HRS §665-2
When the law assumes a missing owner is dead
This section sets up legal shortcuts for cases about abandoned property. If the last owner has been gone and unheard from for 15 years, the law assumes they died without a will. It also assumes they left no relatives if no one claims the property within five years after that.
courtsheirslandowners
The statute, as written — Conclusive presumptions
In all actions provided for in section 665-1, the following shall be conclusive presumptions of fact: (1) That the person who last owned the property has died intestate, if it is shown that the owner has been absent from the State and not been heard of for the space of fifteen years, and has neither in person nor through any agent thereto authorized in writing, nor through any tenant occupying the premises in question under a valid lease, had possession or exercised dominion over the premises during that time, and that no application for letters testamentary or of administration has been filed in any court within the State having jurisdiction of probate proceedings within such time. (2) That the person who last owned the property has left no kindred, if it is shown that no person claiming to be kin has made claim to the property within five years after the lapse of the fifteen years in this section before mentioned.
Sections this one refers to
§665-1 How the state starts an escheat case
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