Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: $100 to institute a guardianship or conservatorship proceeding in circuit or family court, plus smaller ancillary fees for later matters ($15 for removal/accounting-order/termination motions, $10 per account filed). Set by the general court-costs statute, not the guardianship chapter itself. The periodic accounting is annual. Everything on this page is quoted from Hawaii’s own statutory text where it exists, and where Hawaii publishes no figure this page says so rather than printing an estimate. What drives the rest of the bill, lawyers, an investigation, a capacity evaluation, is on what guardianship costs.
What Hawaii fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | $100 to institute a guardianship or conservatorship proceeding in circuit or family court, plus smaller ancillary fees for later matters ($15 for removal/accounting-order/termination motions, $10 per account filed). Set by the general court-costs statute, not the guardianship chapter itself. | HRS § 607-5 |
| Bond | Discretionary, not automatic: “The court may require a conservator to furnish a bond conditioned upon faithful discharge of all duties of the conservatorship.” If ordered, the penal sum equals the aggregate capital value of estate property plus one year’s estimated income, minus certain restricted/court-controlled assets; the court may accept collateral instead of sureties. Hawaii’s statute expressly addresses the premium: “Unless otherwise directed by the court, the cost of the bond shall be charged to the protected person’s estate.” | HRS § 560:5-415 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | Hawaii has a statutory dollar figure. HRS § 571-87 sets compensation for court-appointed counsel/guardian ad litem at $90/hour in-court and $60/hour out-of-court/non-attorney services, with a maximum allowable fee of $3,000 for cases arising under chapter 560 (guardianship/conservatorship): subject to an “extraordinary circumstances” exception. The rate is imported from Title 31, Chapter 571, not the guardianship title itself. | |
| Periodic accounting or report | Annual: No graduated fee schedule tied to estate value in the accounting statute itself. HRS § 560:5-420 requires the conservator to petition for approval of accounts annually unless the court otherwise directs, plus on resignation/removal/termination. The court-costs statute sets a flat $10 fee per account filed, not graduated by value. | HRS § 560:5-420 |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardianship (Protection of Persons Under Disability and Their Property), Hawaii Uniform Probate Code, HRS Title 30A, Chapter 560, Article V.
The filing fee
$100 to institute a guardianship or conservatorship proceeding in circuit or family court, plus smaller ancillary fees for later matters ($15 for removal/accounting-order/termination motions, $10 per account filed). Set by the general court-costs statute, not the guardianship chapter itself.
The bond
Discretionary, not automatic: “The court may require a conservator to furnish a bond conditioned upon faithful discharge of all duties of the conservatorship.” If ordered, the penal sum equals the aggregate capital value of estate property plus one year’s estimated income, minus certain restricted/court-controlled assets; the court may accept collateral instead of sureties. Hawaii’s statute expressly addresses the premium: “Unless otherwise directed by the court, the cost of the bond shall be charged to the protected person’s estate.”
Guardian ad litem and attorney fees
Not published here. Hawaii has a statutory dollar figure. HRS § 571-87 sets compensation for court-appointed counsel/guardian ad litem at $90/hour in-court and $60/hour out-of-court/non-attorney services, with a maximum allowable fee of $3,000 for cases arising under chapter 560 (guardianship/conservatorship): subject to an “extraordinary circumstances” exception. The rate is imported from Title 31, Chapter 571, not the guardianship title itself.
How often you have to account
Annual. Do not carry that assumption across a state line: the interval is set by each state separately, several are biennial or triennial, and your own appointing court can order more often than the statutory minimum. The document that governs you is your order.
No graduated fee schedule tied to estate value in the accounting statute itself. HRS § 560:5-420 requires the conservator to petition for approval of accounts annually unless the court otherwise directs, plus on resignation/removal/termination. The court-costs statute sets a flat $10 fee per account filed, not graduated by value.
What an accounting has to contain, and the duties that come with it, are on the guardian accounting duties page.
What this page does not tell you
capitol.hawaii.gov (official HRS portal) and law.justia.com both returned HTTP 403 this session. Statutory text verified via law.onecle.com and codes.findlaw.com, SECONDARY mirrors, flagged accordingly.
Where this fits
The filing fee is the smallest part of what a guardianship costs, and the national page sets out the costs that are larger and are not published anywhere. If nobody has been appointed yet, the comparison that actually matters is against the document that avoids this proceeding entirely : guardianship against a power of attorney.
Sources
| Item | Citation | Tier | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | https://codes.findlaw.com/hi/division-4-courts-and-judicial-proceedings/hi-rev-st-sect-607-5.html | statute | 2026-09 |
| Bond | https://law.onecle.com/hawaii/title-30a/560-5-415.html | statute | 2026-09 |
| Accounting | https://law.onecle.com/hawaii/title-30a/560-5-420.html | statute | 2026-09 |
Also for Hawaii: Hawaii Small Estate Affidavit · Hawaii Power of Attorney Requirements · Hawaii Advance Directive Requirements.
General consumer information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Guardianship and conservatorship are governed by STATE law and differ materially between states; every figure here is quoted from the cited source as read on the date shown and changes without notice. Read as of September 3, 2026.