Hawaii Probate Cost: One Flat Fee, Paid Once Per Estate
Settled Estate lists court filing fees and timelines for 6 Hawaii probate procedures. The cheapest published route starts at $215 for opening an estate, collected. Last verified September 2026.
Hawaii prices probate by statute for the whole State, so no circuit is cheaper than another. The statute names $100, and the clerk collects $215 once two add-ons are counted.
Opening a Hawaii probate collects $215 at filing. HRS § 607-5(b)(14) sets a $100 probate fee, paid once for each decedent's estate, for probate, administration, a domiciliary foreign personal representative or ancillary administration. Section 607-5(c)(32) adds a $50 administrative fee on all civil filings, and § 607-5.7(a)(2) adds a $65 indigent legal services surcharge, charged once per party. The Judiciary's List of Civil Filing Fees prints all three under Probate. The total is the same for an informal application to the registrar and a formal petition to the court, and it does not change with the size of the estate.
The $100 fee also covers later matters in the same estate. The schedule says the part I fees include all matters of the nature listed in items (4) to (9) without additional charge, which covers trust-type matters such as instructions, approval of a sale or compromise, accountings and fee allowances. The only value-based charge in the Hawaii probate code belongs to a different route: when the clerk of the circuit court administers an estate of $100,000 or less, § 560:3-1211 replaces court costs with a fee of three per cent of the market value of the first $100,000 of the gross estate, paid to the State.
Nothing in the Hawaii probate code sets a percentage for the personal representative or the estate attorney. HRS § 560:3-719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation, and no dollar figure is estimated on this page for either role. The largest costs of a Hawaii estate are often outside the court: attorney time, newspaper publication of the notice to creditors, recording fees for real estate, and for larger estates the Hawaii estate tax.
Quick Summary
- Opening an estate, collected
- $215$100 probate fee plus $50 administrative fee and $65 surcharge. Paid once, the same in every circuit
- Small estate affidavit
- $0Never filed with a court. Gross value of the estate in Hawaii up to $100,000
- Clerk-run small estate
- Up to $3,000Three per cent of the first $100,000 of the gross estate, plus actual expenses (HRS § 560:3-1211)
- Executor and attorney fees
- No scheduleReasonable compensation under HRS § 560:3-719
There is no cheaper Hawaii circuit. HRS § 607-5 and § 607-5.7 fix the probate fees for the whole State, and probate is heard by the circuit court of the judicial circuit where the decedent was domiciled (§ 560:3-201(a)(1)): the First Circuit for Oahu, the Second for Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kalawao, the Third for Hawaii Island and the Fifth for Kauai and Niihau. Two costs are genuinely local and appear in no total on this page: the newspaper in that circuit that publishes any notice to creditors, and the recording of real estate, which goes to a State office (the Bureau of Conveyances, or the assistant registrar of the Land Court for Land Court property) rather than to a county.
Typical Total Cost Ranges
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| Procedure | Estate Size | Court Fee | Timeline | Attorney? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Informal Probate or Informal Appointment | Any estate. The fee takes no account of value | $215 collected at filing: $100 probate fee under HRS § 607-5(b)(14), $50 administrative fee under § 607-5(c)(32), $65 surcharge under § 607-5.7(a)(2). Paid once for the estate | Appointment no sooner than 120 hours after the death; closing by sworn statement no sooner than six months after appointment | No statutory requirement. Counsel is usual once there is real estate to sell, a business to wind up or a claim in dispute | An uncontested estate that needs a personal representative |
| Formal Testacy Proceeding | Any estate | The same $215 collected at filing, once for the estate. A demand for jury trial in a probate case is $200 more under § 607-5(c)(21), paid by the party first making the demand | Longer than informal, because each contested step is heard on notice | No statutory requirement, and rare without one. A formal proceeding is adversarial | A contested will, competing applicants for appointment, or uncertain heirs |
| Small Estate Affidavit | Gross value of the estate in Hawaii of $100,000 or less, with no deduction for liens (HRS § 560:3-1201(a)(1)) | $0. It is presented to whoever holds the property and never filed with a court | No statutory waiting period. Usable once a death certificate is in hand | No | An estate of accounts, belongings and vehicles under the line, with no real estate to move |
| Clerk-Administered Small Estate | Property in Hawaii of a total value not exceeding $100,000 (HRS § 560:3-1205) | No ordinary court costs. Actual expenses plus three per cent of the market value of the first $100,000 of the gross estate, paid to the State, so at most $3,000 (§ 560:3-1211) | Distribution after sixty days for an estate of $10,000 or less, and after four months above that (§ 560:3-1209) | No | A small estate with Hawaii real estate that the affidavit cannot move, and no family member to serve |
| Summary Administration | No dollar figure. The estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the allowances plus administration, funeral and last-illness costs (HRS § 560:3-1203) | No separate fee. It runs inside an estate opened with $215 collected at filing | Can close at any time after distribution, by verified statement under § 560:3-1204 | No statutory requirement | An estate that the family allowances, funeral bill and last medical bills would use up |
| Smaller Filings Inside a Probate Case | Any estate already open | $3 to file an affidavit in the case, $3 for a demand for notice, and $1 for certification of a paper under seal (§ 607-5(c)(26)). Depositing an original will with the court is $0 | Same day as the filing | No | An interested person who wants notice of filings, or a family depositing a will for safekeeping |
Additional Costs to Expect
Opening a Hawaii Estate
HRS § 607-5(b)(14) charges $100, this fee to be paid once only for each decedent's estate, for probate, administration, a domiciliary foreign personal representative or ancillary administration. Part II of the same schedule adds the $50 administrative fee of § 607-5(c)(32), and part II fees apply without exception. The $65 surcharge of § 607-5.7(a)(2) applies to anyone in a circuit court civil action required to pay an initial filing fee, including applications for special proceedings, once per party. The fee list does not say whether the $50 administrative fee is collected again on a later filing in the same case, so ask the clerk before filing a later petition.
