§571-4  Family courts, circuits.  In the
first circuit any judge or judges so designated by the chief justice of the
supreme court shall be the judge or judges of the family court of the first
circuit.  The several judges of the second, third, and fifth circuits, and of
any other circuits hereafter created by the legislature, shall, when exercising
jurisdiction under this chapter, be judges of the family courts of their
respective circuits.  In any circuit in which more than one judge is authorized
to exercise jurisdiction as judge of the family court, the chief justice of the
supreme court shall designate one of the judges as senior judge.



Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to
limit the jurisdiction and authority of any circuit judge, designated as judge
of a family court, to matters within the scope of this chapter. [L 1965, c 232,
pt of §1; Supp, §333-4; HRS §571-4]



 



Case Notes



 



  Even assuming that, for purposes of §571-14, defendant did
not have physical custody of complainant during the times of the alleged
offenses, and the family court was, therefore, without jurisdiction over those
counts of the indictment, the judge, in the judge's capacity as a circuit court
judge, properly exercised jurisdiction over those counts under this section.  103
H. 214, 81 P.3d 394.



  Where judge, at the time judge entered the family court
orders purporting to void the estate documents, was a district judge appointed
under §571-8, not a circuit judge sitting by designation in family court under
this section, the judge lacked original jurisdiction over guardianships of the
property under §560:5-102 as it stood prior to the 1996 amendments to the
Hawaii uniform probate code.  110 H. 8, 129 P.3d 511.