Hawaii Judgment Collection: Counting From the Right Judgment
HRS 657-5 presumes a Hawaii judgment paid ten years after it was rendered, allows an extension only if sought within ten years of the original, and forbids any court from extending one beyond twenty years from the original. Which document is "the original" is a question Hawaii's appellate courts have answered more than once, and it decides everything else.
The Short Version
Unless an extension is granted, every judgment of a Hawaii state court is presumed paid and discharged ten years after it was rendered, and no action may be commenced more than ten years after the judgment was rendered or extended. An extension must be sought within ten years of the date the original judgment was rendered, requires notice and a hearing or non-hearing motion, and a court may not extend a judgment beyond twenty years from the original. A money judgment becomes a lien when a certified copy is recorded in the bureau of conveyances, and the lien cannot outlive the judgment; registered Land Court property is governed by HRS 501-241 to 501-248 and part II of chapter 501 instead.
Watch: Hawaii Judgment Collection: Extensions and the 20-Year Cap
A short orientation, then the Hawaii sections and case notes that decide which judgment the clock runs from.
Watch Overview
Twenty Years Is a Limit on the Court, Not the Creditor
HRS 657-5 is one paragraph, and every sentence in it does separate work.
"Unless an extension is granted, every judgment and decree of any court of the State shall be presumed to be paid and discharged at the expiration of ten years after the judgment or decree was rendered." Hawaii does not say the judgment expires. It says the judgment is presumed paid – a presumption the Hawaii courts have treated as conclusive – which is a different legal event with the same practical result and a different set of consequences for anything that depends on the judgment.
The second sentence closes the courthouse door: "No action shall be commenced after the expiration of ten years from the date a judgment or decree was rendered or extended." The third sets the window for asking: "No extension of a judgment or decree shall be granted unless the extension is sought within ten years of the date the original judgment or decree was rendered." And the fourth is the ceiling, phrased as a prohibition on the judge rather than a deadline for the party: "A court shall not extend any judgment or decree beyond twenty years from the date of the original judgment or decree."
The fifth sentence is procedural and it is where files are lost: "No extension shall be granted without notice and the filing of a non-hearing motion or a hearing motion to extend the life of the judgment or decree." An extension is a motion with notice – not a certificate, not an affidavit, not a clerk's entry. The section reached its present form through amendments in 1927, 1972, 1992 and 2001, and the 2001 amendment is the one that produced the twenty-year ceiling language a reader will find today.
Four sentences, four different jobs, and only one of them is the ten years everybody remembers. The one that decides most Hawaii files is the third, because it fixes the window by reference to the original judgment – and identifying which document that is turns out to be a contested question. Where Hawaii sits against the other forty-nine jurisdictions is set out in how long a judgment is good for by state.
Which Judgment Is "the Original"?
Hawaii litigates this, and the answer turns on whether an amendment was material and substantial.
A Hawaii case rarely produces one judgment. It produces a judgment, then an amended judgment, then a second and third amended judgment as fees, costs and post-trial motions are resolved. HRS 657-5 measures the extension window and the twenty-year ceiling from "the original judgment", so a creditor with four documents has to know which one the statute means before it can calculate anything at all.
The Case Notes published with the section state the rule from Estate of Roxas v. Marcos, 121 Haw. 59, 214 P.3d 598 (2009). Construed within the framework of the whole statutory scheme governing limitations, "original judgment" refers to the judgment that creates the rights and responsibilities the party is seeking to extend. Where an unextended judgment is amended in a material and substantial respect, so that it creates the rights being extended, the time to move "begins to run from the date of the amendment". Where the amendment is non-substantive or non-material, it does not create an enforceable right, and it is not appropriate for it to extend the time allowed to revive the judgment.
