Hawaii Creditor Claims in Probate

Hawaii gives creditors four months. Where a notice to creditors is published under HRS 560:3-801(a), HRS 560:3-803(a)(1) bars every claim that arose before the death unless the creditor presents it within four months after the date of the first publication. A known creditor who gets written notice by mail has the later of that date or sixty days after the mailing. Where nobody publishes or serves any notice, the bar falls eighteen months after the death under 560:3-803(a)(2).

Every rule on this page was read on September 24, 2026 in the Hawaii Revised Statutes on the Legislature's data site, along with each section's history note. The compilation there runs through the 2025 session, so the 2026 Acts were screened separately. The one 2026 Act titled for the Uniform Probate Code, Act 47, changes sealing rules in guardianship and conservatorship cases and touches none of the claim sections. Section 560:3-801 last moved in 2024, and that Act was read too: Act 7 of 2024 changed only the trustee notice in subsection (f). Hawaii hears probate in the circuit court of the judicial circuit where the decedent lived, and the Hawaii court directory lists all four. This page explains how Hawaii law works, not how it applies to one estate, so confirm your dates with the circuit court holding the file or with a licensed Hawaii attorney.

Publishing Is Optional, and It Can Start at Filing

Hawaii leaves the choice to publish with the family. Under HRS 560:3-801(a), a person applying or petitioning for appointment of a personal representative, probate of a will, or a declaration of intestacy may publish a notice to creditors once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the judicial circuit where the application or petition is filed. The notice announces the filing and the name and address of the person nominated as personal representative, and it tells creditors to present their claims no later than four months after the first publication or be forever barred. It can be combined with any published notice of the pendency of the probate.

Two details change the arithmetic.

• The count can start before the appointment. The applicant can publish at filing, so the four months may already be running on the day the registrar or the court appoints the personal representative.
• Two weeks, not three. Act 158 of 2023 cut the publication run to two successive weeks. Articles written before mid-2023 still describe three.

Nothing in the section forces publication, and subsection (d) says the personal representative is not liable to a creditor or to a successor for giving or failing to give notice. The cost of silence falls on the estate's schedule instead. With no notice, the claim window stays open until eighteen months after the death, and the estate cannot close by sworn statement until it shuts. That trade-off is the one an applicant weighs in deciding whether to publish, and how the creditor bar sets the timeline walks through the dates.

Mailed Notice to the Creditors You Know About

Publication tells the world. Mail tells the hospital, the card issuer and the landlord whose names already sit in the decedent's papers.

After appointment, HRS 560:3-801(b) lets the personal representative mail or otherwise deliver written notice to each known creditor. That creditor must present the claim within four months after the published notice, where one ran, or within sixty days after the mailing or delivery, whichever is later. The written notice is the published notice or one like it.

Subsection (c) then adds a duty: the personal representative shall undertake reasonable review of the decedent's records to find the creditors. Mailing stays optional under (b), and the review does not. A personal representative who reads the bank statements, the mail and the medical bills is doing what (c) asks, and the names that turn up are the ones a mailed notice reaches. That review sits beside the personal representative's other duties, such as informing heirs and devisees within thirty days and preparing the inventory within three months.

Subsection (e) covers a change of personal representative. If someone other than the original nominee is appointed, the original nominee or anyone else holding claims has to deliver them promptly to the person appointed, and a nominee who fails to deliver is liable for the damages that follow.

A Trustee Can Publish Its Own Notice

Here is the Hawaii addition. HRS 560:3-801(f) lets the trustee or successor trustee of any trust the decedent created publish a notice to creditors once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the judicial circuit where the decedent was domiciled, or where an application or petition for a personal representative is filed. The notice gives the trustee's name and address and tells creditors to present their claims to the trustee within four months after the first publication or be forever barred.

Act 7 of 2024, approved April 18, 2024, cut the trustee's run from three weeks to two so it matches the probate notice. The Act's own purpose clause calls that the correction of an oversight in Act 158 of 2023, and it took effect on approval.

