Hawaii Foreclosure Laws

Expected Timeline: Three to four months
Security Instrument: Mortgage
Type of Process: About half are judicial, other half are nonjudicial
Protections for Servicemembers: Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657D-1 to 657D-63
Time to Respond: Twenty to thirty days to respond after foreclosure lawsuit is filed in judicial proceedings. In nonjudicial, lender must publish notice in newspaper for three consecutive weeks. The last notice must be fourteen days before the sale. Notice posted on proeprty must be done 21 days before sale. Alternatively, federally insured lending institutions can give homeowners a 60-day notice of default.
Reinstatement Period: Allowed up to 60 days after notice of default in nonjudicial foreclosure, or up to three days before sale in alternate notification process.
Protections for High-Cost Mortgages: None.
Redemption Period: None.
Eviction Process: New owner must be granted court order to evict former owners.
Deficiency Judgments: Allowed, but must be requested in original foreclosure lawsuit complaint.
Limits on Deficiency Judgments: Allowed in some types of foreclosure, not allowed in others.
Cash Exempted in Bankruptcy: $11,000 for single person, $22,000 for married couples.
State Statutes: Haw. Rev. Stat. § 667-1 to 667-46

The Judicial Foreclosure process is used in Hawaii when no power of sale clause is in the original loan documents. The lender must sue the borrower in court to obtain an order to foreclose.

The Non-Judicial Foreclosure process is used when a power of sale clause is present in the original loan documents. This clause authorizes the lender to sell the property in the event of a default of the loan. If the power of sale clause specifies the time, date, and terms of the sale, then those procedures will be followed. If no time, date, and terms of sale are specified, the lender must follow a series of procedures proscribed by law.

1. The borrower and all other lien holders must be sent a copy of the notice of default and intent to foreclose. The notice must also be published in a local newspaper circulated in the county in which the property is located for three (3) consecutive weeks. The final publication of the notice can not be less than fourteen (14) days before the sale.
2. The notice must be sent to the state director of taxation, as well as the director of finance for the county that the property is located in. The notice may include dates and times for two open houses to be held at the subject property; or the notice must state that no open houses will be held.
3. Up to three days before the sale, the borrower may cure the default. If the borrower can not cure the default, the sale will be held at the time and place listed in the notice.
4. The sale may be postponed by the lender or its representative by a public announcement.

There is no right of redemption for the borrower after the sale, and the lender may sue the borrower for a deficiency judgment in the event the sale proceeds are not enough to cover the balance due on the loan plus costs.

State Website: www.capitol.hawaii.gov