§501-108 Conveyance of fee; procedure. (a) An owner desiring to convey in fee registered land or any portion thereof shall execute a deed of conveyance, which the grantor or the grantee may present to the assistant registrar in the bureau of conveyances; provided that no deed, mortgage, lease, or other voluntary instrument shall be accepted by the assistant registrar for registration unless a reference to the number of the certificate of title of the land affected by such instrument is incorporated in the body of the instrument tendered for registration. If the certificate reference in the instrument is not current, an endorsement of the current certificate of title shall be required.

The assistant registrar shall note upon all instruments filed or recorded concurrently with the recorded instrument the document number, the certificate of title number, and, in the case of deregistered land, the bureau of conveyances document number in the spaces provided therefor wherever required.

Except as otherwise provided in part II of this chapter:

(1) The assistant registrar shall thereupon, in accordance with the rules and instructions of the court, make out in the registration book a new certificate of title to the grantee;

(2) The assistant registrar shall note upon the original certificate the date of transfer, and a reference by number to the last prior certificate;

(3) The original certificate shall be stamped "canceled"; and

(4) The deed of conveyance shall be filed or recorded and endorsed with the number and place of registration of the certificate of title of the land conveyed.

(b) On all instruments to be filed or recorded, the top three and one-half inches of space of the first page shall be reserved for recording information for the assistant registrar on the left half of that space, and for the registrar of conveyances on the right half of that space. The following one inch of space shall be reserved for information showing to whom the document should be returned. In addition, the first page shall identify and include, if possible, all names of the grantors and all names and addresses of the grantees, the type of document, and the tax map key number. Endorsements, if any, may be made on a conforming fly sheet. If an instrument consists of more than one page, each page shall be single-sided sheets of written text numbered consecutively, beginning with number one, and shall be stapled once in the upper left corner. No instrument shall have a cover or backer attached. The assistant registrar shall be permitted to remove any rivets affixed to any instrument.

(c) All names of all natural persons signing in their individual capacity in the instrument shall be typewritten, stamped, legibly printed by hand, or by a mechanical or electrical printing method beneath all signatures. No discrepancy in any name shall exist between the printed name, as it appears either in the body of the instrument, beneath the signature, or in the notary's certificate of acknowledgment. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any deed or conveyance instrument executed prior to July 1, 1989.

(d) The assistant registrar may refuse to file or record any instrument that will not reproduce legibly under photographic, electronic, or electrostatic methods, or that is of a size larger than eight and one-half inches by eleven inches, or that contains a schedule, inventory sheet, or map in excess of that size. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the assistant registrar may accept an electronic instrument in lieu of an original instrument with original signatures subject to the requirements set forth in rules adopted by the supreme court of the State of Hawaii consistent with this section and chapter 489E. [L 1903, c 56, §57; am L 1913, c 16, §1; RL 1925, §3246; RL 1935, §5056; RL 1945, §12656; RL 1955, §342-57; am L 1961, c 86, §1; HRS §501-108; gen ch 1985; am L 1986, c 246, §8; am L 1988, c 346, §9; am L 1989, c 51, §2; am L 1992, c 197, §4; am L 2000, c 178, §4; am L 2001, c 23, §1; am L 2009, c 120, §8; am L 2013, c 119, §5]

Rules of Court

New certificate of title, see RLC rule 59(a).

Case Notes

Infant, right to disaffirm conveyance after reaching majority. 41 H. 490 (1956), remanded 256 F.2d 208 (1958), modified 42 H. 661 (1958), app. dism'd 267 F.2d 449 (1959).