Personal Representative Compensation, Which Hawaii Does Not Schedule
HRS § 560:3-719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for the personal representative's services. Where the will provides for compensation and there is no contract with the decedent about it, the personal representative may renounce the will's provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead, and may renounce all or part of the compensation; a written renunciation may be filed with the court. Do not confuse this with the clerk's fee in § 560:3-1211, which is paid to the State only when the clerk administers a small estate, or with trustee compensation under § 607-18, a different statute for a different fiduciary.
Attorney Fees
Hawaii fixes no attorney-fee percentage for probate and publishes no schedule. After an informal probate, the written information the applicant sends to heirs and devisees must include notice that attorney fees incurred on behalf of the estate will be reviewed by the probate court only if an interested person requests such a review (§ 560:3-306(c)). So the fee is agreed between the client and the lawyer, and the court looks at it only when someone asks. Ask any attorney for a written fee agreement.
The Small Estate Routes
The § 560:3-1201 affidavit is presented to the holder of the property rather than filed, so no court fee attaches. The clerk-administered route in § 560:3-1205 is free from all costs of court except actual advertising, posting and service expenses and expenses reasonably necessary for preserving and administering the estate, together with a fee of three per cent of the market value of the first $100,000 in the gross estate, paid to the State (§ 560:3-1211). Because that fee reaches only the first $100,000, it cannot exceed $3,000, and no clerk's fee is charged if another personal representative completes the administration.
Certified Death Certificates
HRS § 338-14.5 sets the Department of Health's fees: $10 for the first certified copy and $4 for each further copy, collected for each single request. Ten copies ordered together cost $46, while ten separate requests cost $100, so order every copy you expect to need at once. A certified copy is free to a veteran, a member of a veteran's immediate family, or the next of kin of a deceased veteran when needed for a claim based on service in the armed forces (§ 338-14(a)).
Publishing the Notice to Creditors
Publishing a notice to creditors is optional in Hawaii. Under § 560:3-801(a) the applicant or petitioner may publish it once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the judicial circuit, and that is what starts the four-month claim bar in § 560:3-803(a)(1)(A). Without published or served notice, pre-death claims can be presented for eighteen months after the death (§ 560:3-803(a)(2)). The newspaper sets the price, and § 607-5(c)(31) passes actual publication and service costs through when the court arranges them.
Recording Real Estate
Moving Hawaii real estate out of an estate means recording at the Bureau of Conveyances, or filing with the assistant registrar of the Land Court for Land Court property. HRS § 502-25(a) says Bureau of Conveyances fees are established by rules of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, so the statute prints no amount. Section 502-25(b) sends $18 of each recorded document's fee to the general fund, which is an allocation of the fee rather than the fee itself.
The Personal Representative's Bond
HRS § 560:3-603(a) requires no bond in informal proceedings unless the will requires one, a special administrator's bond is requested, or § 560:3-605 applies. Where a bond is required, the premium is set by the surety company rather than by statute, so no fee schedule shows it.
Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trust Filings
HRS § 607-5(b)(13a) charges $100 for a guardianship, which is a family court matter in Hawaii under § 560:1-302(c). Section 607-5(b)(10) charges $100 for each conservatorship matter, such as an appointment, a successor, a resignation, instructions or approvals, and conservatorships stay in circuit court. Registering a trust under chapter 560, or releasing a registration, is $3 under § 607-5(b)(8a).
When the Court Can Waive the Fee
HRS § 607-3 gives the judges of all the courts of the State discretionary power to waive the prepayment of costs or to reduce or remit costs where, in special or extraordinary cases, the cost of a proceeding appears onerous. Ask the circuit court's probate clerk how to make the request before filing.
Hawaii Estate Tax
Hawaii has its own estate tax under HRS chapter 236E, paid to the Department of Taxation rather than the court. The exclusion is the federal amount as it stood for a death on December 31, 2017, which was $5,490,000, and § 236E-6 freezes it there, so it does not rise with the federal figure of $15,000,000 for 2026. The Hawaii return is due when the federal return is due, nine months after the death (§ 236E-9). Hawaii has no inheritance tax: chapter 236 was repealed in 1983.
One more cost source to check: if the person who died received Medicaid long-term care benefits, the state may file a recovery claim against the estate. The Hawaii Medicaid estate recovery guide explains when that applies.