§571-8  District family courts; district
family judges; appointment; sessions.  (a)  In addition to the district
courts established under section 604-1, there may be established in each of the
judicial circuits of the State a district family court with the powers and
under the conditions herein set forth which shall be styled as follows:



(1)  For the first judicial circuit:  The district
family court of the first circuit.



(2)  For the second judicial circuit:  The district
family court of the second circuit.



(3)  For the third judicial circuit:  The district
family court of the third circuit.



(4)  For the fifth judicial circuit:  The district
family court of the fifth circuit.



(b)  When in the discretion of the chief
justice of the supreme court the urgency or volume of cases so requires, the
chief justice may appoint one or more district family judges for each judicial
circuit.  In addition, within any circuit, the chief justice may designate any
district judge of the district court to act as a district family judge within
that circuit; the judge when so designated shall exercise the powers of a
district family judge appointed pursuant to this section.



The chief justice may also designate, within
any circuit, a district family judge appointed pursuant to this section to act
as a district judge, and the judge when so appointed shall have all the powers
of a district judge appointed pursuant to section 604-2.



The chief justice may assign any district judge
or district family judge of any circuit to serve temporarily in either the
district court or the district family court of any other circuit.



The district family courts shall hold sessions
at such places and as often as the family court judge or the senior family
court judge, if there is more than one, of the judicial circuit shall
prescribe. [L 1973, c 219, pt of §1; am L 1983, c 208, §1; am L 1984, c 49, §1;
gen ch 1985]



 



Case Notes



 



  Where judge, at the time judge entered the family court
orders purporting to void the estate documents, was a district judge appointed
under this section, not a circuit judge sitting by designation in family court
under §571-4, 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.