How to Fill Out and Record a Hawaii Transfer on Death Deed

To make a Hawaii transfer on death deed and record it properly, you draft a deed that names your beneficiary and states the transfer takes effect at your death, sign it in front of a notary, and file it at the Bureau of Conveyances (or the Land Court, for registered land) before you die. Hawaii’s Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, at Chapter 527 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, lets an individual owner pass real estate outside probate this way.¹ You keep full ownership and control while you are alive. But if the deed is not recorded before your death, it is void, and the property will go through probate anyway.²

Only an individual property owner can use this form. Corporations, trusts, and other entities cannot.³

Information to Gather Before You Draft

Pull the following together before you start filling in a form:

Your full legal name and mailing address.
Each beneficiary’s full legal name and mailing address. Hawaii recording law requires the address of every grantee on the deed.⁴
The property’s full legal description, copied word for word from your current deed or title report. A street address alone is not enough.
The Tax Map Key (TMK) number, the nine-digit identifier that must appear on the first page of any document recorded with the Bureau. It is on your property tax bill and existing deed.⁴
Which recording system holds your property: the Regular System or the Land Court system. Your existing deed will say. Land Court property has a Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) number that also needs to appear on the deed.

The system matters because it changes where you file, what extra forms you need, and what your beneficiary must do after your death.

Drafting the Deed

Hawaii does not publish an official state TOD deed form. Most people use a form from a legal document service or have an attorney draft one. Whatever form you use, the deed has to contain the same elements as any recordable deed (grantor, grantee, property description, acknowledgment) and it has to state that the transfer occurs at your death.²

Naming Your Beneficiary or Beneficiaries

You can name one person or several. If you name more than one, say how they hold the property: as joint tenants with right of survivorship, or as tenants in common with separate shares. If the deed is silent, Hawaii defaults to equal, undivided shares with no right of survivorship.⁵

A beneficiary who dies before you inherits nothing. That share does not pass to the deceased beneficiary’s children or heirs. Instead, it lapses and is redistributed proportionally among the surviving named beneficiaries.⁵ So if you want a backup — someone who inherits only if your first choice predeceases you — name that alternate expressly in the deed.

The beneficiary does not need to sign, accept, or even know about the deed for it to be valid.²

A Note if You Co-Own the Property

If you own as a joint tenant and you die first, the surviving joint owner inherits automatically by operation of law. Your TOD deed has no effect in that situation. It only activates if you are the last surviving joint owner.⁵

The Transfer-at-Death Clause

The deed must include clear language that the transfer takes effect at your death. Typical wording: “This transfer shall become effective only upon the death of the Transferor.” Without it, the Bureau may treat the document as a present-day conveyance instead of a TOD deed.²

Signing, Notarization, and Formatting

Sign the deed in front of a notary. Hawaii requires an acknowledgment, where the notary verifies your identity and confirms you signed voluntarily. Any interlineations, erasures, or corrections have to be initialed by the notary in the margin.⁴

The Bureau of Conveyances will reject documents that don’t meet its formatting rules:

Paper is 8½ by 11 inches, single-sided.
The top 3½ inches of the first page must be blank for recording stamps. The left half goes to the Land Court registrar, the right half to the Bureau of Conveyances registrar.
Below that header space, list the return name and address, starting 1½ inches from the left margin.
The first page must identify all grantors, all grantees with addresses, the document type, and the TMK.
Number multi-page documents consecutively. Staple once, upper left. No covers or backers.
Use clean, dark type on white paper so the document reproduces cleanly.

These rules come from HRS Chapter 502 and apply to every document recorded with the Bureau.⁴

Recording the Deed

Record the deed as soon as it is signed and notarized. There is no benefit to waiting, and an unrecorded TOD deed is void.²

Where to File

Submit the deed to the Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances in Honolulu, in person or by mail:⁶

In person: Kalanimoku Building, 1151 Punchbowl Street, Suite 120, Honolulu, HI 96813.
By mail: Bureau of Conveyances, P.O. Box 2867, Honolulu, HI 96803.

