§603-37 Change of venue. After the
parties shall have had an opportunity to be heard, any circuit court may, upon
satisfactory proof that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in any civil
case pending in the court, or, in its discretion, upon satisfactory proof that
it would be more fair and equitable to the parties thereto if any civil case
pending in the court were heard in another jurisdiction, change the venue to
some other circuit and order the record to be transferred thereto; provided
that any circuit court may, in its discretion, upon the consent of all the
parties to any civil case pending in the court, change the venue to some other
circuit court and order the record to be transferred thereto. [L 1892, c 57, pt
of §36; am L 1903, c 32, pt of §10; am L 1921, c 157, pt of §1; RL 1925, pt of
§2247; RL 1935, pt of §3643; RL 1945, pt of §9647; RL 1955, pt of §215-17; am L
1957, c 195, §1; HRS §603-37; am L 1972, c 88, §3(p)]
Rules of Court
Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure do not extend or limit
jurisdiction or venue, see HRCP rule 82.
Case Notes
Change of venue and discretion therein. 9 H. 360 (1894); 11
H. 314, 317 (1898); 20 H. 7, 11 (1910); in ejectment, 19 H. 334 (1909); 31 H.
65 (1929).
Where action is brought in wrong circuit, this section cannot
be used as a remedy to transfer case to proper circuit. 47 H. 271, 386 P.2d
880 (1963).
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
12
cases (
4 in the last 5 years), 1972–2025 · leading case:
Whitehead v. Whitehead, 492 P.2d 939 (Haw. 1972).
Whitehead v. Whitehead, 492 P.2d 939 (Haw. 1972).
· cites it 4× “Exclusive original jurisdiction in matters of annulment, divorce, and separation, subject to section 603-37 as to change of venue, and subject also to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the judge or judges of the family court of the circuit in which the applicant has…”
Eaton v. Eaton, 748 P.2d 801 (Haw. App. 1987).
“Exclusive original jurisdiction in matters of annulment, divorce, and separation, subject to section 603-37 as to change of venue, and subject also to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the family court of the circuit in *121 which the applicant has been domiciled or has…”
Brooks v. Minn, 836 P.2d 1081 (Haw. 1992).
“[i]n all proceedings under chapter 580____” HRS § 580-1 provides in relevant part: “Exclusive jurisdiction in matters of annulment, divorce, and separation, subject to section 603-37 as to change of venue, and subject also to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the family…”
Bienvenue v. Bienvenue, 72 P.3d 531 (Haw. App. 2003).
“Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 580-1 (1993) states as follows: Exclusive original jurisdiction in matters of annulment, divorce, and separation, subject to section 603-37 as to change 'of venue, and subject also to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the family court of…”
Puckett v. Puckett, 16 P.3d 876 (Haw. App. 2000).
“subject to section 603-37 as to change of venue, and subject also to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the family court of the circuit in which the applicant has been domiciled or has been physically present for a continuous period of at least three months next…”
Mon Chi Heung Au v. Lum, 360 F. Supp. 219 (D. Haw. 1973).
“Exclusive original jurisdiction in matters of annulment, divorce, and separation, subject to section 603-37 as to change of venue, and subject also to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the judge or judges of the family court of the circuit in which the applicant has…”
State of Hawai'i, Dep't of Pub. Saf. v. Forbes, 545 P.3d 574 (Haw. App. 2024).
· cites it 2× “HRS § 603-37 (2016) allows a court, at its discretion, to change the venue to another court upon satisfactory proof that the change would be more fair and equitable.”
G.K. v. O.K. (Haw. App. 2025).
· cites it 2× “continued) Exclusive original jurisdiction in matters of divorce, subject to section 603-37 as to change of venue, and also subject to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the family court of the circuit in which the applicant is domiciled at the time the application is…”
Kruize v. Kruize (Haw. App. 2025).
“(a) Exclusive original jurisdiction in matters of annulment, divorce, and separation, subject to section 603-37 as to change of venue, and subject also to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the family court of the circuit in which the applicant has been domiciled or has…”
Kruize v. Kruize (Haw. App. 2025).
“(a) Exclusive original jurisdiction in matters of annulment, divorce, and separation, subject to section 603-37 as to change of venue, and subject also to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the family court of the circuit in which the applicant has been domiciled or has…”
Williamson v. Williamson, 144 P.3d 579 (Haw. App. 2006).
“Exclusive original jurisdiction in matters of annulment, divorce, and separation, subject to section 603-37 as to change of venue, and subject also to appeal according to law, is conferred upon the family court of the circuit in which the applicant has been domiciled or has been…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.