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Hawaii route screening

Hawaii small-estate limit: $100,000

Hawaii allows collection of a decedent's personal property by affidavit under HRS § 560:3-1201 when "the gross value of the decedent's estate in this State does not exceed $100,000" and no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in Hawaii. The affidavit is presented with a death certificate; the statute states no waiting period, and motor vehicles registered to the decedent may transfer regardless of value.

Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.

Threshold evidence and currency

What the reviewed source establishes

Currency: No later session-law supersession is recorded in the reviewed source set for this threshold. The edition/currentness label below is the basis for the published figure.

Controlling citation: Haw. Rev. Stat. § 560:3-1201 — [L 1996, c 288, pt of §1; am L 2000, c 48, §6 and c 102, §3].

Verbatim threshold text from that source:

(1) The gross value of the decedent's estate in this State does not exceed $100,000
1. Where and when
Private by design: entries stay in this browser.
2. What they left

Ownership determines whether an asset usually enters probate. Choose “Not sure” when title or beneficiary status has not been confirmed.

Asset 1

Asset 2

Your working estimate

Hawaii estate snapshot

Route check

More information is needed

Counted probate estate: not yet counted

A valid date of death is required before any waiting period can be tested.

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted
Court chargeMore information neededOpening a decedent's estate (probate/administration) in Circuit Court2 asset entries have no value entered. A blank amount is not treated as zero, so the charge cannot be computed.Court charges only, for the proceeding named beside each figure. That proceeding is not always the route screened above.
Scheduled executor compensationMore information needed2 asset entries have no value entered.HRS § 560:3-719 entitles a personal representative to "reasonable compensation for the personal representative's services." There is no statutory percentage schedule. A will may fix compensation, but the personal representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead.

This route check is general information, not legal advice. It does not test every eligibility condition, creditor issue, will provision, local fee, or asset-title fact.

What the Hawaii amount screen counts

The headline limit is not a count of everything the person owned. It is a test of the property and deductions named by this procedure. Classify title and beneficiary status first; property that transfers by a valid survivorship right, beneficiary designation, or funded trust follows its own transfer path.

This reviewed route is limited to personal probate property. A house or other real property is not transferred through this screen, even when the personal-property total is below $100,000. Open the deed and the receiving court’s real-property instructions before assuming the simplified procedure resolves the whole estate.

The reviewed value basis is gross for this route. The tool does not subtract a mortgage or other lien from the amount test unless the cited rule says to do so.

Timing and facts the threshold cannot answer

The cited section states no universal waiting period for the value-based route. This site records that as “none stated,” not as permission to file immediately: will status, prior appointments, notices, family rights, and local filing instructions can still control.

What does not qualify for this route

  • An estate above $100,000 does not qualify for this value-based route, unless the separately described alternate route applies.
  • Real property is outside this route’s scope; the affidavit or statement does not transfer a house or other real estate.
  • A pending or completed personal-representative appointment, a will condition, creditor issue, or family-rights condition can disqualify the route even when the amount appears within the reviewed rule.

Move from the screen to the official Hawaii path

Assemble the death date, will status, asset titles, beneficiary confirmations, values, enforceable liens, family facts, and any prior court filing before signing anything. Then use the court publisher’s current artifact for the selected route.

Probate in Hawaii is handled by the Circuit Court of each judicial circuit. The Judiciary publishes statewide court forms and self-help resources. The $150 probate opening fee is fixed statewide by HRS § 607-5 — item (c)(14) ($100) plus the item (c)(32) administrative cost on all civil filings ($50); the § 560:3-1201 affidavit is a private demand instrument presented with a death certificate, not a court filing.

If the state publishes no statewide form, that is a finding—not a missing link. Contact the Circuit Court or clerk in the proper county for its packet and current filing instructions rather than borrowing an unofficial form from another county.

Questions to resolve before relying on “likely qualifies”

  • Confirm deed, account title, beneficiary, and trust ownership from the actual records.
  • Confirm whether a will, prior appointment, creditor issue, or family allowance changes the route.
  • Confirm the official form, fee, copy count, and filing method with the receiving court or institution.
Use this as a starting point.

This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.

Hawaii eligibility map

What the Hawaii simplified route still requires

The Hawaii threshold is one screen, not a complete legal conclusion. This map pairs the recorded ceiling with the property scope, deductions, date, and court artifact that have to be checked before relying on a likely-qualifies result.

