WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors.

Legal Information: Hawaii

Custody

Laws current as of November 15, 2024

What is joint custody?

In Hawai‘i, joint custody means that both you and the other parent have legal custody of your child.

However, it doesn’t mean that you will automatically have joint physical custody. The judge can order that both parents have physical custody, or that only one of you does. If there’s joint physical custody, the child will live with both you and the other parent, according to a schedule laid out in a parenting plan. The parenting plan should allow both parents to have frequent, continuing, and meaningful contact with their child.1

1 Haw. Rev. Stat. § 571-46.1(b)

Legal Information

© 2008–2025 WomensLaw.org is a project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, Inc. All rights reserved. This website is funded in part through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). NNEDV is a 501©(3) non-profit organization; EIN 52-1973408.