Should you record your power of attorney form in the State of Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances? It depends. For a POA to be effective, it must meet several requirements that are set forth in the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Hawaii has adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Law, which establishes many basic elements of a POA's creation and authority.
Documents recorded in the Bureau of Conveyances are available to the public, so some people choose not to record a POA. But, if you are the attorney-in-fact and you need to deal with real property, then you should record the POA in Hawaii. This ensures that someone examining the property title can determine whether or not a conveyance was validly made using the POA.
Haw. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 551E-3 (West)
(a) A power of attorney created under this chapter shall be durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal.
(b) A power of attorney shall be signed by the principal or in the principal's conscious presence by another individual directed by the principal to sign the principal's name on the power of attorney. A signature on a power of attorney is presumed to be genuine if the principal acknowledges the signature before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments.
(c) A power of attorney executed in Hawaii on or after January 1, 2015, is valid if its execution complied with the law of this State as it existed at the time of execution.
(d) A power of attorney executed outside of Hawaii is valid in this State if, when the power of attorney was executed, the execution complied with: (1) The law of the jurisdiction that determines the meaning and effect of the power of attorney pursuant to subsection (f); or (2) The requirements for a military power of attorney pursuant to title 10 United States Code section 1044b, as amended.
(e) Except as otherwise provided by statute other than this chapter, a photocopy or electronically transmitted copy of an original power of attorney shall have the same effect as the original.
(f) The meaning and effect of a power of attorney is determined by the law of the jurisdiction indicated in the power of attorney and, in the absence of an indication of jurisdiction, by the law of the jurisdiction in which the power of attorney was executed.