§584-20  Hearings and records; confidentiality.  (a)  Notwithstanding any other law concerning public hearings and records, any hearing or trial held under this chapter shall be held in closed court without admittance of any person other than those persons necessary to the action or proceeding.  All papers and records pertaining to the action or proceeding, whether part of the permanent record of the court or of a file in the department of health or elsewhere, shall be subject to inspection only upon consent of the court and all interested persons, or in exceptional cases only upon an order of the court for good cause shown.

     (b)  Upon paternity being established, the confidentiality requirement shall not extend to the judgment and all subsequently filed documents that are used in good faith for support and medical expenses, insurance, or enforcement purposes, except that the confidentiality requirement shall continue to apply to any references to a non-adjudicated alleged or presumed father.

     (c)  Subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to cases filed on and after January 1, 2021. [L 1975, c 66, pt of §1; am L 1993, c 118, §1; am L 2019, c 225, §3]

Revision Note

  "January 1, 2021" substituted for "the effective date of this Act [225], Session Laws of Hawaii 2019" pursuant to §23G-15.