Hawaii Transfer-on-Death Deed

Hawaii has adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act, codified as Chapter 527, through State Bill 105 CD1. Under this framework, a property owner can arrange for their Hawaii real estate to pass automatically to a named beneficiary at death, using a transfer-on-death deed — and critically, that deed remains revocable at any time, even if its own language claims otherwise.

This isn't a casual document. To be effective, the deed must contain everything a standard recordable deed would need, state explicitly that the transfer only takes effect at death, and be properly recorded — either with the Bureau of Conveyances or filed in Land Court, depending on how the property is titled — before the owner dies. That's considerably more formal than jotting a beneficiary designation in a will or leaving an informal note.

While the owner is alive, the law is explicit that this deed changes nothing about their day-to-day rights: it doesn't affect the owner's property rights, doesn't give creditors new claims, doesn't create any present interest for the beneficiary, and — importantly for Medicaid purposes — doesn't affect either the owner's or the beneficiary's eligibility for public assistance during the owner's lifetime.