Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 2, 1 February 2015 — Land -- quiet title action [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Land -- quiet title action

was prompted to share the mana'o of Christine Hitt, who grew up in Kapolei and graduated from Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawai'i. I received a visit from a beneficiary seeking my assistance with their lands in Honokōhau Valley, Maui. In researching her family's parcels in the Valley, she found names on the tax records of people she did not recognize. "As early Hawaiians

bought and sold land, mueh of the land was transferred between family members. At the time of the Great Mahele in 1848, the original owners of property were forced to explain their right to ownership. "Usually when individuals sold property, they explained how they were entitled to be owners of the property. Sometimes they also explained their relationship to the person receiving the property when it was a family member. "The process of an owner selling his property to another and the second person selling it to the third, etc. is called the 'ehain of title.' Sometimes grandparents will die, parents will die early, divorce or move to Honolulu, and the family property is abandoned. Onee this happens, someone will step in to pay property taxes and live on the land. They may act as though the land is theirs and even sell the property; but because there is no deed granting them property rights, they have what is called a 'cloudy title.' In order to clear the title, a court case must be held to determine ownership. This is a civil case and is called a quiet title aelion case. "By law, the person who is initiating the quiet title action case and trying to gain clear title and ownership to the property is required to publish in the newspaper the names of all the people and corporations who are on the property's ehain of title. The names listed in the legal notice heeome the defendants and they are required to prove

to the court their legal interest in the land. This is done by having land deeds (title) and proving the family genealogy to the family member named in the Legal Notice. "Many of these quiet title action cases are settled every year. These legal notices are found in the classified section of the daily newspaper. For neighbor island residents,

it is best to eheek the classified legal notice section of the Honolulu newspapers because chiefly families had property on more than on one island. So another reason to do the Hawaiian genealogy is to learn all the old family names and to keep an eye on the legal notices in the newspaper. "If a family member's name is found in a legal notice and it is planned to answer a quiet title action notice, it will be necessary to either hire a lawyer who specializes in land cases or hire the services of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. The services of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. will be cheaper than a private law flrm, but the client must be Hawaiian to qualify for their services. "If title to the property ean be shown, there could be two choices. It ean be attempted to get possession of the land or a cash payoff could be agreed to. As land is selling to foreign investors on all islands who want clear title, these quiet title action cases are ongoing and the settlements ean be substantial. "There are Hawaiian families that are making land searches to see what properties their family owned. If they flnd the property has passed to owners under questionable circumstances, the family ean initiate the quiet title action case, heeome the plaintiffs and regain court title to their ancestral lands." So folks, maka'ala! Mahalo, Christine Hitt! ■

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