in Hawaii

A surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary is entitled to the homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance in a probate case. When the whole estate, after liens, is no more than these allowances plus administration costs, funeral costs and last-illness medical costs, a personal representative can distribute it at once and close the estate with a sworn statement.

Law: HRS 560:3-1203, 560:3-1204

Debts of the person in Hawaii

Anyone who receives property by affidavit must answer for it to any personal representative of the estate or to anyone with a better right. The Department of Human Services can use the same affidavit procedure to collect for its claims, and its affidavit has priority.

Medicaid estate recovery in Hawaii

The department files a claim against the estate of a person who received medical assistance at age 55 or older, but only if there is no surviving spouse and no surviving child who is under 21, blind or disabled. The same rule applies to a person who was in a nursing facility or other medical institution. The department can also collect by small estate affidavit, and its affidavit has priority over other affidavits.

Law: HRS 346-37(a); HRS 560:3-1201

Agency

Hawaii Department of Human Services, Med-QUEST Division

Official page

Official page

Who inherits with no will in Hawaii

The surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary gets everything if the person left no descendants or parents, or if all descendants are also the spouse's and the spouse has no other descendants. Otherwise the spouse gets a set first amount ($400,000, $330,000 or $220,000 depending on the family) plus three-fourths or one-half of the rest. What the spouse does not take goes to the descendants, or if none, to the parents, then to more distant relatives.

Law: HRS 560:2-102, 560:2-103

Source: Official page

Death certificates in Hawaii

Pay by cashier's check, certified check or money order (no personal checks). The CDC Where to Write page lists $10 for the first copy and $4 for each extra copy ordered at the same time; the recorded fee line is (808) 586-4533.

Where to get it

Hawaii State Department of Health, Vital Records Section

Official page

Official page

Where to file in Hawaii

The small estate affidavit is not filed with a court; you give it with a death certificate to each holder, and for cars to the county motor vehicle office (in Honolulu, a satellite city hall by appointment). A petition for the clerk to administer an estate of $100,000 or less is filed with the circuit court of the circuit where the person lived or left property. A transfer on death deed must already be recorded with the Bureau of Conveyances or the Land Court before the death.

Good to know in Hawaii

• Hawaii's small estate affidavit lets heirs transfer cars in the person's name regardless of value.
• The state Department of Human Services can use the same affidavit to collect for its claims, and its affidavit has priority over other affidavits.
• For estates of $100,000 or less with no personal representative, the court can appoint the clerk of the court to administer the estate.

National rules that apply in every state

Federal estate tax

• For a person who died in 2026, a federal estate tax return (Form 706) is required only if the gross estate, plus certain lifetime taxable gifts, is more than $15,000,000.
• Most estates owe no federal estate tax and do not need to file a federal estate tax return.

Law: 26 U.S.C. 2010(c)(3) (as amended by Pub. L. 119-21)

The final income tax return

• Report all income up to the date of death and claim all eligible credits and deductions.
• Someone must file the final federal income tax return of a person who died, the same way it would have been filed if they were alive.
• To claim a refund due to the person who died, attach Form 1310 (Statement of Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Taxpayer).

Law: Form 1310 instructions (Rev. December 2025)

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Social Security

• Social Security retirement benefits are paid through the month before the month the person died.
• If the person had enough Social Security work credits (was fully or currently insured), a one-time death payment of $255 (or three times the person's basic benefit, if that is smaller) can be paid to a surviving spouse who lived with the person.

Law: 42 U.S.C. 402(a), 402(i)

Savings bonds

• If the person's savings bonds and other Treasury securities held directly with the Treasury are worth more than $100,000 at the date of death, the Treasury requires a court-administered estate.

Law: 31 CFR 353.71; FS Form 5336 (Rev. April 2026)

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Debts

• Debts are generally paid from the money and property the person left (the estate).
• If the estate cannot pay a debt and no one else shared responsibility for it, the debt may go unpaid.
• You may have to pay if you co-signed the loan, were a joint account holder on a credit card (not just an authorized user), or state law makes a spouse responsible for certain debts, such as in community property states or states with laws on necessary costs like health care.

Law: 12 CFR 1006.6(a)(4)

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A house with a mortgage

• For a home with fewer than five units, a lender may not call the whole loan due just because the home passes to a relative after the borrower's death, to a spouse or children who become owners, or to a surviving joint owner.
• Https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-get-mortgage-information-about-a-home-i-inherited-en-217/
• Https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/i-recently-inherited-a-house-the-mortgage-lender-said-its-required-to-determine-my-ability-to-repay-before-it-will-let-me-take-over-the-mortgage-loan-is-this-true-en-1939/

Law: 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d)(3), (5), (6); 12 CFR 1024.30(d), 1024.31

FDIC insurance on bank accounts

• After a deposit owner dies, FDIC insurance on the account stays the same for six months, unless the account is restructured.

Law: 12 CFR 330.3(j)

Medicaid estate recovery

• States must try to recover some Medicaid costs from the estate of a person who got benefits at age 55 or older: nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services.
• The 'estate' includes at least the property in the person's probate estate under state law.
• Https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/42/1396p?type=usc&year=mostrecent&link-type=html

Law: 42 U.S.C. 1396p(b)

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Death certificates

• Certified copies of a death certificate come from the vital records office of the state where the death happened, not from the federal government.

Questions about small estates in Hawaii