Divorce in Hawaii

Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce

Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce

Either you or your spouse must be a resident of Hawaii for at least six months prior to filing a complaint for a divorce. The legal divorce process begins when one spouse files a petition for divorce in the Hawaii Family Court.

The family court will decree a divorce upon the application of either you or your spouse when the court finds any of the following are true:

Your marriage is irretrievably broken
You and your spouse have lived separate and apart under a decree of separation that was entered by a court, the term of separation has expired and there has not been a reconciliation
You and your spouse have lived separate and apart for a period of two years or more under a decree of separate maintenance entered by a court and there has not been a reconciliation
You and your spouse have lived separate and apart for a continuous period of two years or more immediately preceding the divorce application and there is no reasonable likelihood that cohabitation will be resumed

Dividing the Property

In Hawaii, assets and debts acquired during your marriage - called "marital property" - will be divided "equitably" when you divorce. In order to make an equitable distribution a court will consider the following:

The respective merits of the spouses
The relative abilities of the spouses
The condition in which each spouse will be left by the divorce
The burdens imposed upon either spouse for the benefit of the children
All other circumstances of the case

Separate property is retained by the owning spouse. Separate property includes the following:

Assets you had before you married if you kept that property separated from property acquired during the marriage
The income produced by a separate property investment as long as it hasn't been "commingled" - mixed together with marital property
Property you inherit from your family during your marriage if it was willed exclusively to you and you did not commingle it with marital property during the marriage

It is important to collect all the information you can about all your property, including when you purchased it, approximately how much it is worth and details such as account numbers, serial numbers and so forth. Collecting this information before you see a Hawaii divorce lawyer can save you a lot of time and money.

Alimony

A court can order alimony, also known as support and maintenance, to either party in Hawaii. Support and maintenance may be ordered for an indefinite period or for a specific duration to allow a spouse to get adequate training, education or skills in order to qualify for a new occupation, update existing qualifications or enhance the spouse's employability.

In ordering spousal support and maintenance, a court considers the following factors:

Financial resources of the spouses
Ability of the spouse seeking support and maintenance to meet his or her needs independently
Duration of the marriage
Standard of living established during the marriage
Age of the spouses
Physical and emotional condition of the spouses
Usual occupation of the spouses during the marriage
Vocational skills and employability of the spouse seeking support and maintenance
Needs of the spouses
Custodial and child support responsibilities
Ability of the spouse from whom support and maintenance is sought to meet his or her own needs while meeting the needs of the spouse seeking support and maintenance
Other factors which measure the financial condition in which the spouses will be left as the result of the action under which the determination of maintenance is made
Probable duration of the need of the spouse seeking support and maintenance

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

In Hawaii, the court will award child custody to either parent or to both parents according to the best interest of the child. Custody may be awarded to persons other than the father or mother if that award would serve the best interest of the child. If a child is capable of forming an intelligent preference, a court will consider the wishes of the child in the custody determination. A custody award may be modified or changed whenever the best interests of the child require or justify the modification or change.

The court may award reasonable visitation rights to parents, grandparents, siblings and any person interested in the welfare of the child, unless it is shown that rights of visitation are detrimental to the best interests of the child. A court may award visitation to a parent who committed family violence only if the court finds that adequate provision can be made for the physical safety and psychological well-being of the child and for the safety of the parent who is a victim of family violence.

Child Support

In Hawaii, child support is based on guidelines. The guidelines include consideration for the following:

All earnings, income and resources of both parents
Earning potential, reasonable necessities and borrowing capacity of both parents
Needs of the child for whom support is sought
Amount of public assistance which would be paid for the child under the full standard of need
Existence of other dependents of the parent that will be paying child support
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 whenever 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. The court will find that there has been a substantial change if either of the following occurs:

The person paying support has involuntarily suffered a material reduction in financial resources
The person who receives child support payments has enjoyed a material increase in financial resources

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