Hawaii Divorce

Hawaii divorces are usually handled through the family courts. There are certain residency requirements to file for a divorce in Hawaii:

• Both parties must be physically present or have been domiciled in the state for a continuous period of at least six months prior to filing for divorce.
• A person residing on any military or federal base, installation, or reservation within the state of Hawaii or who is present in the state under military orders are exempted from the above requirements.
• Divorce should be filed in the judicial district where the plaintiff resides or the judicial district where the plaintiff and the spouse last resided as a married couple.

The person wishing to get a divorce must have a complaint for divorce document and a decree of divorce document. These are mandatory documents needed to start and finalize a divorce according to Hawaii law. Ten to twenty additional documents may be required during the divorce process, which include:

• Matrimonial Action (information) Sheet
• Marital Settlement Agreement
• Income and Expense Statement
• Appearance and Waiver Document

Grounds for a divorce in Hawaii must be declared and substantiated with evidence of testimony; otherwise, the court will dismiss the case. The potential grounds for divorce are as follow:

• Irretrievable breakdown in the marriage.
• The parties are living separate and apart under a decree of separation.
• The parties have lived separate and apart for at least a period of two years.
• If the parties are living apart and separate for a continuous period of at least two years immediately following the application for divorce and there is no likelihood that cohabitation will be resumed.

If either party during a Hawaii divorce requests to resume their middle names and the last name used prior to the marriage or a name that was declared and used prior to the marriage, the court will include the change of the name in the divorce decree.

Hawaii is referred to as an “equitable distribution” state. This does not mean that in a Hawaii divorce that all property will be divided equally. It means that the property will divided as evenly as the court sees fit. When the parties cannot reach a settlement on their own, the family court will divide assets as follows:

1. The court will classify which property and debt is to be considered marital.
2. The court will then assign a monetary value on marital property and debt.
3. The court will lastly distribute marital assets between the two parties in an equitable fashion.

Support in a Hawaii divorce greatly influences how the marital property is distributed. The family court makes the decision on a case-by-case basis. They look at several factors to decide who requires the most financial support:

• Financial resources of the parties
• Potential of the spouse seeking support to meet his/her financial needs on his/her own
• Duration of the marriage
• Standard of living established during the marriage
• Age of the parties
• Health of both parties
• Each party's occupation during marriage.
• Vocational skills and employability of the party seeking monetary support
• Needs of the parties
• Custodial and child support responsibilities
• The ability of the party from whom support and maintenance is sought to meet his or her own needs while meeting the needs of the party seeking support and maintenance
• Probable duration of the needs of the party seeking support

The family court in a Hawaii divorce awards custody of children to either parent or both parents according to the best interest of the children. The frequency that each parent gets to see the children is dependent on whether or not the parent is acting in the children's best interest.

Several factors are considered when it come to the support of children after a divorce. The court looks at the same factors as they look at when there is a petition for spousal support. They decide who is to pay child support based on each parents financial burdens, responsibilities, and individual income.

The best way to get through a divorce is to have all of the information before proceeding. All states have different laws, so it is best to check your individual state for laws and restrictions. For further information of Hawaii state laws, see the Hawaii Government Web site.

Written by Virginia Payne

• Community Property with Right of Survivorship
• Divorce Equitable Distribution
• Division of Marital Property

• Free Legal Separation Forms
• Divorce Statistics
• Legal Separation
• Filing for Legal Separation
• Green Card Divorce

• Military Divorce
• Main Page
• Category:Divorce by State
• Utah Divorce
• Divorce Parties