How does joint tenancy with right of survivorship work in Hawaii?

In Hawaii, a grant of land to two or more people creates an estate in common, not a joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety, unless the instrument manifestly shows an intent to create a joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety. Hawaii recognizes tenancy by the entirety for spouses and for reciprocal beneficiaries. A person may convey to himself or herself and a spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, and spouses or reciprocal beneficiaries may convey to themselves, as tenants by the entirety without going through a third party, and an owner may likewise convey to himself or herself and others as joint tenants. Entirety property that the couple conveys to their joint revocable trust, or in equal shares to their separate revocable trusts, keeps the same immunity from their separate creditors. The words in the deed decide which kind of ownership was created, so read the deed itself. This is Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 509-1, 509-2.

WhatHawaii
A deed to two or more peopleTenancy in common unless the deed shows otherwise
What it meansTenancy in common unless the deed declares survivorship

Source

Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 509-1, 509-2

Read the statute in the Hawaii Revised Statutes (Hawaii State Legislature): capitol.hawaii.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 13, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

An owner on Seayora keeps each property’s owners of record, its entity and its documents in one place, so who holds title and how is on file beside the leases and the books.

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