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Hawaii Probate Accounting
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Hawaii Probate Accounting

Hawaii probate accounting: three-month inventory and distribution under HRS 560:3-706.

By Settled Editorial

Hawaii probate accounting comes down to two documents and one deadline. You prepare an inventory within three months of your appointment under HRS 560:3-706 and file or mail it, and when you close, you furnish a full written account of your administration to the distributees whose interests it affects under HRS 560:3-1003(a)(3).

In an ordinary informal estate, neither document has to reach a judge. Hawaii made the inventory's court filing optional and sends the account to the family rather than to the court. The court receives a short verified closing statement instead, filed no earlier than six months after the original appointment. Every rule below was read on September 24, 2026 at the Hawaii State Legislature's statute host, data.capitol.hawaii.gov, with each section's bracketed history note read beside it. The Hawaii Probate Rules were read the same day in the Judiciary's current compilation.

A note on dates. The Legislature's compilation runs through the 2025 session, so a 2026 Act does not appear in its text. We screened every Act of the 2026 session. The one that amends the probate code, Act 47, changes the sealing of medical records in guardianship and conservatorship cases and touches none of the sections on this page. Most of the accounting sections date from Hawaii's 1996 adoption of the Uniform Probate Code. The newest change is a 2008 amendment to the supplementary inventory rule, and the 2023 amendment to the general duty section left the standard of care in place.

Every Hawaii estate is heard in a circuit court, in the judicial circuit where the decedent lived. Look up the Circuit Court for your island before you file anything. Read this page beside the personal representative's duties and when an estate can close. This page states Hawaii law rather than the facts of one estate, so confirm your own dates with the circuit court holding the file or with a licensed Hawaii attorney.

DutyHawaii ruleStatute or rule
InventoryPrepared within three months after appointment, then filed or mailedHRS 560:3-706
Valuation standardFair market value as of the date of death, with encumbrances shownHRS 560:3-706
Court filing of the inventoryOptionalHRS 560:3-706; HPR Rule 60
Contents of a filed inventoryDate of death, signature, aggregate gross value, each asset and its loans, appraisal detailsHPR Rule 60
AppraisersOptional, named on the inventory beside the items appraisedHRS 560:3-707
Supplementary inventoryOwed for new property and for an erroneous or misleading value or descriptionHRS 560:3-708; HPR Rule 61
Final accountFurnished in writing to affected distributeesHRS 560:3-1003(a)(3); HPR Rule 54
Closing statementVerified, filed no earlier than six months after original appointmentHRS 560:3-1003(a)
Accounting presented to the courtPetition plus a five-part attachmentHPR Rule 26
Court approvalOptional, by petition for complete settlementHRS 560:3-1001; 560:3-1002
Challenge to the personal representativeSix months after the closing statement is filedHRS 560:3-1005
Claims against distributeesLater of three years after death or one year after distributionHRS 560:3-1006
End of the appointmentOne year after the closing statement if nothing is pendingHRS 560:3-1003(b)

The Inventory Is Due in Three Months, and Filing It Is Your Choice

HRS 560:3-706 starts a three-month clock at your appointment, not at the death. Within that window a personal representative who is neither a special administrator nor a successor to someone who already did the job shall prepare and file or mail an inventory of property the decedent owned at the time of death.

The section sets three content rules. You list the property with reasonable detail. You show each item's fair market value as of the date of the decedent's death. And you show the type and amount of any encumbrance on an item, such as a mortgage on a condominium or a loan against a car.

Here is where Hawaii parts company with Uniform Probate Code states such as Nebraska, which require the court filing. The statute's second paragraph says you shall send a copy of the inventory to interested persons who request it, and you may also file the original with the court. Filing is permitted, not required. Hawaii Probate Rule 60 says the same thing in its first sentence, and the rule's commentary states it plainly: the probate code does not require that an inventory be filed with the court. Rule 62 now reads Reserved, and its commentary records that the old rule was deleted because inventories are no longer required to be approved by the court.

So the inventory is a real, dated duty with an optional court copy. A national checklist that tells you the judge will review your inventory is describing another state.

