HRS § 560:2-804 Revocation of Probate and Nonprobate Transfers By Divorce Or Termination of Reciprocal Beneficiary Relationship; No Revocation By Other Changes of Circumstances

• Library: Hawaii Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through 2023 Legislative Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: HRS § 560:2-804

(a) Definitions. In this section:

"Disposition or appointment of property" includes a transfer of an item of property or any other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument.

"Divorce or annulment" means any divorce or annulment, or any dissolution or declaration of invalidity of a marriage, that would exclude the spouse as a surviving spouse within the meaning of section 560:2-802. A decree of separation that does not terminate the status of husband and wife is not a divorce for purposes of this section.

"Divorced individual" includes an individual whose marriage has been annulled.

"Governing instrument" means a governing instrument executed by:

(1) A divorced individual before the divorce or annulment of the individual's marriage to the individual's former spouse; or

(2) An individual who is a former reciprocal beneficiary before the termination of the reciprocal beneficiary relationship with the individual's former reciprocal beneficiary.

"Relative of the divorced individual's former spouse" means an individual who is related to the divorced individual's former spouse by blood, or affinity and who, after the divorce or annulment, is not related to the divorced individual by blood, adoption, or affinity.

"Revocable", with respect to a disposition, appointment, provision, or nomination, means one under which:

(1) The divorced individual, at the time of the divorce or annulment, was alone empowered, by law or under the governing instrument, to cancel the designation in favor of the individual's former spouse or former spouse's relative, whether or not the divorced individual was then empowered to designate the individual's self in place of the individual's former spouse or in place of the individual's former spouse's relative and whether or not the divorced individual then had the capacity to exercise the power; or

(2) An individual who is a former reciprocal beneficiary, at the time of the termination, was alone empowered, by law or under the governing instrument, to cancel the designation in favor of the individual's former partner or former partner's relative, whether or not the individual was then empowered to designate the individual's self in place of the individual's former partner or in place of the individual's former partner's relative and whether or not the individual who is the former reciprocal beneficiary then had the capacity to exercise the power.

"Termination" means the dissolution of a reciprocal beneficiary relationship under chapter 572C between two adults.