Your state's pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. Bookmark it. I built this for the Hawaii T&E solo who knows the HRS ch. 560 probate code cold but still loses an afternoon a week tracking the moving Med-QUEST pieces.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments I think actually matter to a Hawaii T&E solo. Each has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each comes with a reachable citation so you can verify it yourself before you use it with a client.
For 2026 Hawaii applies the higher $1,130,000 home-equity limit; its minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance (MMNA) floor is elevated to $3,040.00 (vs. the $2,643.75 federal baseline). The MMNA maximum is the federal $4,066.50.
Hawaii's real-estate values make the higher equity limit decisive, and the elevated MMNA changes community-spouse income math. Flag the 2028 OBBBA $1,000,000 cap now.
42 U.S.C. § 1396p · CMS 2026 Spousal Impoverishment Standards (medicaid.gov)
The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act is codified at HRS ch. 527; HRS § 527-13 governs the transfer at the transferor's death.
A probate-avoidance tool the Hawaii solo can reach for — but a TOD deed does not protect the home from Med-QUEST estate recovery. The funded revocable trust still does the recovery work.
HRS § 527-13 · capitol.hawaii.gov / law.justia.com
The DHS Med-QUEST Division recovers long-term-care costs paid after age 55, primarily against the home, deferred while a surviving spouse, minor, or disabled child remains.
The recovery target in Hawaii is almost always the residence. Structure the home out of the reachable estate early; the deferral rules buy timing, not a permanent shield.
Hawaii Med-QUEST (DHS MQD) · medquest.hawaii.gov
Decisions from the courts that bind a Hawaii practitioner — the Supreme Court of Hawaii and the Intermediate Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, and the Ninth Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
The trustee who drafted the Fujishima Family Trust unduly influenced the now-incapacitated grantor into executing it. After the grantor’s conservator petitioned to remove and surcharge the co-trustees and later to void the trust, the Probate Court of the First Circuit removed and surcharged the drafter-trustee (a $422,522 surcharge), found an oral trust under HRS § 554D-407(b), and then voided the written trust under HRS § 554D-406 — which makes a trust void to the extent its creation was induced by fraud, duress, or undue influence. The Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed in full, rejecting the trustee’s challenges to the absence of a further evidentiary hearing, the findings, and the punitive-damages award.
Three things to carry into your files. One: under HRS § 554D-406 a trust is void to the extent undue influence (or fraud or duress) induced its creation — and a trustee who drafted the instrument and stands to benefit is the textbook undue-influence target, so an independent drafter and a clean execution record are your best protection. Two: trustees who don’t timely object to a removal-and-surcharge petition (Hawaii Probate Rules Rule 10(c)) risk adoption of a master’s recommendations and a six-figure surcharge — calendar the probate deadlines and put objections on the record. Three: HRS § 554D-407(b) lets a court find an oral trust on clear and convincing evidence; the absence of a signed instrument does not end the inquiry.
In re Fujishima Family Trust, Nos. CAAP-23-0000537 & CAAP-24-0000807 (Haw. Ct. App. Apr. 24, 2026) (mem. op.) · official opinion — courts.state.hi.us
This week in Hawaii for the T&E solo with Medicaid-planning clients: what the Hawaii State Bar Association, the Probate Court, and Med-QUEST put in front of you.
The HSBA CLE calendar, the Probate and Estate Planning Section, and the Med-QUEST bulletins all publish on different schedules. This is that sift, already done, with the link on each item.