Chapter 502 — Chapter 502

PART I. REGISTRAR, DEPUTY §502-1 Registrar; appointment; tenure; salary. There shall be a bureau in the department of land and natural resources to be called the bureau of conveyances. A registrar of conveyances shall be appointed by the board of land and natural resources, under…

PART X. VETERANS CERTIFICATES §502-101 Veterans certificates. The bureau of conveyances, upon request of a veteran, resident in Hawaii, or the veteran's next of kin, shall record any honorable discharge certificate or other separation or discharge document from the military or na…

PART III. INDEXING OF RECORDS §502-11 Entry record. The registrar shall make and keep in a form and manner as is prescribed by the board of land and natural resources a permanent record of the receipt of every: provided that the registrar shall note on the record, in addition to …

PART XI. OTHER PROVISIONS §502-111 Family child care homes; permitted uses in residential areas. (a) Family child care homes shall be considered a residential use. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, every recorded restriction or prohibition entered into whether by way…

§502-112 Prohibition of transfer fees. (a) A deed restriction or other covenant running with the land applicable to the transfer of real property that requires a transferee of real property or the transferee's heirs, successors, or assigns, to pay a fee in connection with a futur…

§502-12 Indexes. The registrar shall keep indexes for public inspection in such form and manner as is prescribed by the board of land and natural resources. [L 1905, c 4, §3; RL 1925, §3129; RL 1935, §5115; RL 1945, §12715; RL 1955, §343-6; am L 1966, c 26, §2; HRS §502-12; am L …

§502-13 Names of parties indexed. The registrar shall, within a reasonable time, cause the name of each and every grantor, grantee, or other party thereto to be entered at length and alphabetically in its appropriate index. [L 1905, c 4, §4; RL 1925, §3130; RL 1935, §5116; RL 194…

§502-14 Entries where one transfers another's real estate; in partition cases. When an instrument, by which one person by authority of law transfers or conveys the real estate of another person, is left for record, the registrar shall enter in the registrar's entry book and grant…

§502-15 Annual indexes. The registrar shall within the first six months of each year, or within such further time during the year as the registrar may think proper, cause to be made by competent persons, copies of the indexes to the instruments recorded in the bureau of conveyanc…

§502-16 Decennial indexes. The registrar shall cause a reclassification and consolidation of the yearly indexes to be made at least once in every ten years as the convenience of the registrar may permit, in the same manner as set forth in section 502-15. The registrar may cause c…

§502-17 Filing of; data on plans; monuments; metes and bounds descriptions. (a) The registrar shall accept and file in the registrar's office, upon the payment of the fee as provided in section 502-25, any plan of land prepared in the manner prescribed by this section. Every plan…

§502-18 Description; lot subdivisions. A metes and bounds description of the exterior boundaries of the parcel or parcels of land sought to be registered as a file plan shall be written upon the plan, or printed or typewritten on unruled good quality white paper 11 inches long by…

§502-19 Plans on tracing cloth; size; scale. All plans must be on tracing cloth of good quality, and shall be of one of the following sizes, the figures indicating inches: 10 x 15; 15 x 21; 21 x 32; 30 x 36; 36 x 42; or 42, 48, or 54 wide without restriction as to length; which p…

§502-2 REPEALED. L 2006, c 48, §9.

§502-20 New maps for old. The registrar at such times when the original tracings of filed plans and land court maps on file in the bureau of conveyances, are found to be in such condition that satisfactory blueprint copies thereof cannot be made, shall forward any such map or pla…

§502-21 Recording of plans unlawful. It shall not be lawful for the registrar to accept for record any plan of land, whether attached to, made a part of, or independent of, any deed, certified copy of judgment of condemnation, or other instrument; to the end and purpose that ther…

§502-22 Copies of plans furnished by registrar. The registrar shall furnish, when so requested, copies of any map or plan filed in accordance with sections 502-17 to 502-21, duly certified by the registrar's seal of office, upon payment of the fee hereinafter mentioned. In additi…

§502-23 Sale or lease by reference to lots or blocks without filing of plans; penalty. Whoever lays out or subdivides a tract of land into lots or blocks and sells by lot number or block number or leases by lot number or block number any lot or block in any subdivision without fi…

§502-24 Report of violations. Whenever it comes to the knowledge of the registrar that section 502-23 has been violated the registrar shall notify the attorney general and the planning department of the county of the fact. [L 1911, c 46, §2; RL 1925, §3140; RL 1935, §5127; am L 1…

§502-25 Fees. (a) Except when otherwise provided, fees for services rendered under this chapter shall be established by rules adopted by the department of land and natural resources, pursuant to chapter 91. (b) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, of the fees received a…

§502-26 Copies of instruments, certificates. (a) The registrar, when applied to, shall furnish an attested copy of any instrument or document recorded in the registrar's office, or of any fact appearing upon the registrar's records. The registrar may also issue nonattested docume…

§502-27 Charges. (a) Except when otherwise provided, fees for the use of microfilms of documents recorded in the bureau of conveyances for the purpose of making duplicates shall be established by rules adopted by the department of land and natural resources pursuant to chapter 91…

§502-3 Deputy registrar, appointment, duties. The registrar, under the direction of the board of land and natural resources, shall appoint a deputy, for whose official acts the registrar shall be responsible, and whose appointment the registrar shall announce by public notice. Th…

PART IV. RECORDING §502-31 Recording, method. (a) The registrar shall make or cause to be made an entire literal copy of all instruments, with their original signatures, required to be recorded in the registrar's office, and the registrar, the registrar's deputy, or clerk shall c…

§502-32 Instrument recorded as of time of delivery; office hours. Every instrument entitled by law to be recorded, shall be recorded in the order and as of the time when the same is delivered to the registrar for that purpose, and shall be considered as recorded from the time of …