This matters because a revocable trust does not wall off the decedent's debts. HRS 554D-505(a)(3) makes property of a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death subject to the settlor's creditors, the estate's administration costs, funeral expenses and statutory allowances, to the extent the probate estate cannot cover them. A trustee who publishes gets the four-month bar working for the trust without anyone opening a probate. Read a trustee's own creditor notice alongside the rest of the trustee's duties.

What the Bar Reaches

Read HRS 560:3-803(a) slowly, because it sweeps wide. It covers all claims against the decedent or the estate that arose before the death, including claims of the State and any subdivision, whether due or to become due, absolute or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, and founded on contract, tort or any other legal basis. Unless an earlier statute of limitations already barred them, those claims are barred against the estate, the personal representative, the decedent's trustee, and the heirs and devisees unless presented on time.

The section sets two paths and takes the earlier one:

1. Notice given. Four months after the first publication under 560:3-801(a), or sixty days after written notice under 560:3-801(b), whichever of those two expires later.
2. No notice given. Eighteen months after the death, where notice was neither published under (a) nor served under (b).

The eighteen months is a Hawaii choice. The uniform act Hawaii's code follows uses one year at that point.

Subsection (b) handles an out-of-state death. A claim already barred by the nonclaim statute of the decedent's domicile before notice is given in Hawaii is barred in Hawaii too.

Subsection (d) leaves three things untouched: a proceeding to enforce a mortgage, pledge or other lien on estate property; a proceeding to establish liability, up to the limits of the insurance only, where liability insurance protects the decedent, the personal representative or the trustee; and collection of compensation and expenses owed to the personal representative, the trustee, or their attorney or accountant. So a car accident claim covered by a liability policy is generally not cut off by the deadline, and recovery on it is limited to the policy.

One case note under the section narrows the lien exception. The annotation reports a 2016 decision, 139 Haw. 167, holding that a nonjudicial foreclosure under the since-repealed HRS 667-5 is not a "proceeding to enforce a mortgage" for subsection (d)(1), so it was not exempt from the claim deadlines.

Older Debts and Other Limitation Periods

HRS 560:3-802 sorts out debts that were already old. A claim barred by a statute of limitations at the time of death may not be allowed or paid, unless the estate is solvent and the personal representative waives the defense with the consent of every successor whose interest the waiver affects. Subsection (b) suspends any limitation period measured from an event other than the death or the notice for four months after the death, and it resumes after that. Subsection (c) treats a claim presented under 560:3-804 as the start of a proceeding on the claim for limitation purposes.

Claims Born After the Death

The administration creates its own bills. Under HRS 560:3-803(c), claims arising at or after the death, including the State's, are barred unless presented on one of two schedules:

• A claim based on a contract with the personal representative or trustee, within four months after the personal representative's or trustee's performance is due.
• Any other claim, within the later of four months after it arises or eighteen months after the death.

How a Hawaii Creditor Presents a Claim

Let's break it down. HRS 560:3-804 gives a creditor three routes.

Written statement. The claimant delivers or mails to the personal representative a written statement of the claim giving its basis, the claimant's name and address, and the amount, or files a written statement with the clerk of the court. The claim counts as presented on the earlier of the personal representative's receipt or the court filing. A claim not yet due states the due date. A contingent or unliquidated claim states the nature of the uncertainty. A secured claim describes the security. Getting one of those descriptions wrong does not invalidate the presentation.

Lawsuit. The claimant may start a proceeding against the personal representative in any court with jurisdiction over the personal representative, but it has to start within the time allowed for presenting the claim. No presentation is needed for matters already claimed in proceedings pending against the decedent at the death.

Hawaii Probate Rule 63 adds the court's procedure. A creditor presents a claim by delivering the claim, with a supporting affidavit, to the personal representative, or by filing the claim and affidavit with the court and timely serving a copy on the personal representative. The rule's commentary says the courts prefer direct delivery to the personal representative and keep court filings to a minimum, so the affidavit stands in for attaching every supporting document.

The Third Circuit, which covers the island of Hawaii, publishes a sworn Creditor's Claim, form 3C-E-023, on its circuit court forms page. The affiant swears the claim is justly due and owing, that every payment has been credited, and that there are no offsets known to the affiant, before a notary or the clerk. We found no matching creditor's claim form published for the First, Second or Fifth Circuits, so do not assume a Third Circuit form fits a case filed on another island.

