Hawaii's Unclaimed Property Program sits in the Department of Budget and Finance and runs under chapter 523A of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Its programme page describes the role as custodial: the state collects and holds abandoned and dormant property from holders, and as a public service returns it to the rightful owners at no charge. Property is presumed unclaimed once an owner has left it for the period the statute sets for that property type, and before anything moves the holder must send a notice to the owner's last known address saying the property is about to be transferred to the state for safekeeping. Only where the owner does not respond, or cannot be reached, does the property escheat to the programme. The examples given are the contents of safe deposit boxes, deposits held by utility companies, dormant savings and checking accounts, insurance and medical refunds, shares of stock, and uncashed traveller's checks, money orders, dividend checks and payroll checks. Real estate is excluded.
The owner page keeps the process short: search by name, then file a claim as the rightful owner, at no cost. A search can be run online or by telephoning the programme office and asking staff to run it, which is a route several states have dropped. A claim is a form plus the required documentation, the office reviews what arrives, and claimants are told where more is needed. The programme answers on (808) 586-1589. For Hawaii records held locally, see the Hawaii county pages.
- The ten year rule: funds of less than $100 must be claimed within ten years of being deposited in the trust fund, or they escheat to the state.
- Three sets of instructions: the programme publishes separate guidance for an original owner claim, an heir claiming for a deceased owner and a business claim.
- Heirs: an affidavit for collection of personal property of the decedent is required under sections 560:3-1201 and 560:3-1202 of the statutes.
- Securities: the return of shares needs a federal taxpayer identification form as well as the claim.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Hawaii's own systems: the Hawaii Unclaimed Property Program page, the programme's owner information page, the programme's holder information page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The deadline on small amounts
Hawaii is one of the few states where a modest sum can be lost by waiting. Act 184 of the 2014 session laws requires that claims for funds of less than $100 held in the unclaimed property trust fund be made within ten years of the deposit into that fund, and funds not claimed in that time escheat to the state and are transferred to the general fund, under section 523A-19 of the statutes. The programme publishes the rolling consequence on its own pages rather than leaving owners to work it out: on July 1, 2026, unclaimed funds of less than $100 received on or prior to June 30, 2016 escheat to the state if they have not been claimed.
The same arithmetic repeats every year, so a small balance deposited in 2017 faces its own cut off in 2027. Two things follow for a searcher. A record showing a small amount is worth claiming promptly rather than when convenient, because the ten years may already be most of the way through. And an older record that has disappeared from the database may be gone rather than mislaid, where it fell under the threshold. Larger balances are unaffected, and the state continues to hold those in its custodial capacity until the owner or an heir comes forward.
Three ways to claim
The programme publishes its claim instructions in three separate sets, which is worth knowing before downloading anything. The original owner instructions apply to the person named on the record. The deceased owner instructions apply to an heir, and they bring in a document peculiar to Hawaii, the affidavit for collection of personal property of the decedent, required under sections 560:3-1201 and 560:3-1202 of the revised statutes, which is the small estate mechanism the state uses in place of a full probate for modest sums.
The business instructions apply to anyone claiming for a company. One further form appears where the property is shares rather than cash: the federal taxpayer identification request is required for the return of securities, because the transfer has tax consequences that a cash refund does not. The programme also publishes an owner questions page covering the return process in general.
What holders must do
The holder page defines the duty broadly. Chapter 523A requires organisations to review their records every year to determine whether they hold funds, securities or other property unclaimed for the required dormancy period, and holders include companies, businesses, corporations, partnerships, professional associations, nonprofit organisations, private organisations, government entities and state agencies. Reports must meet the national standard electronic file format and must be filed electronically; paper is not an option.
A holder report cover sheet carries an affidavit of due diligence, which is the holder's confirmation that it tried to reach the owner before handing the property over. The department publishes reporting guidelines, holder questions and supplemental forms alongside the law itself, and encourages holders to read the whole statute rather than the summary.
Notices, and one scam the state has named
The programme publishes an annual notice to persons appearing to be owners of abandoned property, which is the statutory advertisement of names and is worth checking alongside the online database. It has also publicised a fraud of the kind that follows these programmes everywhere: the Department of the Attorney General investigated an email scam in which the sender falsely claimed to represent the state's unclaimed property branch, wrote in the name of the department's director and solicited personal financial information.
The programme itself charges nothing and returns property as a public service, so any message asking for a payment or for banking details in exchange for unclaimed property is not from the state.
Reading a Hawaii result
A record here is listed under the name and address a holder reported, so a maiden name, a business name and former island addresses are each worth a search, and the telephone option exists for anyone who would rather have staff run it. Nothing about the search or the claim costs money. The one question to settle immediately is the amount: anything under $100 is on a ten year clock that ends with the money going to the general fund, while larger property waits indefinitely.
For an heir, the affidavit for collection of personal property is usually the document that unlocks the claim, and for shares it is the taxpayer identification form.
Questions about unclaimed property in Hawaii
Related Hawaii records
Hawaii's other public records guides on this site are the Hawaii background check guide for the state criminal history service, the Hawaii court records guide for the judiciary's public access, the Hawaii arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the Hawaii county pages for every county office.