Annual Trust Accounting Requirements in Hawaii

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Hawaii has an ordinary report and a separate court account

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 554D-813(d) requires an ordinary report at least annually and at trust termination. The automatic recipients are distributees and permissible distributees of trust income or principal. Another qualified beneficiary receives the report by requesting it. If a vacancy occurs and no cotrustee remains, the former trustee reports to all qualified beneficiaries.

Section 554D-103 defines qualified beneficiaries through three distribution horizons: current distributees, the next line if current interests ended without ending the trust, and those who would take if the trust ended.

Section 554D-813(g) creates a distinct court track. A trustee acting under court appointment or an appointment requiring court approval generally files an account annually with the court. The court may instead permit biennial or triennial filing, or annual filing accumulated for review on that schedule.

The two account types have different contents

The ordinary report lists trust property, liabilities, receipts and disbursements, the source and amount of trustee compensation, trust assets, and—if feasible—their respective market values. It does not prescribe carrying values, principal-and-income allocations, realized gains and losses, agent-fee schedules, reconciliation, a signature, an oath, or a final distribution plan.

The court account is more detailed in a different way. It must show all receipts and disbursements in detail and include a full and detailed inventory of all property in the trustee's possession or control. When annual income does not exceed $1,000, the court or clerk passes the account without a master, although a final account may be referred to a master regardless of income when proper or necessary.

Lifetime and post-death recipients differ

During the lifetime of the settlor of a revocable trust, § 554D-813(a) makes the trustee's duties under the section exclusive to the settlor even if the settlor lacks capacity. When the settlor is incapacitated, information and reports may instead go in statutory order to a trust-designated person, conservator, guardian, durable- power-of-attorney agent, or a spouse who is a beneficiary. Only if none exists do the duties run to qualified beneficiaries.

After the settlor's death, subsection (b) requires reasonable information for qualified beneficiaries. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 554D-1104 generally applies the Trust Code to trusts created before, on, or after January 1, 2022, while protecting prior acts and already- running periods. Section 554D-813(i)'s pre-2022 exclusions apply only to the two initial notices in subsection (c), not the ordinary reports or court accounts.

Delivery and court filing use separate routes

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 554D-109 requires the ordinary report to be sent by a method reasonably suitable under the circumstances and likely to result in receipt. It lists first-class mail, personal delivery, delivery to the last-known residence or business, and a properly directed electronic message. Unknown or unascertainable recipients are excused.

The covered court trustee instead files with the court having jurisdiction. Section 554D-813(h) exempts specified additional, replacement, or instrument-appointed trustees whose appointment was confirmed by a court, unless the trust instrument requires annual filing. The exact appointment history therefore matters.

Waiver and trust modification do not work the same way

A qualified beneficiary may waive reports or other information and later withdraw the waiver for future reports and information. The trustee may charge a reasonable fee to a qualified beneficiary for providing information.

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 554D-105 generally lets trust terms displace default rules. Its mandatory list preserves the post-death notice core and response to a qualified beneficiary's report or information request, but not subsection (d)'s automatic annual and termination report duty. That ordinary default may therefore be altered by the trust terms, subject to the protected request-response duty. The separate court-filing rule and its subsection (h) exceptions must be analyzed independently.

Reports affect claims only with disclosure and notice

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 554D-1005 starts a one-year breach-of-trust period only when the beneficiary or representative is sent a report that adequately discloses a potential claim and states the time allowed to commence a proceeding. Adequate disclosure means enough information that the recipient knew, had reason to know, or should have inquired into the claim.

If that route does not apply, the three-year period runs from the first of trustee removal or resignation, termination of the beneficiary's interest, or trust termination. A claim against a deceased trustee instead follows the separately referenced probate time frames. Interested persons may use § 554D-111 to approve a report or accounting or settle liability, while § 554D-1009 keeps improper-conduct and lack-of-knowledge limits on consent, release, or ratification.

Court-account noncompliance has an express escalation path

If a covered trustee misses the required court account, § 554D-813(g) directs the clerk to notify the trustee promptly. Failure to file within thirty days after that notice leads to a show-cause citation for contempt and the penalties in the referenced contempt statute; the court may also remove the trustee.

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 554D-1001 separately permits compelled performance or an account, redress, a special fiduciary, suspension or removal, reduced or denied compensation, tracing, trustee-paid attorney fees, punitive damages, and other appropriate relief. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 554D-1004's fee rules turn on acting in the trust's overall best interest or, for specified validity litigation, good faith.

What trips people up

• The ordinary report is in subsection (d). Hawaii inserted lifetime, post-death, and initial-notice rules before it.
• Court appointment can change the entire procedure. Covered trustees file a more detailed court account and face an express nonfiling escalation path.
• The $1,000 rule concerns court review, not whether an account is due. It decides whether the court or clerk passes the account without a master.
• The one-year clock needs both elements. Adequate disclosure and notice of the time allowed to sue are both required.

Common questions

Must every Hawaii trustee file an annual court account?

No. The filing rule depends on the source and approval of the trustee's appointment, the prior trustee's duty, and the subsection (h) exceptions. Ordinary beneficiary reports are sent outside court.

Can an ordinary report be sent electronically?

Yes, when a properly directed electronic message is reasonably suitable under the circumstances and likely to result in receipt under § 554D-109.

Does receiving an annual report discharge the trustee?

No. A limitation notice, qualifying settlement, or valid consent, release, or ratification has separate statutory requirements and exceptions.

Statutes and sources

• Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 554D-103, -105, -109, -111, -813, and -1104 — recipient classes, trust-term control, delivery, settlement, ordinary reports, court accounts, waivers, filing exceptions, and application. Hawaii Legislature (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 554D-1001, -1004, -1005, and -1009 — remedies, fees, limitations, and consent/release rules. Hawaii Legislature (accessed 2026-08-10).