One more rule applies before anyone presents anything. HRS 560:3-104 bars starting or reviving a proceeding to enforce a claim against the estate before a personal representative is appointed. A secured creditor enforcing its security is the exception, except for any deficiency judgment.

Allowance, Disallowance, and the Sixty-Day Answer

HRS 560:3-806(a) lets the personal representative serve a notice of disallowance on any claimant whose claim was presented in the right manner and on time. What happens next depends on the notice.

• Warned claimant. A disallowed claim is barred to the extent not allowed unless the claimant files a petition for allowance in the court, or starts a proceeding against the personal representative, no later than sixty days after service of the notice, where the notice warned of the bar.
• Unwarned claimant. A notice that does not warn of the sixty-day bar leaves the claim alive until eighteen months after the death.
• No answer at all. A personal representative who serves no notice of action on a claim for sixty days after the presentation period ends is treated as having allowed it, because the statute gives that silence the effect of a notice of allowance.

The personal representative can change course under subsection (b). An allowance can become a disallowance before payment, but not after a court order or judgment allows the claim. A disallowance can become an allowance until the claim is barred, and after that only if the estate is solvent and every affected successor consents. A judgment against the personal representative in another court is itself an allowance under subsection (d). Allowed claims bear interest at the legal rate starting sixty days after the presentation period ends, or at the contract rate where the contract sets one (subsection (e)).

The annotation to 560:3-806 also reports a 2015 Intermediate Court of Appeals decision, 136 Haw. 357, that extended the sixty days by two days under the probate rule on responding to notices served by mail. Count carefully when a disallowance arrives by mail.

When the Personal Representative Pays

HRS 560:3-807(a) sets the start. Once the earlier of the 560:3-803 time limits expires, the personal representative pays allowed claims in the statutory order, after providing for the homestead, family and support allowances, for claims presented but not yet allowed or under appeal, and for unbarred claims that may still arrive, including administration costs. A claimant whose allowed claim goes unpaid can petition for an order directing payment to the extent estate funds allow.

Paying early is permitted under subsection (b), and it has a price. The personal representative is personally liable to any other allowed claimant the payment injures where the payment came before the deadline without adequate security for a refund, or where negligence or wilful fault cost the injured claimant its priority.

When the money runs short, HRS 560:3-805 sets seven classes: administration costs; reasonable funeral expenses, including a Department of Human Services claim under HRS 346-15; debts and taxes with federal preference; last-illness medical and hospital expenses, including a department claim under HRS 346-37 for the last illness; debts and taxes with preference under other Hawaii law; any other claim under 346-37; and all other claims. No claim outranks another in the same class. Which allowed claims are paid first walks through each class.

The Department of Human Services Claim

Medicaid recovery reaches a Hawaii estate through the same claim system. HRS 346-37(a) directs the Department of Human Services to file a claim against the estate of a deceased recipient of medical assistance only if the recipient was age fifty-five or over when the assistance was received and no spouse survives, and no child survives who is under twenty-one, blind or disabled. For a recipient who was an inpatient in a nursing facility, an intermediate care facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities, or another inpatient medical facility, the claim depends only on the same survivor test, with no age condition.

Three sections put that claim inside the rules above. HRS 560:3-803(a) names claims of the State in the nonclaim bar. HRS 560:3-805 places the department's last-illness claim in class 4 and any other 346-37 claim in class 6. And HRS 560:3-1201 lets the department present its own collection affidavit for a claim under 346-15 or 346-37, with priority over any other claim presented under that section. For the program itself, see Hawaii Medicaid estate recovery.

Property That Passed Outside Probate

Two Hawaii statutes let the estate reach back for creditors when the probate estate falls short, and both use the same eighteen months.

