(a) An agent under a power of attorney may do the following on behalf of the principal or with the principal’s property only if the power of attorney expressly grants the agent the authority and exercise of the authority is not otherwise prohibited by another agreement or instrument to which the authority or property is subject:

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 551E-31

  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
  • Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
(1) Create, amend, revoke, or terminate an inter vivos trust;
(2) Make a gift;
(3) Create or change rights of survivorship;
(4) Create or change a beneficiary designation;
(5) Delegate authority granted under the power of attorney;
(6) Waive the principal’s right to be a beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity, including a survivor benefit under a retirement plan; or
(7) Exercise fiduciary powers that the principal has authority to delegate.
(b) Notwithstanding a grant of authority to do an act described in subsection (a), unless the power of attorney otherwise provides, an agent that is not an ancestor, spouse, or descendant of the principal may not exercise authority under a power of attorney to create in the agent, or in an individual to whom the agent owes a legal obligation of support, an interest in the principal’s property, whether by gift, right of survivorship, beneficiary designation, disclaimer, or otherwise.
(c) Subject to subsections (a), (b), (d), and (e), if a power of attorney grants to an agent authority to do (or other broadly worded authority in a general power of attorney signed prior to [April 17, 2014]) all acts that a principal could do, the agent shall have the general authority described in §§ 551E-34 through 551E-46.
(d) Unless the power of attorney otherwise provides, a grant of authority to make a gift shall be subject to § 551E-47.
(e) Subject to subsections (a), (b), and (d), if the subjects over which authority is granted in a power of attorney are similar or overlap, the broadest authority shall control.
(f) Authority granted in a power of attorney shall be exercisable with respect to property that the principal has when the power of attorney is executed or acquires later, whether or not the property is located in this State and whether or not the authority is exercised or the power of attorney is executed in this State.
(g) An act performed by an agent pursuant to a power of attorney shall have the same effect and inure to the benefit of and bind the principal and the principal’s successors in interest as if the principal had performed the act.

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