Hawaii’s proof of residence affidavit, Form CS-L(DL)242, lets a person you live with swear that their Hawaii address is also yours when you don’t have two documents in your own name showing where you live. It’s the standard workaround at county DMV offices for adult children living with parents, partners who moved in with the leaseholder, and anyone else whose bills all arrive in someone else’s name.1https://www8.honolulu.gov/csd/dmv/
When You Need the Affidavit
To get a Hawaii driver’s license or state ID, you must show two documents proving your principal residence address, and those two documents have to come from different entities or different accounts. A street address is required; a P.O. box will not do. That rule comes from federal REAL ID law, and every state has to apply it.
If every utility bill, bank statement, and piece of official mail at your house is addressed to a parent, a spouse, a roommate, or a friend, you can’t meet the two-document rule on your own. The affidavit closes that gap. The person whose name is on the household paperwork signs a sworn statement that you live there, and their two documents count toward your file.
Who Can Sign as Your Affiant
The affiant is the person swearing you live at their address. They must actually have documents in their own name at the Hawaii address in question, because they’re the ones supplying the two supporting proofs. In practice that’s the primary leaseholder, the homeowner, or the head of household.
There’s no requirement that the affiant be related to you. A roommate on the lease, a friend who owns the house, or a domestic partner with utilities in their name can all sign, so long as their name genuinely appears on documents tied to the address and they can truthfully say you live there.
Signing is not a favor without weight. The affiant swears under penalty of perjury that you reside at the address, and if that turns out to be false, they carry the same criminal exposure you do.
The Two Supporting Documents
The affiant needs to bring at least two documents from Hawaii’s approved list. Both must show the affiant’s name and the shared Hawaii address. Two items from the same company with the same account number count as only one; a checking statement and a savings statement from the same bank with different account numbers count as two. Most items on the list have to be dated within the last two months, so pull fresh paperwork rather than digging through a drawer.
Documents the state accepts include:
- Utility bills for electric, water, gas, cable, or phone, dated within the last two months.
- Bank, credit union, investment, or credit card statements dated within the last two months.
- A current Hawaii vehicle registration or title.
- A valid auto, homeowners, or medical insurance statement or card.
- Mail from a government or medical entity dated within the last two months, such as a voter notification postcard or Social Security benefits statement.
- A current real property tax assessment, receipt for personal property taxes paid, or current mortgage account documentation.
- A current residential lease of six months or more.
- A U.S. or Hawaii income tax return, W-2, or 1099 from the previous year, or a Hawaii return filed in the last two years.
- A payroll check or pay stub from an employer, dated within the last six months.
- Hawaii Department of Human Services documentation of welfare assistance dated within the last 90 days, or a valid state public assistance ID card.
Filling Out Form CS-L(DL)242
Use the form from your own county’s DMV rather than a generic affidavit template. On Honolulu’s site, it’s listed as “Proof of Hawaii Residence Affidavit,” form number CS-L(DL)242. The other counties publish their own version of the same document.
Every field has to be filled in accurately, or the clerk will hand it back:
- Applicant’s full legal name, matching your government-issued ID exactly.
- Affiant’s full legal name, matching the affiant’s ID and their supporting documents.
- The physical Hawaii street address where both of you live. No P.O. boxes.
- The affiant’s confirmation that you reside with them and that address documentation is under the affiant’s name.
- The affiant’s confirmation that they are submitting the required documents from the acceptable list.
Signing It: Notary or DMV Counter
The affidavit has to be signed either in front of a notary public or in front of a driver’s license clerk or examiner at the DMV. If you use a notary, bring the form completed but unsigned; signing before you arrive invalidates the notarization. The affiant signs in the notary’s presence, takes the oath, and the notary applies the seal.
Hawaii caps the notary fee for administering an oath, including the certificate, at $5 by statute. In practice a simple affidavit runs $5 to $10 at a notary’s office depending on whether an acknowledgment is also needed. Banks, shipping stores, and legal offices commonly offer notary services.
The simpler option is to bring the affiant to your DMV appointment. A driver’s license clerk or examiner can witness the signature at the counter at no extra charge, which is how most people handle it. The affiant should bring valid photo ID along with the two supporting address documents.
Remote Online Notarization
Hawaii authorizes remote online notarization under HRS Chapter 456. A Hawaii-commissioned remote online notary can perform the notarial act by live audio-video, provided they verify the signer’s identity using at least two forms of identity proofing and record the session. That’s useful when the affiant can’t physically reach a notary before your appointment, though the DMV-counter route is usually easier.
Penalties for a False Affidavit
Once the affidavit is signed before a notary or DMV official, it is a sworn statement. A false sworn statement in an official proceeding is perjury under Hawaii law, classified as a Class C felony, which carries the possibility of imprisonment.
Even without a formal oath, a false written statement can be charged. Hawaii’s unsworn falsification statute makes it a misdemeanor to submit a written statement you don’t believe to be true in an application for a benefit or in a record required by law, when the intent is to mislead a public servant. A misdemeanor in Hawaii carries up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
Don’t sign for someone who doesn’t actually live with you, and don’t ask someone to sign for an address that isn’t real. It comes up when people try to slot a child into a particular school district or clean up an address problem on a license, and it isn’t worth the criminal exposure on either side.
A Different Form for School Enrollment
The DMV affidavit isn’t what the Hawaii Department of Education uses. When a parent or guardian can’t provide standard residency documentation because they’re living with a relative or friend, the schools accept a notarized statement meeting all five of these conditions:
- It states that the parent or legal guardian and the child are living with the relative or friend.
- It includes the name of the relative or friend as it appears on their own proof of legal residence.
- It lists the same address shown on the relative or friend’s proof of legal residence.
- A copy of the relative or friend’s proof of legal residence is attached.
- It is signed by the same person named on that proof of legal residence.
Schools use the address to assign a district. If the address on the statement sits outside the school you were expecting, the child gets assigned to the school that serves that address, so confirm the district before filing.
What the Affidavit Does Not Do
A residency affidavit for a driver’s license or a school enrollment does not, on its own, establish residency for Hawaii income tax or voter registration. Those are separate determinations.
For state income tax, Hawaii treats you as a resident if you’re domiciled here or physically present for other than a temporary or transitory purpose, and more than 200 days in the state during the tax year triggers a presumption of residency from the date of your arrival, which you can rebut only by showing a permanent home elsewhere. For voter registration, Hawaii requires a fixed place where you actually live and intend to return when absent, and you can have only one legal residence; voting in another state’s election ends your Hawaii residency.
The affidavit proves where you sleep at night for DMV or school purposes. Whether Hawaii can tax your income or register you to vote turns on intent and length of stay, not on the affidavit in your file.