• Transfer on death deeds. HRS 527-15 lets the estate enforce an allowed claim, or a statutory allowance to a surviving spouse or child, against property that passed by a transfer on death deed, to the extent the probate estate is insufficient. Several deeded properties share the liability in proportion to their net values at death, and the proceeding must start no later than eighteen months after the death.
• Revocable trusts. HRS 554D-505(a)(3), described above, makes trust property that was revocable at death answer for claims, administration costs, funeral expenses and allowances to the extent the probate estate is inadequate, subject to the settlor's right to direct which source pays.

Routes That Publish Nothing

Two Hawaii routes finish without a notice to creditors, and neither one bars a claim by itself.

The collection affidavit under HRS 560:3-1201 moves personal property to a successor on a death certificate and an affidavit that the gross value of the decedent's estate in Hawaii does not exceed $100,000, that no application or petition for a personal representative is pending or granted in Hawaii, and who is entitled. Motor vehicles registered in the decedent's name may pass on it regardless of value. Nothing in the section publishes a notice, so the eighteen-month bar keeps running. Read the collection affidavit route before choosing it.

The summary administration procedure under HRS 560:3-1203 has no dollar figure. It applies where the inventory and appraisal show the whole estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, administration costs, reasonable funeral expenses and last-illness medical and hospital expenses. The personal representative may then distribute at once, without giving notice to creditors, and file a closing statement under 560:3-1204.

After Distribution

A claim that survives distribution follows the money. HRS 560:3-1004 lets an undischarged claim that is not barred be pursued against one or more distributees, and no distributee answers for more than the value of the distribution received, or for amounts received as exempt property or the homestead or family allowances. A distributee who fails to tell the others about a claimant's demand in time for them to join loses the right to contribution.

HRS 560:3-1006 sets the outer edge for heirs and devisees chasing property improperly distributed: the later of three years after the death or one year after the distribution, unless fraud is involved. For creditors of the decedent, the same section sends them back to 560:3-803, so the four-month and eighteen-month bars still govern.

Closing Waits on the Claim Period

The claim bar has to close before the file can. HRS 560:3-1003(a) lets a personal representative close an unsupervised estate by filing a verified statement no earlier than six months after the original appointment, and the statement has to say the personal representative determined that the time for presenting creditors' claims has expired. It also has to report payment or other disposition of every claim presented, and it goes to every distributee and to every creditor whose claim is neither paid nor barred.

Where claims remain open at the end, Hawaii Probate Rule 64 has the personal representative describe the arrangement in the petition for approval of final accounts or the closing statement. The rule lists written assumption by the beneficiaries, a bond or other security for the obligation plus twenty percent where the claim is contingent or unmatured, or another arrangement the court or the creditor approves. Confirming the claim period has run is also the first line of closing the estate.

When to Bring In a Hawaii Attorney

These sections run without a hearing in an uncontested estate. How they apply to a particular estate is a question for a licensed Hawaii probate attorney, and these are common points at which one is consulted:

• the claims on file look larger than the estate, because the 560:3-805 classes then decide who is paid
• a claim may be disallowed, since the claimant's answer comes as a petition or lawsuit within sixty days
• a claim is contingent, unliquidated or secured and the amount is in dispute
• the decedent was fifty-five or older and received medical assistance, so a 346-37 claim may arrive
• property passed by transfer on death deed or revocable trust and the probate estate looks short
• beneficiaries want money before the claim period has run
• no notice was published and the estate sits inside the eighteen-month window

For the wider process, start with how probate works in Hawaii.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do creditors have to file a claim against a Hawaii estate?

Four months from the first publication of a notice to creditors, where one was published under HRS 560:3-801(a). A known creditor who was mailed or handed a written notice under 560:3-801(b) gets the later of those four months or sixty days after the mailing. Where no notice was published or served at all, HRS 560:3-803(a)(2) bars claims that arose before the death eighteen months after the death.

Is publishing a notice to creditors required in Hawaii?

No. HRS 560:3-801(a) says the person applying or petitioning for appointment of a personal representative, probate of a will, or a declaration of intestacy may publish, once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the judicial circuit where the case is filed. Skipping it leaves the eighteen-month bar of 560:3-803(a)(2) in place, and a sworn closing statement under 560:3-1003 has to state that the claim period has expired.

Can a trustee publish a notice to creditors in Hawaii?

