Hawaiʻi Estate and Trust Litigation FAQ

Contested estate cases often come with a long history and a short deadline. These are the questions people ask first.

01The trustee will not tell me anything. Do I have a right to information?

Generally yes. A beneficiary is usually entitled to know what the trust or estate holds and what the fiduciary has done with it. A trustee also has a duty to keep beneficiaries reasonably informed without waiting to be asked.

If your requests are ignored, the court can order a formal accounting. In our experience, that order is often the turning point in the case. The accounting either resolves the concern or documents the problem.

02What counts as a trustee breaching their duties?

Common examples are self-dealing (buying estate property, hiring their own business, or lending to themselves); favoring one beneficiary when the document requires them to be impartial; mixing trust funds with personal funds; taking unreasonable pay; failing to account or inform; letting assets deteriorate or sit uninvested; and making distributions the document does not allow.

Being slow, disorganized or unpleasant is not a breach by itself. The question is whether the conduct falls below the duties the law requires, and whether it caused a loss.

03What can a court actually do about a trustee who has breached?

The court can remove and replace them. It can order them to make up the loss personally, which is called a surcharge. It can deny their fees or order them to repay fees already taken. It can order improperly transferred property returned to the trust. It can stop them from taking further action until the case is decided. In appropriate cases, it can order them to pay the costs of the case.

04On what grounds can a will or trust be challenged?

The main grounds are lack of testamentary capacity at the time of signing; undue influence, where someone in a position of trust or control overpowered the person’s free will; fraud; duress; forgery; and failure to follow the legal rules for signing and witnessing. Another common issue is whether a later valid document revoked an earlier one.

Disliking the outcome is not a ground. Neither is unequal treatment on its own, because a person is generally allowed to leave their property unequally. What matters is whether the document reflects the person’s own decision.

05What does an undue influence case look like in practice?

It is built from many facts, not just one. Who had access to the person, and who was kept away? Who controlled their finances? What do the medical records say about their declining condition? How and when was the document changed, and by whose attorney? Did the change favor the person who arranged it? Did it break sharply from a long-standing plan?

These cases are won and lost on records and testimony. You want a lawyer who takes depositions and cross-examines witnesses as a regular part of the job.

06Our family owns land together and we cannot agree what to do with it.

That is a partition case. If co-owners of real property cannot agree, a court can divide the land among them where that is practical. Or it can order the land sold and divide the money according to each owner’s share.

The usual disputes are which of those outcomes applies and what the property is worth. Another is what credit is owed to co-owners who paid taxes, insurance, mortgage or upkeep, or who improved the property. Family land with kuleana origins, or with long-standing informal arrangements about who lives where, raises more issues. Talk to us about those early.

07One sibling has been living in our parent’s house rent-free since the funeral.

This is one of the most common fights we see. The court can decide who may live in estate property during the probate and who pays the carrying costs. It can decide whether rent or an occupancy credit should be charged against that person’s share. It can also decide whether the property can be sold over their objection.

Waiting on these issues is expensive. The longer the arrangement goes on, the more there is to undo.

08How long do I have to bring a claim?

It depends on the claim. Contesting a will or trust, objecting to an accounting you were sent, and bringing a claim against a fiduciary each have their own time limits. Some of them start to run when you received a notice, not when you understood it.

If you have received anything in writing from a court, a trustee, a personal representative or their attorney, pay attention to the date on it and call us promptly. Missing one of these deadlines can end an otherwise strong claim.

09Will this end up in a trial?

Most contested estates settle, often at mediation. They settle based on what each side honestly thinks a judge would do with the evidence. So the preparation that would win at trial is the same preparation that gets a fair settlement sooner.

We prepare these cases for trial. If the other side is willing to settle sensibly, that is usually better for a family, and we will tell you so.

10Can you act for a trustee or personal representative who is being accused?

Yes. Fiduciaries are often accused of misconduct by beneficiaries who are unhappy with a result the document required, or who misunderstood an accounting. A large part of this practice is defending fiduciaries who acted properly. They are personally exposed if a court finds they did not.

We act on either side of these disputes, but not on both sides of the same one. Whoever calls first, we will tell you plainly whether we can take the case.

This page is general information and is not legal advice about your situation. Whether a claim is available to you, and how long you have to bring it, depends on facts we would need to discuss. Call 808-865-2100 or contact us online.