Will, trust

[Chas]

Thanks everyone. Iju, was it hard moving stuff into the trust? It's just various IRA's and stuff. I guess the house too, though I'm not sure.

[Obie]

My wife recently passed away without a will. Everything we owned was in joint ownership. Cars, properties, bank accounts and retirement accounts. Everything transferred to me just by presenting the death certificate. I didn't have to spend a dime on lawyers and there was no probate.

What are the probate rules in Hawaii?
There are no federal probate laws. Probate in Hawaii is necessary when a person dies owning any real estate in his or her name alone, no matter how small the value of the real estate. Probate is also required when the total value of all “personal property” owned in his or her name alone is worth more than $100,000.

[rrlovesbi]

There are a number of benefits to establishing a revocable trust for major assets. One being that a trust in Hawai'i is private. Whereas a will can become public record where anyone can go into the county court and ask to see the will, (assuming it was required to be filed). Under the current Hawai'i trust laws, if you have established a trust, the trust document will have the details of the disposition of your assets, who inherits them or where you will donate them, and even any financial arrangements for your pets, etc.  However, when establishing a bank account or transferring property into a trust, you submit a separate document called the "Certification of Trust".  The Certification of Trust is reviewed by the bank or county recorder, if transferring property, but the Certification of Trust does not contain the details of who you will leave your assets to as well as other personal details.
Even with a trust you will still have what is called a pour over will for any assets that were not transferred into your trust.  As previously mentioned by another poster, if the total of your assets, not in your trust,  exceeds $100,000 upon your death then your estate will still trigger probate needing to be opened, in most cases, As it was explained to me.
It is important to note that even without a will or trust, If your home, car, and bank accounts are held jointly with another person, these assets automatically transfer to the surviving joint owner (a will or trust is not needed for these assets).  However, if both owners die then the probate court has to decide how to distribute the assets, according to law, if there is no will or trust in existence.  In addition, most brokerages, and some banks, also allow you to name contingent beneficiaries for your accounts. For example, most people name their spouse as the beneficiary of their bank and investment accounts.  If you should die your spouse would submit a death certificate and the assets transfer into their name.  If both you and your spouse die you can name contingent beneficiaries with percentages of your assets that names heirs and charities will receive.
You can also record the deed of your property with a pay on death (POD) designation in Hawai'i.  Again, avoiding the need for a will or trust and avoiding probate for the property, since you designated who inherits it when you die. Vehicle and boat titles can also be recorded with a joint ownership. Unfortunately, a bill to allow the designation of a beneficiary for vehicles and boats did not pass.
I am not a lawyer or work in the legal field.  Much of this I learned from working with Kumu Belcher of Hawai'i Trust and Estate Council.  Kumu runs the Hilo office and John Roth runs the Kamuela office. We chose this firm because of their knowledge as well as having multiple offices and staff.  In addition to establishing a trust for my spouse and I we also have pour over will, advance healthcare directives, and power of attorneys giving my spouse the ability to handle our affairs if I should become incapacitated and vice versa.
Kumu Belcher can be reached at: 808 930 6556

[Iju]

i have my trust set up mainly for the house here because it is held only in my name.  My mainland house is held jointly, I don't have a trust for that house. 

For this trust, I just gave the attorney my parcel ID, they did the rest.  I probably visited the office three times. First visit, filled the info.  Second visit, signed and initialed the paper works. And last visit was to pick up the completed documents.

For IRA account, you assign the beneficiary for each account which I assume you already did.  So all my IRA accounts were not included in the trust.  Neither the bank account with the balance under $10K. 

My taxable investment accounts with the financial firms, I have assigned the names for "Transfer on Death."  No need to put in the trust either.

BY the way, after checking my financial record keeping for the year 2012, I paid $1,600 to the attorney for the service.

[Chas]

Thank you Iju and everyone else who replied. Very helpful and informative.

It looks like Stuart Oda has retired, so I made an appointment with Kumu Belcher (thanks rrlovesbi). They must be busy as the earliest I could get in was mid May!