The same notes record what that meant on the facts, and the two halves of the result are worth reading together. The trial court properly extended a second amended judgment to a date less than twenty years from the original judgment date. It erred in extending a fourth amended judgment, because the fourth amendment was non-substantive and the "original judgment" for that purpose was the third amended judgment – so the court was precluded from extending it beyond a date fixed by that earlier document. One case, two amended judgments, two different answers.
The Intermediate Court of Appeals applied the same test to an untimely motion in 139 Haw. 138 (App.), 384 P.3d 914 (2016), where a labour union missed the window because the judgment that created the rights it sought to extend was the earlier cease-and-desist order rather than a later document. And the Supreme Court returned to the question in Swan v. Gillette, 153 Haw. 446, 541 P.3d 666 (2024). This is live, current Hawaii law, and it means a Hawaii creditor's first task is documentary: assemble every judgment and amended judgment in the case, in order, and work out which of them created the right now being enforced.
The Questions a Hawaii Extension Motion Has to Answer
Six of them, drawn from the section and the case notes published with it.
Which document created the right being enforced?
That is the "original judgment" for HRS 657-5, and every other date is computed from it.
Was any later amendment material and substantial?
If it materially and substantially changed the earlier judgment, the clock runs from the amendment. If not, it does not.
Is the motion inside ten years of that document?
The section bars an extension "unless the extension is sought within ten years of the date the original judgment or decree was rendered".
Would the extension push past twenty years?
The court is prohibited from extending beyond twenty years from the original judgment, so the arithmetic constrains the relief available.
Has notice been given?
No extension may be granted without notice and the filing of a non-hearing or hearing motion to extend the life of the judgment.
Where is the debtor, for the purpose of that notice?
The notice requirement is what turns an extension into a locating problem, and it is the point at which most Hawaii files come to us.
One Recording Office, Two Land Systems
HRS 636-3 puts every Hawaii judgment lien through a single statewide office – and then sends registered land somewhere else entirely.
| Question | Hawaii's answer | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Where is a judgment recorded to create a lien? | The bureau of conveyances – one statewide office, no county filings | 636-3 |
| What is recorded? | A copy of the money judgment, order or decree of a state court or the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, certified as correct by a clerk of the court where it is entered | 636-3 |
| How long does the lien last? | "No such lien shall continue beyond the length of time the underlying judgment, order, or decree is in force" – so it is tied to HRS 657-5, not to its own clock | 636-3 |
| What about registered land? | Land Court property is governed instead by sections 501-241 to 501-248 and part II of chapter 501 | 636-3 |
| What must the judgment carry? | The Hawaii tax identification number, the federal employer identification number, or the last four digits only of the social security number | 636-3 |
| What if none of those is available? | The judgment must be accompanied by a certificate that the information does not exist or is not in the possession of the party seeking recordation | 636-3 |
The Land Court row is the one that quietly defeats filings. Hawaii runs two parallel systems for land title – the regular system of recorded instruments and the Torrens-style Land Court register for registered land – and a great deal of Oahu property sits in the second. Section 636-3 does not blend them; it hands registered land to a different chapter. A creditor who records correctly in the regular system against a parcel that is registered land has completed a filing that does not attach. Establishing which system a parcel is in is therefore step one of a Hawaii lien, and it is a records question rather than a legal one.
Hawaii Wants an Identifier and Then Protects It
Section 636-3 asks for a number, requires part of it to be blacked out, and then says getting it wrong does not break the lien.
The requirement first: "Except as otherwise provided, every judgment shall contain or have endorsed on it the Hawaii tax identification number, the federal employer identification number, or the last four digits only of the social security number for persons, corporations, partnerships, or other entities against whom the judgment, order, or decree is rendered." Three acceptable identifiers, and for an individual the social security number is expressly limited to its last four digits.
Then the escape hatch, which is unusually candid about the reality of collection files: if the debtor has none of those numbers, or if that information is not in the possession of the party seeking registration, the judgment, order or decree must be accompanied by a certificate providing that the information does not exist or is not in that party's possession. Hawaii does not pretend a creditor always knows; it asks the creditor to say so on the record.