§502-33 Identification of reference to registration of original. (a) If the owner of a fee time share interest acquired title thereto pursuant to a deed or other instrument filed or recorded in the land court pursuant to chapter 501, then the registrar need not accept for recordi…

§502-34 Grantee's address in deed. The registrar shall not record any deed unless it contains or has endorsed upon it the address of the grantee. This section does not apply to any deed executed prior to July 1, 1951. [L 1951, c 38, §1; RL 1955, §343-24; HRS §502-34; am L 1989, c…

PART V. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; PROOF OF INSTRUMENTS §502-41 Certificate of acknowledgment; natural persons, corporations. Except as otherwise provided by law, to entitle any conveyance or other instrument to be recorded, there shall be endorsed, subjoined, or attached thereto an acknow…

§502-42 Certificate, contents. The certificate of acknowledgment shall state in substance that the person who executed the instrument appeared before the notary public granting the certificate and acknowledged or stated that the person executed the same, and that the person was p…

§502-43 Form when person unknown. When the person offering the acknowledgment is unknown to the officer taking the acknowledgment, the certificate may be substantially in the following form, to-wit: State of Hawaii ) ss. County of .........................) On ............(insert…

§502-44 Married women. The acknowledgment of a married woman when required by law may be taken in the same form as if she were sole and without any examination separate and apart from her husband. [L 1909, c 69, §2; RL 1925, §3150; RL 1935, §5136; RL 1945, §12736; RL 1955, §343-2…

§502-45 Acknowledgments without the State. The proof or acknowledgment of any deed or other written instrument required to be proved or acknowledged in order to enable the same to be recorded or read in evidence, when made by any person without the State and within any other stat…

§502-46 Same; certificate of authority of officer. The burden of proving due execution of any conveyance or written instrument, acknowledged or proved under section 502-45, may be met by any admissible evidence sufficient for that purpose and shall also be met if at the time of r…

§502-47 Acknowledgment without the United States; by members of the armed forces; recordation where no official authorized to take proof. (a) The proof or acknowledgment of any deed or other instrument required to be proved or acknowledged in order to entitle the same to be recor…

§502-48 Identification of person making. No acknowledgment of any conveyance or other instrument, except as provided by this chapter, whereby any real estate is conveyed or may be affected, shall be taken, unless the person offering to make the acknowledgment is personally known …

§502-49 Certificate of officer, or judge, necessary. Every officer who takes the acknowledgment of any instrument shall indorse, subjoin, or attach a certificate thereof, signed by oneself, on the instrument. Every judge who takes the proof of any instrument shall indorse, subjoi…

§502-50 How made; proof if not made. (a) Except as otherwise provided, to entitle any conveyance or other instrument to be recorded, it shall be acknowledged by the person or persons executing the same, before the registrar of conveyances, or the registrar's deputy or before a ju…

§502-51 Exemption of instruments offered on behalf of United States. In the case of any deed, lease, mortgage, lien, notice, agreement, or other instrument offered for recordation by any judicial, executive, or administrative officer of the United States, acting in the officer's …

§502-52 Signatures of certain state officers, acknowledgments not required. In the case of an official signature entitled to be judicially noticed pursuant to section 626-1, rule 901 or 902, the signature shall suffice to show due execution by the officer signing the instrument a…

§502-53 No certificate of acknowledgment contrary hereto valid in court or entitled to be recorded; exception. No certificate of acknowledgment contrary to this chapter is valid in any court of the State, nor is it entitled to be recorded in the bureau of conveyances, but no cert…

§502-54 Penalty for false certificate. Any officer authorized to take acknowledgments to instruments who knowingly incorporates in the certificate of acknowledgment any false or misleading statement as to the facts therein contained, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or impriso…

PART VI. INTERLINEATIONS, ERASURES, ETC. §502-61 Changes noted in instrument. Every notary public or the officer authorized to take acknowledgments to instruments, before taking any acknowledgment, shall first carefully inspect any instrument proposed to be acknowledged before th…

§502-62 Penalty for not noting changes. Every notary public or other person authorized to take acknowledgments to instruments who takes the acknowledgment of any person to any instrument in which there are interlineations, erasures, or changes, and who fails to observe or perform…

§502-63 Not recorded unless initialed. No instrument acknowledged in the State of Hawaii in which there are interlineations, erasures, or changes shall be recorded by the registrar, unless the same are duly initialed by the officer or officers taking the acknowledgment or acknowl…

§502-64 REPEALED. L 1992, c 197, §14.

PART II. GENERAL PROVISIONS §502-7 Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: "Grantee" means a party that acquires interest by way of transfer of real property. "Record", "recorded", or "recording" means the act of entering into the public recor…

PART VII. RECORDS OF ACKNOWLEDGMENTS §502-71 Record of acknowledgments to be kept. All judges and other officers authorized by law to take acknowledgments to instruments, besides the certificate of acknowledgment indorsed upon the instrument, shall keep a record of every acknowle…

§502-72 Disposition of records. The books of record so kept shall every five years, and upon the resignation, death, or removal from office of such judge or other officer, be deposited with the clerk of the circuit court of the judicial circuit for and in which the judge or other…

§502-73 Same, open to inspection. The clerks of the circuit courts shall carefully preserve the books of record deposited with them as provided by section 502-72, filing the same with the records of the court. The records, both while in the custody of the acknowledging officers a…

§502-74 Penalty for not keeping. Any of the officers to take acknowledgments who fails to keep the record directed by section 502-71, or upon failure to deposit the same with a clerk of a court of record as directed, shall be fined not less than $50 nor more than $250, which may …