If you do file it. Hawaii Probate Rule 60 sets the format of any inventory filed in court:

  • The first page shows the date of death and the signature of the personal representative.
  • The inventory shows the aggregate gross value of the probate assets that have then been valued.
  • It shows the nature and value of each asset, with a description of any loans secured by the asset.
  • If there is an appraisal, it gives the appraiser's name and the date of the appraisal.

Rule 60 adds one duty that applies whether or not you file. You shall make available for inspection by any interested person any appraisals or other documents showing how you valued the listed assets. Keep the bank statements, brokerage statements, appraisals and title reports you relied on in one place, because a beneficiary can ask to see them.

What goes on it and what stays off. The inventory covers property the decedent owned at death that passes through the estate. Property that passes outside probate, such as a joint account with survivorship rights, a life insurance policy with a named beneficiary, or real property conveyed by a transfer on death deed, does not pass through your administration. If you are unsure which assets belong on the list, the ways Hawaii property passes outside probate sorts them.

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Appraisers and the Supplementary Inventory

HRS 560:3-707 lets you employ a qualified and disinterested appraiser to help fix the date-of-death value of any asset whose value may be subject to reasonable doubt. You may use different appraisers for different kinds of assets. The names and addresses of any appraiser go on the inventory beside the item or items appraised. The section makes appraisal optional. Real property, a closely held business, art and collectibles are the usual candidates. A bank balance is not.

Inventories are rarely right the first time. HRS 560:3-708 covers two situations: property that was left off the original inventory comes to your knowledge, or you learn that a value or description on the original is erroneous or misleading. Either way you shall make a supplementary inventory or appraisement showing the date-of-death market value of the new item, or the revised value or description, and the appraisers or other data you relied on.

Where it goes depends on what you did with the original. If you filed the original with the court, you file the supplement with the court. If you did not, you furnish copies or information to interested persons who request it or who requested a copy of the original inventory. That last clause dates from the 2008 amendment, Act 39. Before it, the statute pointed to persons interested in the new information.

Hawaii Probate Rule 61 adds a format choice that trips people up.

  • An amended inventory completely restates the original. It shows the changes by bracketing deleted matter and underscoring added matter.
  • A supplemental inventory is for changes that are minor in relation to the original, and it sets out only the changes.

Either one carries a first sheet prepared the same way Rule 60 requires for the original. If the original was filed, the amendment or supplement is filed too and served on all interested persons. If the original was not filed, you need not file the change, but you serve it on interested persons who request it or who requested the original.

The Inventory Decides Whether a Summary Administration Is Open to You

The inventory does more than record values. HRS 560:3-1203 turns on it. If it appears from the inventory and appraisal that the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the sum of these items, a shortcut opens:

  • the homestead allowance, which HRS 560:2-402 sets at $30,000 for a surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary
  • exempt property, up to $20,000 in value under HRS 560:2-403
  • the family allowance under HRS 560:2-404
  • costs and expenses of administration
  • reasonable funeral expenses
  • reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness

When the numbers fit, the personal representative may, without giving notice to creditors, immediately disburse and distribute the estate to the persons entitled to it and close under HRS 560:3-1204. The shortcut starts with an inventory, so do not skip the valuation work because an estate looks small. Hawaii's exempt property rules and the Hawaii family allowance explain who holds each allowance. A separate route, the $100,000 collection affidavit that needs no personal representative at all, is covered on the Hawaii small estate page.

The summary closing statement under HRS 560:3-1204(a) can be filed at any time after disbursement and distribution. It states three things: that to the best of your knowledge the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, did not exceed those items; that you fully administered the estate by disbursing and distributing it to the persons entitled to it; and that you sent a copy of the closing statement to all distributees and to every known claimant whose claim is neither paid nor barred, and furnished a full account in writing of the administration to the distributees whose interests are affected. Subsection (c) gives it the same effect as a statement filed under HRS 560:3-1003.

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The Account Goes to the Distributees, and the Statement Goes to the Court

Let's break down the part families find most surprising. In an ordinary informal Hawaii estate, the final account is not a court filing.

