§571-4  Family courts, circuits.  In the first circuit any judge or judges so designated by the chief justice of the supreme court shall be the judge or judges of the family court of the first circuit.  The several judges of the second, third, and fifth circuits, and of any other circuits hereafter created by the legislature, shall, when exercising jurisdiction under this chapter, be judges of the family courts of their respective circuits.  In any circuit in which more than one judge is authorized to exercise jurisdiction as judge of the family court, the chief justice of the supreme court shall designate one of the judges as senior judge.

     Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit the jurisdiction and authority of any circuit judge, designated as judge of a family court, to matters within the scope of this chapter. [L 1965, c 232, pt of §1; Supp, §333-4; HRS §571-4]

Case Notes

  Even assuming that, for purposes of §571-14, defendant did not have physical custody of complainant during the times of the alleged offenses, and the family court was, therefore, without jurisdiction over those counts of the indictment, the judge, in the judge's capacity as a circuit court judge, properly exercised jurisdiction over those counts under this section.  103 H. 214, 81 P.3d 394 (2003).

  Where judge, at the time judge entered the family court orders purporting to void the estate documents, was a district judge appointed under §571-8, not a circuit judge sitting by designation in family court under this section, the judge lacked original jurisdiction over guardianships of the property under §560:5-102 as it stood prior to the 1996 amendments to the Hawaii uniform probate code.  110 H. 8, 129 P.3d 511 (2006).