Child Support
Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce
Either you or your spouse must be a Hawaii resident for six months before filing for a divorce. Additionally, you need to reside in the court circuit where you plan to file for 90 days before filing. A divorce case begins when one spouse files a petition for divorce in the Hawaii Family Court.
The family court grants a divorce on an application by either spouse when it finds any of the following are true:
- Your marriage is irretrievably broken
- A couple has lived separate and apart under a court's decree of separation the separation term expired, and there has been no reconciliation
- You and your spouse have lived separate and apart for a period of two years or more under a decree of separate maintenance without reconciliation
- You and your spouse have lived separate and apart for a continuous period of two years or more immediately before filing for divorce, and there's no reasonable chance of getting back together
Dividing the Property
Assets and debts acquired during your marriage, called "marital property," is divided equitably in a divorce. Equitable distribution means a fair division, which isn't always an equal division. Courts consider these factors in deciding property division issues:
- The respective merits of the spouses
- The relative abilities of the spouses
- Financial condition of each spouse after divorce
- Burdens imposed on either spouse for the benefit of the children
- All other circumstances of the case
Each spouse keeps his or her separate property. Your separate property includes:
- Assets you had before marriage, assuming you kept it separate from marital property
- The income produced by a separate property
- Inherited property
Be prepared with information on your property, including when you purchased it, an estimate of value, and details such as account numbers, serial numbers and so forth. You'll be ready to meet with a Hawaii divorce lawyer and it can save you a lot of time and money.
Alimony
A court can order alimony, also known as support and maintenance, to either spouse. It may be ordered for an indefinite period or for a set duration to allow a spouse to gain education or training needed to become self-supporting.
Factors in determining spousal support include:
- Financial resources of the spouses
- Ability of the spouse seeking support and maintenance for self-support
- Marriage duration
- Standard of living during marriage
- Spouses' ages
- Physical and emotional condition of the spouses
- Usual occupation of the spouses while married
- Vocational skills and employability of the spouse seeking support
- Spouses' needs
- Custodial and child support responsibilities
- Ability of the paying spouse to meet his or her own needs while paying support
- Other factors relevant to the spouses' financial conditions
- Probable duration of the need for support
A court may modify support and maintenance if there is a material change in the physical or financial circumstances of either party.
Child Custody and Visitation
Child custody issues are based on the best interest of the child. Custody may be awarded to persons other than the parents. A child's preferences are considered if the child is capable of forming an intelligent preference. Custody modifications are based on the best interest of the child.
Courts can grant reasonable visitation rights to parents, grandparents, siblings and others interested in the child's welfare. Visitation is denied when it isn't in a child's best interest. If a parent committed family violence, the court can order safeguards for the physical and emotional well-being of the child and the parent who was a victim of such acts.
Child Support
In Hawaii, child support is based on guidelines. The guidelines are based on many factors, such as:
- Parents' earnings, income and resources
- Earning potential, reasonable necessities and borrowing capacity of both parents
- Child's needs
- Amount of public assistance which would be paid for the child under the full standard of need
- Whether the parents must pay support for other children
- Need to foster incentives for both parents to work
- Need to balance the standard of living of both parents and child and avoid placing any below the poverty level if possible
- Need to avoid extreme and inequitable changes in either parent's income depending on custody
- Thirty hours of weekly earnings at the minimum wage imputed to parent's income where parent with school age child or children, who is able to work, remains at home and does not work
A support order may be modified if the relative financial condition between the parent paying child support and the parent receiving child support has substantially changed. Such a change is presumed when there is a change of ten percent or more in the amount of support based on the guidelines. Examples of changes include job loss, or an economic windfall where a parent has a large increase in financial resources.
Questions for Your Attorney