Yes. HRS 560:3-801(f) lets the trustee or successor trustee of any trust the decedent created publish a notice once a week for two successive weeks in the judicial circuit where the decedent was domiciled or where an application or petition for a personal representative is filed. Creditors then present claims to the trustee within four months after the first publication. Act 7 of 2024 cut that run from three weeks to two.

How does a creditor present a claim in a Hawaii estate?

Under HRS 560:3-804(1), the creditor delivers or mails a written statement of the claim to the personal representative, or files one with the clerk of the court. The claim counts as presented on whichever happens first. Hawaii Probate Rule 63 adds that the claim goes with a supporting affidavit, and a creditor who files with the court also serves a copy on the personal representative. The Third Circuit publishes a Creditor's Claim form, 3C-E-023.

What can a Hawaii creditor do after a claim is disallowed?

File a petition for allowance in the court, or start a proceeding against the personal representative, within sixty days after service of the notice of disallowance, if the notice warned of that bar (HRS 560:3-806(a)). A notice without the warning moves the bar to eighteen months after the death. A personal representative who does nothing for sixty days after the presentation period ends is treated as having allowed the claim.

When can a Hawaii personal representative pay creditors?

Once the time limit in HRS 560:3-803 has expired, under 560:3-807(a). Payment then follows the seven classes of 560:3-805, after provision for the homestead, family and support allowances, for claims still pending, and for administration costs. Paying earlier is allowed, and a personal representative who pays before the deadline without taking security for a refund is personally liable to another claimant the payment injures.

Does the Hawaii collection affidavit cut off creditors?

No. The HRS 560:3-1201 affidavit publishes no notice to creditors, so nothing starts the four-month count, and the eighteen-month bar of 560:3-803(a)(2) keeps running. The Department of Human Services may present its own affidavit under the same section for a claim under HRS 346-15 or 346-37, and its affidavit has priority over any other claim presented under 560:3-1201.

Related Guides

• Hawaii Debt Payment Priority
• Hawaii Executor Duties
• Hawaii Probate Timeline
• Hawaii Trust Administration
• Hawaii Probate Accounting
• Hawaii Small Estate Affidavit
• Hawaii Probate Guide
• Hawaii Probate Courts

Sources:

• Title: HRS 560:3-801, Notice to creditors. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-0801.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-803, Limitations on presentation of claims. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-0803.htm
• Title: Act 7, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024 (H.B. No. 1915), A Bill for an Act Relating to the Uniform Probate Code. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: April 18, 2024. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/sessionlaws/Years/SLH2024/SLH2024_Act7.pdf
• Title: HRS 560:3-802, Statutes of limitations. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-0802.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-804, Manner of presentation of claims. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-0804.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-805, Classification of claims. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-0805.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-806, Allowance of claims. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-0806.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-807, Payment of claims. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-0807.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-104, Claims against decedent; necessity of administration. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-0104.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-1003, Closing estates; by sworn statement of personal representative. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-1003.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-1004, Liability of distributees to claimants. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-1004.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-1006, Limitations on actions and proceedings against distributees. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-1006.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-1201, Collection of personal property by affidavit. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-1201.htm
• Title: HRS 560:3-1203, Small estates; summary administration procedure. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0560/HRS_0560-0003-1203.htm
• Title: HRS 346-37, Recovery of payments and costs of medical assistance. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_Ch0346-0398/HRS0346/HRS_0346-0037.htm
• Title: HRS 527-15, Liability for creditor claims and statutory allowances. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0527/HRS_0527-0015.htm
• Title: HRS 554D-505, Creditor's claim against settlor. Publisher: Hawaii State Legislature. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0554D/HRS_0554D-0505.htm
• Title: Hawaii Probate Rules, Rules 63 and 64. Publisher: Hawaii State Judiciary. Publication Date: Effective March 1, 1995, with amendments as noted. URL: https://www.courts.state.hi.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/hpr_ada.htm
• Title: Creditor's Claim, form 3C-E-023, Circuit Court of the Third Circuit. Publisher: Hawaii State Judiciary. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.courts.state.hi.us/docs/form/hawaii/3CE023.pdf

It is not legal advice.