HRS 560:3-1003(a) lets a personal representative close the estate by filing with the court a verified statement, no earlier than six months after the date of original appointment of a general personal representative. The statement says that you, or a previous personal representative, have done three things:

  1. Determined that the time limited for presentation of creditors' claims has expired.
  2. Fully administered the estate by making payment, settlement or other disposition of all claims presented, the expenses of administration, and estate, inheritance and other death taxes, except as the statement specifies, and distributed the assets to the persons entitled.
  3. Sent a copy of the statement to all distributees and to every creditor or other claimant you know of whose claim is neither paid nor barred, and furnished a full account in writing of your administration to the distributees whose interests are affected.

That third item is the Hawaii final account. It is written for the distributees and delivered to them. The court sees your sworn statement that you delivered it.

Hawaii Probate Rule 54 confirms the split. If formal approval of final accounts is sought, you serve the petition and the accounting on all beneficiaries whose interests have not been satisfied and on all creditors who filed claims that are neither barred nor satisfied, in the manner Rule 7 provides. Otherwise, you serve a copy of the final accounts on all distributees whose interests are affected, and a copy of the closing statement on all distributees and any creditors whose claims have neither been barred nor satisfied.

Two conditions close the sworn-statement route. HRS 560:3-1003(a) opens with them. The route is unavailable if the court has prohibited it by order, and it is unavailable for an estate being administered in supervised administration. A supervised estate ends by court order under HRS 560:3-505, which applies the time restrictions, notices and order contents of HRS 560:3-1001.

Why the Creditor Period Controls Your Closing Date

The six-month floor is only the first gate. The statement must also recite that the time for presenting creditors' claims has expired, and in Hawaii that date depends on what notice you gave.

Under HRS 560:3-803(a), claims that arose before death are barred unless presented in time. Where notice was published or served under HRS 560:3-801, the deadline is four months after first publication or sixty days after service of written notice, whichever expires later. Where notice was neither published nor served, the bar is eighteen months after the death. Publication is optional in Hawaii, and skipping it pushes the earliest honest closing statement out to eighteen months after death.

So work out the claim date before you plan the closing. Confirming the creditor period has run covers the notice routes and the claim deadlines in full.

Claims that are still open. HRS 560:3-1003(a)(2) lets you close with claims undischarged, but the statement must say whether you distributed the estate subject to possible liability with the distributees' agreement, or spell out the other arrangements made for the outstanding liabilities. HRS 560:3-810(b) supplies the tools for a claim that is not yet due, or is contingent or unliquidated: pay the present or agreed value if the claimant consents, or arrange future payment by creating a trust, giving a mortgage, or obtaining a bond or security from a distributee.

Hawaii Probate Rule 64 turns that into a disclosure duty. Where an estate is ready to close with outstanding claims, you describe the arrangements made with the creditor in the petition for approval of final accounts or the closing statement. The rule lists written assumption of the obligation by beneficiaries, a bond or other security equal to the obligation plus twenty percent to cover enforcement and collection costs where the claim is contingent or unmatured, or other arrangements the court or the creditor approves.

What a Full Written Account Should Contain

HRS 560:3-1003 does not define "full account," and no Hawaii statute prescribes a format for the account you hand the distributees. Hawaii Probate Rule 26 prescribes one for accountings presented to the court, and it makes a sound template for the distributees' copy too, because the same document can go to the court later if anyone asks for approval.

Rule 26 requires an accounting to the court to be typewritten or prepared by computer and presented by petition. Attached to the petition is a complete financial accounting for the period, including, in this order:

  1. A brief summary of receipts and disbursements during the accounting period.
  2. A list of the estate's assets at the end of the period, with their value for administration purposes. For a probate accounting, that is the inventory value.
  3. A summary explaining the amount and basis of fiduciary fees taken or charged during the period.
  4. A detailed accounting of the estate's transactions during the period.
  5. A copy of any auditor's report and auditor's management letter received for the period.

The rule lets you summarize regular and minor transactions and ones internal to your accounting system, with the goal of eliminating needless detail while giving enough information to track what happened. Its commentary says the rule mandates no single form of detailed accounting and leaves that to the fiduciary.

