Hawaii

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 70 out of 100

Hawaii starts from an equal split of marital partnership property but lets the family court deviate and reach separate property, and it leaves the amount and length of alimony and fee awards to the judge. Marital fault plays no part in dividing property. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Hawaii ranks 19 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	10 / 20	Partnership-model values (Categories 2, 4 and 5) are divided equally absent equitable considerations justifying deviation, and the statute lets the court divide the parties’ estate whether community, joint, or separate. HRS § 580-47(a); Gordon v. Gordon, No. SCWC-12-0000806 (Haw. 2015)
Alimony	20 / 20	The court orders spousal support that is just and equitable after considering thirteen listed factors, with no formula, cap, or durational limit. HRS § 580-47(a)
Fault	0 / 20	The Hawaii Supreme Court holds that Hawaii’s no-fault approach extends to dividing marital property, and the statutory spousal-support factors do not include fault. Crofford v. Adachi, 150 Hawai’i 518, 506 P.3d 182 (2022) (citing Richards v. Richards, 44 Haw. 491 (1960)); HRS § 580-47(a)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	The court may order either party to pay the other’s attorney’s fees and costs as appear just and equitable after considering the parties’ merits, relative abilities, and economic condition. HRS § 580-47(f)
Second opinion	20 / 20	A judge can be disqualified only on an affidavit stating facts showing personal bias or prejudice, and no jury is available on property division or spousal support in family court. HRS § 601-7(b); HRS § 571-41

Getting in

No waiting period. Both partners appear together before a Department of Health agent with a sworn statement. A 2024 amendment allows a live online appearance, though the department’s page still says in person. No waiting period applies. The license lasts 30 days counting the day of issue, then becomes void. The ceremony must occur in Hawaii with the couple and officiant physically together.
HRS §§ 572-1(6)-(7), 572-5, 572-6

Who can marry you. Every officiant needs a Department of Health license, standard for one year ($100) or short-term for 60 days ($25). Clergy, judges and, under a civil license, any adult may qualify, so a friend can serve. A licensed religious society without clergy may solemnize under its own customs, the only route without an individual officiant. The statute does not address online ordination.
HRS §§ 572-1(7), 572-11, 572-12

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A license is required, so a couple cannot become married in Hawaii by living together. The territorial Supreme Court overruled its earlier contrary decision in 1920. A marriage legal where it was contracted is held legal in Hawaii courts, and the statute does not single out common-law marriages from other states.
HRS §§ 572-1(6), 572-3; Parke v. Parke, 25 Haw. 397 (1920)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Hawaii is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. The court may divide all property, whether separate or joint. Judges use five categories: value brought in at marriage and gifts or inheritances received during it usually return to the owner; growth on them and everything else are split equally unless equity favors otherwise. Only property excluded by valid agreement, or inheritance expressly kept separate and maintained by itself, stays outside the partnership.
HRS § 580-47(a); Tougas v. Tougas, 76 Hawai’i 19, 868 P.2d 437 (1994); Gordon v. Gordon, 135 Hawai’i 340, 350 P.3d 1008 (2015); Helbush v. Helbush, 108 Hawai’i 508, 122 P.3d 288 (App. 2005)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

It depends on what the owner meant. Putting inherited money into a joint account or joint title is not presumed a gift, and the spouse claiming a gift must prove it. The owner can claim a credit for money invested in marital assets unless equity justifies a different result, but money spent on trips, tuition or daily living earns no credit. Inherited money not kept by itself loses separate status.
Wong v. Wong, 87 Hawai’i 475, 960 P.2d 145 (App. 1998); Hamilton v. Hamilton, 138 Hawai’i 185, 378 P.3d 901 (2016); Gussin v. Gussin, 73 Haw. 470, 836 P.2d 484 (1992); Gordon v. Gordon, 135 Hawai’i 340, 350 P.3d 1008 (2015)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. Both spouses must support one another and are liable for all debts either contracts for necessaries for themselves, one another, or their family during the marriage; a wife was held liable for her husband’s hospital bill under this statute.
HRS § 572-24; Queen’s Medical Center v. Kagawa, 88 Haw. 489, 967 P.2d 686 (App. 1998)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse (or reciprocal beneficiary) may elect 50 percent of the marital-property portion of the augmented estate, which grows with the length of the marriage from 3 percent (under one year) to 100 percent (15 years or more), plus a supplemental amount bringing the total to $90,000. The augmented estate includes the probate estate, non-probate transfers to others and to the spouse, and the survivor’s own property.
HRS §§ 560:2-202, 560:2-203

