Hawaii is the only state in the nation with a single
statewide recording office. There are two systems of recording in the
State of Hawaii. The Regular System basically serves to give "notice"
that something is on record. The Regular System is similar to the
recording by county found in the other states. The Land Court issues
certificate of titles to owners of land. Ownership in Land Court is
guaranteed by the State of Hawaii.
Because of confusion determining land ownership and similar names the
Land Court was established in 1903 and functions as a registration system
for land ownership. Those that place their property in Land Court have
gone through a lengthy process of a judicial review of the survey of the
parcel, title abstract and determination of ownership. With the ability
to obtain title insurance on land ownership, the need for judicial
determination of ownership has decreased tremendously.
Documents are recorded either in the Land Court system, Regular system
or both, depending on which system the land was originally recorded. When
recorded in both land systems, documents are said to be recorded in the
"Double" system.
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To determine if a transfer deed should be filed in the Land Court, the
Regular System or the Double System (both) the easiest way is to look at
the deed by which the property was acquired. Recording information would
be shown on the first page of the document. If the recording information
(label) is on the upper left, the document was recorded in Land Court. If
the information is on the upper right, the instrument was recorded in our
Regular system. If the document reflects two both set of numbers, it
would be considered a double system recording.
Maintaining an accurate, timely and permanent record system for title
to real property is the responsibility of the State of Hawaii Bureau of
Conveyances. Regular system documents are recorded with the Registrar of
Conveyances in the Bureau of Conveyances. Land Court documents are
recorded in the Office of the Assistant Registrar of the Land Court,
located in the Bureau of Conveyances. Recording fees are based on $25 per
document up to 20 pages for the Regular system and $30 per document up to
20 pages for the Land Court. Documents that exceed 20 pages would be
charged an additional $1 per page after 20.
Unlike jurisdictions on the mainland, the Bureau of Conveyances does
not provide pre-printed forms of deeds. The conveying documents must be
accompanied by the proper conveyance tax form, P64-A or P64-B. (P64-B is
for transfers without money exchanging hands. Examples are trust transfer
deed, quit-claim deeds, transfers between spouses.) A recording fee of
$25 for the document is required and can be mailed to the Bureau of
Conveyances, P. O. Box 2867, Honolulu, Hawaii 96803.
Deed and Record will prepare the following transfer documents for your
Hawaiian real estate property; land deed, quit claim deed, real estate
deed, warranty deed, trust deed, deed of trust, apartment deed, spousal
transfer deed, affidavit death of joint tenant, and affidavit death of
trustee.
To avoid a transfer tax your transfer or conveying document needs to
be accompanied by the conveyance tax form P64-B. Deed and Record prepares
this form saving you the trouble and saving you money by avoiding the
transfer tax.