Then the protection: "The party seeking to record or register a judgment, order, or decree shall redact the first five digits of any social security number by blocking the numbers out on the copy of the judgment, order, or decree to be recorded or registered." A physical instruction about a public document, and a reason to check what is actually being sent to the bureau rather than assuming.
And then the reassurance, which is the opposite of the rule in some mainland states: "Failure to disclose or disclosure of an incorrect social security number, Hawaii tax identification number, or federal employer identification number shall not in any way adversely affect or impair the lien created upon recordation." In Hawaii the identifier is a filing requirement, not a validity condition – a wrong number does not void the lien. That makes Hawaii materially different from states that make identification a condition of the lien itself, and it is worth checking rather than assuming by analogy.
Two housekeeping rules close the section. When a judgment is fully paid the creditor or the creditor's attorney of record, at the debtor's expense, must execute, acknowledge and deliver a satisfaction, which may be recorded in the bureau. And every satisfaction or assignment must contain a reference to the book and page or document number of the registration of the original judgment – so a Hawaii release cannot be prepared without the original recording particulars in hand. Our page on judgment satisfaction and release procedures covers how those documents are read together.
How a Hawaii File Is Assembled
Documents before dates, because in Hawaii the dates depend on which document is the original.
Collect every judgment and amended judgment in the case
In order, with dates. HRS 657-5 measures from the original, and Hawaii case law decides which document that is.
Characterise each amendment
Material and substantial, or not. The extension window runs from an amendment only where the amendment created the rights being extended.
Fix the rendition date of that document
Rendition, not entry and not docketing – the statute uses the word "rendered" four times.
Establish whether the property is registered land
Regular system or Land Court decides which chapter governs the lien, and a filing in the wrong system does not attach.
Confirm what identifier the record actually supports
A tax identification number, a federal employer identification number, or the last four digits of a social security number – or a certificate saying none is held.
Build a current address answer for the notice requirement
No extension is granted without notice, which makes locating the debtor a precondition of the motion rather than a follow-up to it.
Deliver documents, sources and dates
So counsel can decide which document to call the original and file a motion that survives the objection.
What We Contribute to a Hawaii File, and What We Refuse
Set out first, in the same register as the statute.
Hawaii lets a creditor certify that an identifier "does not exist or is not in the possession" of the party recording, which is a statute acknowledging that files have gaps. We work the same way: what we cannot establish is reported as not established rather than dressed up. Records research and skip tracing is what this firm does. It does not practise law and it does not hold a Hawaii private investigator licence, and no such licensure is claimed here. On a Hawaii judgment the work is the documentary and locating half – assembling the judgment history so the "original judgment" can be identified, establishing whether a parcel is registered land, and producing an address answer solid enough to support the notice HRS 657-5 requires before any extension is granted.
A request opens with the lawful basis, stated by the requester and assessed independently here. Enforcing a Hawaii judgment you hold in your own name meets it. Wanting to know where somebody is now does not, and a case number beside that wish does not convert it. Pretexting has no part in the method: no false identity is used with the bureau of conveyances, a court clerk, an employer or a bank, and nobody here softens the answer to who is asking, and on whose behalf, in order to speed a request along.
A category of Hawaii work is declined rather than weighed. Where a person moved out because of abuse in the household. Where a Hawaii order for protection or a temporary restraining order names them as the protected party. Where an address is being withheld under a court order or a confidentiality programme. How much the judgment is worth has no bearing on that, nor has how many years it has run, and a requester is told so while the file is still being opened.
A statutory line closes the list. This firm is not a consumer reporting agency and a Hawaii judgment-history file is not a consumer report. Tenancy, employment, credit and insurance eligibility are Fair Credit Reporting Act territory, and our work has no business settling any of them; a requester who needs a regulated report is told to obtain one from a provider that is regulated. Everything above is general legal information about the Hawaii Revised Statutes and is not legal advice; Hawaii counsel is who applies it to a real judgment. The Legislature publishes the limitation section at HRS 657-5 and the lien section at HRS 636-3. Where a debtor has left the islands, our page on judgment debtor location and the skip tracing services overview describe how the search widens.