What the numbers have to reconcile with. Start from the inventory values. Add what came in: income, sale proceeds, refunds, assets found later. Subtract what went out: claims paid, expenses of administration, taxes, fees, and distributions. The assets on hand at the end should match that arithmetic to the cent. A gap is what beneficiaries ask about, and it is the reason Rule 60 keeps your valuation papers open to inspection.

Fees. HRS 560:3-719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services and prints no percentage and no schedule. You may renounce a will's compensation clause before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead, or renounce all or part of the fee. Under HRS 560:3-721 the court may review the reasonableness of your own compensation and that of any attorney, auditor, investment advisor or other agent you hired, after notice to all interested persons or on petition of an interested person, and may order a refund of excessive compensation. Rule 26 item 3 asks for the amount and basis of the fee, so state both. A fee the account explains is a fee a beneficiary is less likely to take to court. How the fees reported in the account are measured against the reasonable-compensation rule is covered at personal representative compensation in Hawaii.

Estates that run for years. Hawaii Probate Rule 83 lets a personal representative file a verified interim accounting with the court annually, or for longer periods, in the Rule 26 format. If the court approves an interim accounting, your final accounting refers to it rather than repeating it.

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The Standard Your Account Is Measured Against

HRS 560:3-703(a) makes a personal representative a fiduciary who shall observe the standards of care applicable to trustees in HRS 554D-804, 554D-806 and 554D-808(c). Section 554D-804 is prudent administration and 554D-806 covers the trustee's skills. The same subsection puts you under a duty to settle and distribute the estate under the terms of any probated will and chapter 560, as expeditiously as is consistent with the best interests of the estate.

Notice what the cross-reference leaves out. Hawaii's trust code has its own duty to inform and report, HRS 554D-813, and HRS 560:3-703 does not name it. Your reporting duties as a personal representative come from article III of the probate code itself: the thirty-day information letter under HRS 560:3-705, the inventory, and the closing account. Hawaii executor duties covers the rest of the office.

Valuing a Distribution Is a Second Valuation Job

The inventory values property at the date of death. Distribution in kind can call for a second valuation. HRS 560:3-906(a)(2) lets a homestead or family allowance or a devise of a stated sum of money be satisfied in kind, provided the person entitled has not demanded cash, the property is valued at fair market value as of the date of its distribution, and no residuary devisee has asked that the asset stay in the residue.

Subsection (a)(3) sets the method. Securities regularly traded on recognized exchanges take the price of the last sale on the business day before distribution, or, if there was no sale that day, the median between the bid and offered amounts at that day's close. Sums owed by solvent debtors with no known dispute are valued at the amount due with accrued interest, or discounted to the distribution date. For assets without a readily ascertainable value, a valuation dated no more than thirty days before distribution controls if otherwise reasonable. You may value assets at the time of the proposed distribution in any reasonable way, including a fresh appraisal.

HRS 560:3-906(b) gives you a way to lock the numbers in. After the probable charges against the estate are known, you may mail or deliver a proposal for distribution to everyone with a right to object. A distributee's right to object on the kind or value of the asset they will receive ends if they do not object in writing, received by you within thirty days after the proposal was mailed or delivered, unless they waived it earlier in writing. Your account should show both values where they differ: the inventory value and the value used at distribution.

Asking the Court to Approve the Account

Court approval is optional in Hawaii, and sometimes worth the extra step. HRS 560:3-1001(a) lets a personal representative petition at any time for an order of complete settlement of the estate. Any other interested person may petition after one year from the appointment of the original personal representative. Nobody's petition may be entertained until the time for presenting claims that arose before death has expired.

The petition may ask the court to consider the final account or compel or approve an accounting and distribution, to construe any will, to determine heirs, and to adjudicate final settlement and distribution. After notice to all interested persons and a hearing, the court may enter an order approving settlement, directing or approving distribution, and discharging the personal representative from further claim or demand of any interested person. HRS 560:3-1002 offers a narrower version for an informally probated will, settling the estate without adjudicating testacy. A devisee may use it after one year.

