What Creditors Cannot Take
HRS 651-121 — household goods, a car up to $2,575 in equity, tools of a trade, and retirement accounts
- Necessary household furnishings, appliances, books and clothing, and jewelry and watches up to $1,000 in total.
- One motor vehicle up to $2,575 above what is owed on it, at wholesale value.
- The tools, equipment, uniforms, one vehicle, and one commercial fishing boat and nets reasonably needed for the debtor's trade.
- A burial plot not exceeding two hundred fifty square feet.
- Insurance or sale proceeds of those things for six months after they are received.
- Pay for work done in the thirty one days before the proceeding.
Who handles this in Hawaii: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Hawaii directory.
Rights in retirement plans and IRAs of the kinds the section lists, and ABLE savings accounts, are exempt from attachment and execution, except under a qualified domestic relations order or for contributions made within three years before a bankruptcy or the lawsuit.
Sources for this section (2)
- HRS 651-121 — Certain personal property and insurance thereon, exempt
- HRS 651-124 — Pension money exempt
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Hawaii attorney.