If your property is in the Land Court system, the deed is filed with the assistant registrar of the Land Court, which operates in the same building. Land Court filings need two extra forms: a Land Court Information Sheet (LD Form A) and a Fly Sheet (LD Form B). The Fly Sheet must reference the TCT number for the affected property.⁷

Recording Fees

Fees depend on the system:⁸

Regular System: $41 per document (up to 50 pages).
Land Court: $36 per document (up to 50 pages), plus $50 for issuance of a new Certificate of Title.

A TOD deed is only a few pages, so you will not hit the higher rate for long documents. TOD deeds are also exempt from Hawaii’s conveyance tax, so you won’t owe the percentage-based tax that normally applies when real property changes hands.⁹

After recording, the Bureau stamps the document with the date and time and mails the original back to the return address on the first page. Keep that stamped original.

Changing or Revoking the Deed Later

You can cancel or change a recorded TOD deed any time you are alive, and Hawaii recognizes three methods:¹⁰

Record a new TOD deed that either expressly revokes the earlier one or names different beneficiaries for the same property (the inconsistency itself revokes the old deed).
Record an instrument of revocation that expressly nullifies the earlier deed with no replacement beneficiary.
Record an inter vivos deed transferring the property during your lifetime that expressly revokes the TOD deed.

Every revocation instrument must be notarized after the date the original TOD deed was notarized, and recorded before you die. A signed but unrecorded revocation has no effect.¹⁰

Note the word “expressly” in each method. Selling or gifting the property through a standard deed does not revoke the TOD deed unless that new deed contains express revocation language. And a will cannot revoke a TOD deed at all. If your will says one thing and a recorded TOD deed says another, the TOD deed controls.¹⁰

What the Beneficiary Does After You Die

Ownership transfers automatically at the moment of your death, but the beneficiary still has to update the public record. The steps depend on the system.

For Regular System property, the beneficiary records an affidavit confirming your death at the Bureau of Conveyances, together with a certified copy of the death certificate.

For Land Court property, the beneficiary must file a petition with the Land Court noting your death and asking for a new certificate of title in the beneficiary’s name.⁵ The interest does not fully transfer until the petition is processed. Plan for extra time and possibly an attorney.

The property passes without any warranty of title, even if the deed contains warranty language. Your beneficiary takes it as-is, with any existing title defects or claims.⁵

Mortgages, Liens, and Creditors

A TOD deed does not erase a mortgage or wipe out liens. The beneficiary inherits the property subject to every mortgage, lien, encumbrance, and other interest in place at your death.⁵ If $200,000 is left on the mortgage, the beneficiary receives a property with a $200,000 mortgage on it.

The transfer will not trigger a due-on-sale clause. Federal law under the Garn-St. Germain Act stops lenders from accelerating a residential mortgage when property passes to a relative at the borrower’s death.¹¹ The beneficiary can keep making the existing payments.

Chapter 527 also includes a creditor-claim provision (HRS 527-15), meaning the transferred property can still be reached by the deceased owner’s creditors or estate obligations after it passes. A TOD deed is not an asset-protection tool. If significant debts are involved, the beneficiary should talk to an attorney about potential exposure.

1
Justia. Hawaii Code 527 – Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act
2
Justia. Hawaii Code 527-9 – Requirements
3
Justia. Hawaii Code 527-5 – Transfer on Death Deed Authorized
4
Bureau of Conveyances. Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 502 – Bureau of Conveyances
5
Justia. Hawaii Code 527-13 – Effect of Transfer on Death Deed at Transferor’s Death
6
Bureau of Conveyances. Bureau of Conveyances – State of Hawaii
7
The Judiciary State of Hawaiʻi. Rules of the Land Court
8
Bureau of Conveyances. Recording Fees – Bureau of Conveyances
9
Justia. Hawaii Code 247-3 – Exemptions
10
Justia. Hawaii Code 527-11 – Revocation by Instrument Authorized; Revocation by Act Not Permitted
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions