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Hawaii Exempt Property Allowance
Support GuideHawaii15 min read

Hawaii Exempt Property Allowance

Hawaii gives spouses or reciprocal beneficiaries $20,000 for household furnishings.

By Settled Editorial

A surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary in Hawaii can take $20,000 of household goods and vehicles out of the estate before creditors are paid, and a separate $30,000 homestead allowance on top of it. HRS 560:2-403 sets aside a value not exceeding $20,000, in excess of any security interests, in household furniture, automobiles, furnishings, appliances and personal effects. HRS 560:2-402 adds the $30,000 homestead allowance. Both were doubled by the Legislature in 2023, and both apply to a registered reciprocal beneficiary exactly as they apply to a spouse.

Every figure on this page was read on September 24, 2026 at the Hawaii State Legislature's statute host, with each section's history note read beside it. The compilation there runs through the 2025 session, so the 2026 session laws were screened too, and none of them touches these sections. Probate in Hawaii is heard by the circuit court for the circuit where the estate is opened, and the Hawaii court directory lists the four circuits. This page is general information about Hawaii law rather than advice about one estate. It is not legal advice.

The Two Figures Doubled In 2023

Act 158 of the 2023 session rewrote the Hawaii allowances in one bill. The old figures still circulate on older summaries and archived code pages, so check the date on anything you read.

AllowanceStatuteBefore Act 158Now
Homestead allowanceHRS 560:2-402$15,000$30,000
Exempt propertyHRS 560:2-403$10,000$20,000
Family allowance set by the personal representativeHRS 560:2-405(a)$18,000 lump sum or $1,500 a month$36,000 lump sum or $3,000 a month

Act 158 took effect on approval, on June 29, 2023. Its section 49 says the act does not affect rights and duties that matured before its effective date. For a death before June 29, 2023, the older figure is the one to test first, and a Hawaii lawyer can confirm which one governs a given estate.

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Five Categories And One Combined Ceiling

Section 2-403 names household furniture, automobiles, furnishings, appliances and personal effects. That is the whole list. Land, bank accounts, retirement accounts and investments are not on it.

The $20,000 is one ceiling across all five categories rather than a figure per item. The spouse or reciprocal beneficiary cannot claim $20,000 of furniture and another $20,000 of cars.

Value is measured in excess of any security interests. A car worth $26,000 with $19,000 still owed on it counts for $7,000, not $26,000. That phrase matters most for vehicles, because the car is usually the item worth the most in the category and the one most likely to carry a loan.

Section 2-401 limits all of this to a person who died domiciled in Hawaii. For someone who lived elsewhere, the allowances come from the law of their home state even if they owned property in Hawaii.

When There Is Not $20,000 Of Qualifying Property

The deficiency sentence is what turns a list of goods into a claim on the estate. If encumbered items are selected and the equity in them, plus other exempt property, is less than $20,000, or if the estate simply does not hold $20,000 of such property, the spouse, reciprocal beneficiary or children are entitled to other assets of the estate, if any, to make up the $20,000 value.

So a widow whose husband left an old car, some furniture and $40,000 in a bank account can take the car and the furniture, then take cash from the account to bring the total up to $20,000.

The make-up right has one limit. It abates as far as necessary to let the homestead allowance and the family allowance be paid first. When an estate is too small to cover all three, the order is:

  1. Homestead allowance. Section 2-402 makes it exempt from and prior to all claims.
  2. Family allowance. Section 2-404(a) gives it priority over all claims except the homestead allowance.
  3. Exempt property and the make-up assets. Section 2-403 gives them priority over all claims against the estate, but the make-up right shrinks to fit behind the two allowances above.

Everything else waits. HRS 560:1-201 defines claims to include funeral expenses and expenses of administration, and it excludes estate taxes. Section 2-403 contains no carve-out for a Medicaid recovery claim by the Department of Human Services, which sits in the classes of HRS 560:3-805 with other creditors. The Hawaii order of payment explains those seven classes and how allowances rank against debts.

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The Homestead Allowance Beside It

The homestead allowance is the larger of the two and the one people misread most. Despite the name, section 2-402 does not give anyone the right to stay in the house. It is a flat $30,000 entitlement from the estate, and section 2-405(a) lets the personal representative pay any part of it in cash.

The two allowances split differently when there is no spouse or reciprocal beneficiary:

  • Homestead allowance. Section 2-402 divides the $30,000 among each minor child and each dependent child, so an adult child who was self-supporting takes no part of it.
  • Exempt property. Section 2-403 gives the $20,000 to the decedent's children jointly, with no age or dependency test and no exception written into the section for a child left out of the will.

Neither allowance is the chapter 651 exemption. HRS 651-92 protects a living debtor's interest in one parcel from attachment or execution, up to $30,000 of fair market value for the head of a family or a person 65 or older and $20,000 for others. The first figure matches the probate homestead allowance by coincidence, and the two rules answer different questions.

The Allowances Stack

Section 2-403 says the exempt property rights are in addition to any benefit or share passing to the surviving spouse, reciprocal beneficiary or children by the will, unless the will provides otherwise, by intestate succession or by way of elective share. Section 2-402 says the same of the homestead allowance, and section 2-404(b) says it of the family allowance.

So a surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary can take all three:

  1. Homestead allowance, $30,000 under section 2-402.
  2. Exempt property, up to $20,000 under section 2-403.
  3. Family allowance, a reasonable amount for maintenance during administration under section 2-404, which the personal representative may set at up to $36,000 or $3,000 a month for one year. The family allowance guide covers that ceiling and the Hawaii Probate Rule 90(b) figure that has not caught up with it.

The elective share does not cancel them either. HRS 560:2-202(c) says the three allowances are not charged against, but are in addition to, the elective-share and supplemental amounts. The other spousal protections walk through that election, its $90,000 supplemental amount and how the allowances sit beside it.

Choosing The Property And Recording The Transfer

Section 2-405(a) is the procedural half, and Hawaii Probate Rule 90(a) sits beside it.

Who picks. The surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, the guardians of minor children, or children who are adults may select estate property as homestead allowance and exempt property. If the estate is otherwise sufficient, property the will gives to a named person is not used, so a spouse should leave jewelry the will gives to a named grandchild alone while unclaimed property remains.

If nobody picks. The personal representative may make the selections when the family is unable or fails to do so within a reasonable time, or when there is no guardian for a minor child. The statute sets no fixed number of days.

No court order. Rule 90(a) says property subject to a claim for the homestead allowance or exempt property shall be distributed by the personal representative without court order once an eligible person submits a claim. The person receiving the property signs a receipt. The rule's own commentary says it reverses an older court practice of hearings and orders for these allowances.

Paperwork for title. The personal representative may execute an instrument or deed of distribution to establish ownership of property taken as homestead allowance or exempt property. For a registered vehicle, that instrument is what shows the transfer came out of the estate.

Disputes. The personal representative, or any interested person aggrieved by a selection, determination, payment, proposed payment or failure to act, may petition the circuit court for relief. The duties that surround these steps are in the Hawaii executor's duties.

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Who Loses The Right

Three rules can take the allowances away or move them.

  • The 120-hour rule. HRS 560:2-104(b) applies its survival rule to intestate succession, the homestead allowance and exempt property by name. A spouse, reciprocal beneficiary or child who fails to survive the decedent by one hundred twenty hours is treated as having died first, and survival has to be shown by clear and convincing evidence.
  • Homicide. HRS 560:2-803(b) says a person who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent forfeits all article II benefits, and it lists the homestead allowance, exempt property and the family allowance.
  • A terminated relationship. Only a reciprocal beneficiary relationship in force at the death counts. Hawaii intestate succession covers how HRS 560:2-802 treats a relationship that ended before the death.

Section 2-404(b) ends the family allowance at the death of the person entitled to it, for amounts not yet paid. Sections 2-402 and 2-403 contain no matching sentence.

