Restraining Orders

Your out-of-state protection order does not have to be entered into the state or federal registry to be enforced in Hawai‘i.¹ Law enforcement officers in Hawai‘i will enforce an out-of-state protection order as long as it appears to be “authentic on its face.” An order will be considered “authentic on its face” if:

1. it contains the names of both parties; and
2. it’s currently in effect, which means it hasn’t expired yet.² 

If you don’t have a paper copy of your order, an officer can try to verify its existence and authenticity through other methods. They may do this by checking a national or state centralized registry for protective orders, or by speaking with “appropriate authorities” in the state that issued your order.³

The abuser can be arrested for the violation if Hawai‘i law would allow an abuser to be arrested for a similar violation of an order from Hawai‘i.⁴

¹ Haw. Rev. Stat. § 586-23
² Haw. Rev. Stat. § 586-24(a)
³ Haw. Rev. Stat. § 586-24(b)
⁴ Haw. Rev. Stat. § 586-24(c)