Who Brings Us Hawaii Judgments
Creditors whose Hawaii problem is which document, which system, or which address.
Holders of amended Hawaii judgments
With three or four dated documents in the file and no settled view of which one HRS 657-5 calls the original.
Creditors'-rights counsel in Hawaii
Preparing an extension motion that has to be served, and served on somebody whose current address is not in the file.
Out-of-state judgment holders
Meeting a single statewide bureau of conveyances and a separate Land Court register for the first time.
Assignees and portfolio buyers
Where the rendition date of the controlling judgment has to be established from the court record rather than the assignment.
Title and escrow professionals
Working out whether a recorded judgment is still in force, given that the lien cannot outlive the judgment it secures.
Commercial creditors
Chasing a Hawaii business debtor where the identifier on the judgment is a federal employer identification number rather than a personal one.
Hawaii's twenty-year ceiling is a limit on what a court may grant, which is a different thing from a deadline a creditor can manage – and the combination of that ceiling with a contested "original judgment" date has no close equivalent on the mainland. If your Hawaii question is legal, a Hawaii attorney is the right first call. If it is factual, Hawaii skip tracing services is where the locating half begins, and Hawaii asset exemptions creditors face lists the property an execution simply cannot touch, which is worth knowing before reaching for it.
Our Commitment
Hawaii lets a party certify that an identifier is simply not in their possession, and we hold to the same honesty: our Hawaii reports separate what the record establishes from what it suggests, and say plainly which parcels we could not resolve between the regular system and the Land Court register.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a Hawaii judgment last?
Unless an extension is granted, HRS 657-5 presumes every judgment and decree of a Hawaii state court paid and discharged ten years after it was rendered, and bars any action commenced more than ten years after the judgment was rendered or extended.
How do I extend a Hawaii judgment?
By motion. HRS 657-5 provides that no extension shall be granted without notice and the filing of a non-hearing motion or a hearing motion to extend the life of the judgment or decree, and the extension must be sought within ten years of the date the original judgment was rendered.
Can a Hawaii judgment be extended more than once?
The section does not cap the number of extensions directly. It caps the result: a court shall not extend any judgment or decree beyond twenty years from the date of the original judgment or decree.
Which judgment is the ‘original judgment’ in Hawaii?
The judgment that created the rights and responsibilities the party is seeking to extend. The case notes published with HRS 657-5 record that where an unextended judgment is amended in a material and substantial respect so that it creates those rights, the time begins to run from the date of the amendment; a non-substantive amendment does not restart it.
Where is a Hawaii judgment recorded to create a lien?
In the bureau of conveyances, under HRS 636-3, by recording a copy of the money judgment, order or decree certified as correct by a clerk of the court where it is entered. There are no county recordings.
Does a Hawaii judgment lien cover Land Court property?
Not through the ordinary route. HRS 636-3 provides that in the case of registered land, sections 501-241 to 501-248 and part II of chapter 501 shall govern.
What identifier must a Hawaii judgment carry?
The Hawaii tax identification number, the federal employer identification number, or the last four digits only of the social security number. If none is available or in the recording party’s possession, the judgment must be accompanied by a certificate saying so, and the first five digits of any social security number must be blocked out on the copy recorded.
Does a wrong identifier invalidate a Hawaii judgment lien?
No. HRS 636-3 provides that failure to disclose, or disclosure of an incorrect social security number, Hawaii tax identification number or federal employer identification number, shall not in any way adversely affect or impair the lien created upon recordation.
Date a Hawaii Judgment Correctly
Send every judgment and amended judgment you hold, with dates. We will build the documentary and property picture your extension motion needs, and tell you what the record cannot support.
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