Property Outside The Probate Estate

A thin probate estate does not always end the claim. HRS 527-15(a) says that to the extent the probate estate cannot satisfy an allowed claim or a statutory allowance to a surviving spouse or child, the estate may enforce that liability against property that passed by a transfer on death deed. Subsection (c) requires the proceeding to start within eighteen months of the death.

How The Allowances Shape A Small Hawaii Estate

HRS 560:3-1203 is the summary administration route, and it prints no dollar figure. If the inventory and appraisal show that the entire 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 distribute the estate without giving notice to creditors and close it by sworn statement under section 3-1204.

Three of those six terms are the allowances on this page. With a spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, $50,000 of the test comes from the homestead allowance and exempt property alone, before the family allowance and the expenses are added. That route still requires a personal representative, which the $100,000 affidavit and the clerk administration route treat differently. Hawaii small estate routes compares all three, and the Hawaii probate guide shows where each one fits in a full administration.

Hawaii has no inheritance tax. Chapter 236 was repealed in 1983, so taking value as an allowance rather than under the will changes nothing on that front.

Common Questions

How much is Hawaii exempt property worth?

Up to $20,000. HRS 560:2-403 gives the surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary of a person who died domiciled in Hawaii a value not exceeding $20,000, in excess of any security interests, in household furniture, automobiles, furnishings, appliances and personal effects. Act 158 of the 2023 session doubled the figure from $10,000. The act took effect on approval on June 29, 2023, and its section 49 leaves rights that matured before that date alone, so for an earlier death the $10,000 figure is the one to check.

What is the difference between the Hawaii homestead allowance and exempt property?

They are two separate entitlements that stack. The homestead allowance under HRS 560:2-402 is a flat $30,000 and is not tied to any kind of property. Exempt property under HRS 560:2-403 is up to $20,000 in five named categories of personal property. A surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary takes both, for $50,000 in total before the family allowance, and the statute says exempt property is in addition to the homestead allowance.

Who gets Hawaii exempt property if there is no surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary?

The children of the person who died, jointly, to the same $20,000 value. HRS 560:2-403 says the children, without an age or dependency limit. The homestead allowance is narrower: with no spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, HRS 560:2-402 divides the $30,000 among the minor children and dependent children only, so an adult child who was self-supporting can share in exempt property but not in the homestead allowance.

Does a car loan reduce Hawaii exempt property?

Yes. The $20,000 is measured in excess of any security interests, so a car worth $26,000 with $19,000 still owed counts for $7,000 of equity. If the equity in the items selected comes to less than $20,000, or the estate simply does not hold $20,000 of such property, HRS 560:2-403 lets the spouse, reciprocal beneficiary or children take other estate assets to make up the difference.

Do Hawaii exempt property and the homestead allowance come before creditors?

Yes. HRS 560:2-402 makes the homestead allowance exempt from and prior to all claims against the estate, and HRS 560:2-403 gives exempt property and the make-up assets priority over all claims. HRS 560:1-201 defines claims to include funeral expenses and expenses of administration. The make-up right yields in one direction only: it abates as needed so the homestead allowance and the family allowance can be paid first.

Does the family need a court order to take Hawaii exempt property?

No. Hawaii Probate Rule 90(a) says property subject to a claim for the homestead allowance or exempt property shall be distributed by the personal representative without court order once an eligible person submits a claim, and the person receiving it signs a receipt. HRS 560:2-405(a) lets the personal representative sign an instrument or deed of distribution to put title in the new owner, and anyone aggrieved by a selection may petition the circuit court.

Is Hawaii exempt property taken out of what the will leaves?

No, unless the will says otherwise. HRS 560:2-403 makes the rights additional to any benefit passing by the will, by intestate succession or by way of elective share. HRS 560:2-202(c) repeats the point for a spouse or reciprocal beneficiary who elects against the will: the homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance are not charged against the elective share.

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Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of September 24, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Hawaii can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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