Three Hawaii Probate Rules shape how that petition runs.

  • Rule 25 (approvals). You may secure written approvals of the accounting from interested persons and present them with the petition. If all interested persons approve, the petition may be presented and the accounting approved ex parte. If fewer than all approve and you want the court not to appoint a guardian ad litem or master, your counsel submits an affidavit describing the effort made to secure approvals. The court may then appoint a guardian ad litem for any minor, unborn or unascertained beneficiaries, and a master to review the accounting.
  • Rule 27 (masters). Where beneficiaries of a private estate dispute the account, the court may appoint a master to review, analyze and report on it.
  • Rule 54 (service). The petition and accounting are served on unsatisfied beneficiaries and unbarred, unsatisfied creditors who filed claims, and a flag sheet is presented under Rule 81 for the hearing.

The formal order also starts a will-contest clock. HRS 560:3-108(a)(3) lets a formal proceeding to contest an informally probated will be started within ninety days after notice of the informal proceeding under HRS 560:3-306, twelve months after the will was informally admitted, or thirty days after entry of a formal order approving the accounts and settlement of the estate by an informally appointed personal representative, whichever expires first. An order approving your account can shorten the contest window.

After an approved final account. Hawaii Probate Rule 84 says that after approval of the final accounting, if any, you distribute the assets, file final receipts, and where applicable file a supplemental accounting for receipts and disbursements not reflected in the final receipts. Filing the final receipts and any supplemental accounting discharges the personal representative without a further court order.

Closing, and the Clocks That Keep Running Afterwards

Filing the closing statement starts four separate clocks and ends none of your exposure on day one.

  • Six months for claims against you. Under HRS 560:3-1005, unless barred earlier by adjudication and except as the closing statement provides, the rights of successors and of creditors whose claims are not otherwise barred against the personal representative for breach of fiduciary duty are barred unless a proceeding is started within six months after the statement is filed. The bar does not cover fraud, misrepresentation or inadequate disclosure related to settling the estate. A thin account is the easiest way to leave that door open.
  • One year for your appointment. HRS 560:3-1003(b) ends the appointment if no proceedings involving the personal representative are pending in the court one year after the closing statement is filed.
  • Three years or one year for distributees. HRS 560:3-1006 bars a claimant's claim against a liable distributee, and an heir's or devisee's right to recover property improperly distributed, at the later of three years after the death or one year after the distribution, unless adjudicated earlier. Creditor claims against the decedent stay governed by HRS 560:3-803, and the section does not bar recovery of property received through fraud.
  • Liability capped at the distribution. HRS 560:3-1004 lets an undischarged, unbarred claim be pursued against distributees after distribution. No distributee is liable for amounts received as exempt property, homestead or family allowances, or for more than the value of their distribution at the time it was made.

Once the appointment ends, HRS 560:3-1007 lets you, your sureties or a successor file a verified application showing no action concerning the estate is pending, and receive a certificate from the registrar that you appear to have fully administered the estate. The certificate discharges any lien given to secure your performance in place of bond, or any surety, but it does not bar an action against you or the surety.

Property found after closing. HRS 560:3-1008 lets the court, on petition of any interested person, appoint the same or a successor personal representative to administer property discovered after the estate was settled or more than one year after a closing statement was filed. No claim already barred can be asserted in that subsequent administration. Hawaii Probate Rule 86 adds a shorter path where the asset needs only to be distributed and all taxes and claims are settled: a petition for an amended order of distribution.

Hawaii Publishes No Inventory or Accounting Form

On September 24, 2026 we read the circuit court forms pages the Hawaii State Judiciary publishes for all four judicial circuits. The Third Circuit page lists three estate forms: a creditor's claim, an affidavit for collection of a decedent's personal property, and a separate affidavit for a decedent's automobile. The First, Second and Fifth Circuit pages list no probate form. None of the four pages lists an inventory, an account or a closing statement.

So the format comes from the rules, not from a form. Hawaii Probate Rule 60 fixes what a filed inventory shows, Rule 61 governs changes to it, and Rule 26 fixes what an accounting to the court contains. Before you file, ask the estate and probate desk of the circuit court holding the file whether it has local expectations for cover sheets or exhibits.