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

One look, under UPAA (1983), HRS ch. 572D. A premarital agreement is unenforceable only if it was signed involuntarily, or was unconscionable when signed and the challenger lacked fair disclosure, did not waive disclosure in writing, and lacked adequate knowledge of the other’s finances. Postmarital agreements are enforced if not unconscionable and entered voluntarily with knowledge of the other spouse’s finances, and unconscionability of a property division is judged when the agreement was signed.
HRS § 572D-6; Balogh v. Balogh, 134 Haw. 29 (2014), No. SCWC-11-0001074 (Aug. 7, 2014)

What an agreement needs. A premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties and needs no consideration; no notarization, witnesses, waiting period or independent counsel is required. Disclosure matters only through the unconscionability defense, and a court may order support despite a waiver if the waiver would make a spouse eligible for public assistance at separation or divorce.
HRS §§ 572D-2, 572D-6(b)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: Melson. Each parent first keeps a basic-needs allowance, each child’s primary needs come next, and the child then shares in remaining income through a standard-of-living adjustment. Support normally ends at 18. A judge may continue it for an unmarried adult child in full-time college or vocational school, generally no later than age 23, with proof of enrollment by age 19.
HRS §§ 576D-7, 577-1, 580-47(a); 2024 Hawai’i Child Support Guidelines § III.A (effective April 1, 2024)

Moving away with a child. Hawaii’s custody statute sets no notice period or special test for moving away with a child. The judge decides on the child’s best interests alone. The Hawaii Supreme Court declined to create a preference for the primary caretaker, and it would not enforce a decree’s automatic custody change on a move without a best-interests finding.
HRS § 571-46(a); Fisher v. Fisher, 111 Hawai’i 41, 137 P.3d 355 (2006); Waldecker v. O’Scanlon, 137 Hawai’i 460, 375 P.3d 239 (2016)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: no minimum. Since January 1, 2022, no minimum stay applies. The person filing only has to be domiciled in the judicial circuit on the filing day, meaning living there and intending to stay indefinitely. The legislature repealed the old six-month rule. A couple married in Hawaii who live where their marriage is not recognized may file without domicile, in the circuit of the wedding.
HRS § 580-1(a)-(c); 2021 Haw. Sess. Laws Act 69 (S.B. 828)

How long it takes. Either spouse can ask for a divorce because the marriage is irretrievably broken, and no separation period is required. A spouse outside Hawaii gets 20 days’ notice of a hearing or 20 days to answer. If the other spouse denies the breakdown under oath, the judge may decide then or continue the case 30 to 60 days and suggest counseling. Two years apart is a separate ground.
HRS §§ 580-3(b), 580-41, 580-42, 580-45; Second Circuit Family Court summons form 2FP405

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 20 days from arrival to a final decree (no residence period (domicile on the filing day) + 20 days’ notice or answer time for a spouse outside Hawaii). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

A prenup signed elsewhere can be tested under Hawaii law. In 1988 Hawaii’s Supreme Court applied Hawaii law, not New York law, to a prenup signed in New York, because by the divorce both spouses lived here and Hawaii had the stronger interest in their finances.
Lewis v. Lewis, 69 Haw. 497 (1988)

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Hawaii and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Hawaii lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Hawaii” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.