QuestionRecorded Hawaii answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Collection of personal property by affidavit (HRS § 560:3-1201)Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route.
What property and basis count?personal probate property only; gross value for this route.Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?$100,000Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?No universal waiting period stated; Hawaii runs multiple independently-triggered claim deadlines that cannot honestly collapse into one number: a four-month bar running from first publication of the notice to creditors (§ 560:3-801(a), published once a week for two successive weeks); a sixty-day actual-notice period for creditors served written notice (§ 560:3-801(b)); and an outer nonclaim bar of eighteen months after death where no notice to creditors has been published or served (§ 560:3-803(a)(2)). Publishing a single figure would mislead.Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number.
What does the cost record establish?$150 is the recorded statewide amount.Ask the Circuit Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?HRS § 560:3-719 entitles a personal representative to "reasonable compensation for the personal representative's services." There is no statutory percentage schedule. A will may fix compensation, but the personal representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead. The relevant base is the estate accounting.Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Eligibility inputs

The Hawaii screen is made of these inputs

A threshold is useful only when the amount is measured the way the source describes. Keep this table with the asset worksheet so an empty or misclassified field cannot look like a confirmed qualification.

InputRegistry record
Threshold$100,000
Property scopepersonal probate property only
Value basisgross value for this route
Waiting periodNo universal waiting period stated
Required extra factsNone listed in the registry

Case-file context

Keep the Hawaii answer with its neighboring conditions

A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Hawaii descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.

Cost context

HRS § 607-5, the circuit-court cost schedule, imposes two mandatory charges on a probate filing. Item (c)(14) fixes the fee for "Probate, administration, domiciliary foreign personal representative, or ancillary administration"; item (c)(32) adds a separate administrative cost levied on "all civil filings except those brought by the State or any of the various counties or political subdivisions of the State". A circuit-court probate filing is a civil filing, so both apply. The two statutory components combine to an opening total of $150, itemized in the fee schedule below, and each component is pinned to its own primary-source assertion. The § 607-5 preamble excludes small estates whose amount is fixed by another statute; items (14) and (32) themselves fix these charges.

$150 is the recorded statewide amount.

Compensation context

HRS § 560:3-719 entitles a personal representative to "reasonable compensation for the personal representative's services." There is no statutory percentage schedule. A will may fix compensation, but the personal representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead.

HRS § 560:3-719 entitles a personal representative to "reasonable compensation for the personal representative's services." There is no statutory percentage schedule. A will may fix compensation, but the personal representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead. The relevant base is the estate accounting.

Deadline context

Hawaii runs multiple independently-triggered claim deadlines that cannot honestly collapse into one number: a four-month bar running from first publication of the notice to creditors (§ 560:3-801(a), published once a week for two successive weeks); a sixty-day actual-notice period for creditors served written notice (§ 560:3-801(b)); and an outer nonclaim bar of eighteen months after death where no notice to creditors has been published or served (§ 560:3-803(a)(2)). Publishing a single figure would mislead.

Court-material note: Probate in Hawaii is handled by the Circuit Court of each judicial circuit. The Judiciary publishes statewide court forms and self-help resources. The $150 probate opening fee is fixed statewide by HRS § 607-5 — item (c)(14) ($100) plus the item (c)(32) administrative cost on all civil filings ($50); the § 560:3-1201 affidavit is a private demand instrument presented with a death certificate, not a court filing.

Arithmetic illustration

See the Hawaii amount screen without mistaking it for a result

The recorded Hawaii ceiling is $100,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $75,000 sits below the Hawaii figure and $125,000 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Hawaii counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amountComparison to the Hawaii ceilingWhat it does not decide
$75,000Below $100,000Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$125,000Above $100,000Whether another statutory route or court process applies

Next evidence to collect

Use the calculator for arithmetic, then verify title, timing, and the receiving court's form.

  1. Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
  2. Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
  3. Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
  4. Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.

Official material

Probate in Hawaii is handled by the Circuit Court of each judicial circuit. The Judiciary publishes statewide court forms and self-help resources. The $150 probate opening fee is fixed statewide by HRS § 607-5 — item (c)(14) ($100) plus the item (c)(32) administrative cost on all civil filings ($50); the § 560:3-1201 affidavit is a private demand instrument presented with a death certificate, not a court filing.

Source trail

Records used by this Hawaii map

Controlling source

Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.

Continue in Hawaii