Special administrators. Hawaii Probate Rule 58 says a special administrator later appointed personal representative does not file a separate accounting unless the court orders one, and folds the special administration period into the personal representative's accounting. A special administrator who is not appointed personal representative accounts to the court in the format and manner required of a personal representative.

When to Bring In a Hawaii Attorney

An inventory and a clean account can often be prepared from bank and brokerage statements. Bring in a licensed Hawaii attorney where a beneficiary objects to a value, an asset is hard to value, a claim is contingent or disputed at closing, you need a formal order approving the account, the estate is in supervised administration, or Hawaii estate tax is in play. The Hawaii probate guide shows where these steps sit in the whole case.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the inventory due in a Hawaii probate?

Within three months after the appointment, under HRS 560:3-706. The personal representative prepares an inventory of property the decedent owned at death, lists it in reasonable detail, and shows each item's fair market value as of the date of death and the type and amount of any encumbrance. The statute says to file or mail it, sends a copy to any interested person who asks, and lets the personal representative also file the original with the court. A special administrator does not owe the duty, and neither does a successor whose predecessor already discharged it.

Does a Hawaii inventory have to be filed with the circuit court?

No. HRS 560:3-706 says the personal representative shall prepare and file or mail the inventory and may also file the original with the court. Hawaii Probate Rule 60 repeats that the personal representative may file an inventory, and its commentary says the code does not require court filing. If you do file one, Rule 60 sets its contents: the date of death and your signature on the first page, the aggregate gross value of the probate assets valued so far, the nature and value of each asset with any loans secured by it, and the appraiser's name and appraisal date where there is an appraisal.

Does a Hawaii personal representative file a final accounting with the court?

Not in an ordinary informal estate. HRS 560:3-1003(a)(3) makes you furnish a full account in writing of your administration to the distributees whose interests it affects and send a copy of the closing statement to all distributees and to known claimants whose claims are neither paid nor barred. What the court receives is the verified closing statement. An account goes to the court only when you ask for formal approval, by petition under HRS 560:3-1001 or 560:3-1002, and then Hawaii Probate Rule 26 sets its format.

What goes in a Hawaii accounting presented to the court?

Hawaii Probate Rule 26 requires an accounting to the court to be typewritten or prepared by computer and presented by petition, with an attachment containing, in order, a summary of receipts and disbursements for the period, a list of assets at the end of the period at their inventory value, a summary of the amount and basis of fiduciary fees taken or charged, a detailed accounting of transactions, and a copy of any auditor's report and management letter. Regular and minor transactions may be summarized. The rule mandates no single form of detailed accounting.

When can a Hawaii estate be closed by sworn statement?

No earlier than six months after the date of original appointment of a general personal representative, under HRS 560:3-1003(a), and only once you can state that the time for creditors' claims has expired. With published notice, most pre-death claims are barred four months after first publication under HRS 560:3-803. With no notice at all, the bar runs eighteen months after death, so an estate that never gives notice cannot recite that the claim period has expired until then. The route is closed to an estate in supervised administration and to one where the court has prohibited it.

How long can a beneficiary challenge a Hawaii accounting?

Six months after the closing statement is filed, under HRS 560:3-1005, for claims by successors and by creditors not otherwise barred against the personal representative for breach of fiduciary duty, unless barred earlier by adjudication or the statement itself provides otherwise. The bar does not reach fraud, misrepresentation or inadequate disclosure related to settling the estate. Claims to recover property from a distributee run to the later of three years after death or one year after distribution under HRS 560:3-1006.

Does Hawaii publish an inventory or accounting form?

We found none. On September 24, 2026 we read the circuit court forms pages the Hawaii State Judiciary publishes for all four judicial circuits. The Third Circuit page lists three estate forms: a creditor's claim and two affidavits for collecting a decedent's personal property. None of the four pages lists an inventory, an account or a closing statement. Format is set by Hawaii Probate Rules 26 and 60 rather than by a court form, so ask the estate and probate desk of the circuit court holding the file what it expects.

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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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