Hawaii's judicial system is a unified state court system that functions under the Supreme Court as the single administrative head. The court system in Hawaii is primarily divided into Circuit Courts and District Courts. Family Courts are divisions of these two courts. The Supreme Court is the state's highest court makes binding decisions over appeals from the lower courts upon transfer from the Intermediate Court of Appeals. Circuit Courts have general jurisdiction over most civil and criminal cases, but generally only handle cases beyond the jurisdiction of other courts. District Courts have limited jurisdiction over certain types of civil and criminal cases. The Land Court and The Tax Appeal Court each have limited jurisdiction over certain types of cases. Intermediate Court of Appeals is the state's second highest court that reviews appeals from state trial court or agency decisions.
In common jurisdiction laws, the records of these various lawsuits are documented for public use known as court records. A Court record refers to information that has been filed or recorded by local, state, federal or other government agencies, such as arrest records, trial dates, convictions and settlements. A court of record will have a court clerk official to maintain the permanent records. Documents related to a particular case include docket entries, parties, judgments, and charges in public courts.
Court records that are created by the federal and local government are accessible to the public through physical files or online listings. Hawaii state court records are now available online. Irrespective of the profession, many people around the globe including judicial officials, researchers, students and commoners, use the records. Sometimes you can access Hawaii Court Records for free, but often this process takes weeks or even months. Your best option is to use a court records website, which allows you to search through all Hawaii Court Records for free in less than 15 seconds. A membership at an online court records database usually costs less than $3 per month.
The state judicial system has two division search levels. First, is the Ho`ohiki which databases records for access to criminal and civil case information filed in the Circuit and Family courts and certain civil cases of the District Courts. The next is the JIMS CourtConnect database that is the primary resource residents may use when searching for Hawaii court records related to traffic cases.
Though most of the court documents are available through the Ho`ohiki, but the authority restricts accessing of confidential cases, sealed cases and sealed documents and are not available online. The Judiciary updates case information every evening. Generally, therefore, data is current to within 48 hours of the date a court document is filed or a court proceeding is heard.
The information that is available through Ho'ohiki and the JIMS CourtConnect system has been gathered from official sources including the court records of Hawaii. These documents have been appropriately made available to the public but with no warranties, whether implied or expressed are included. Thus using this online court records database, you can find all Hawaii Court Records quickly, easily and cheaply.
