Divorce is stressful enough without also having to figure out court procedure from scratch. For self-represented (pro se) divorce litigants on Hawaiʻi Island, the Third Circuit Family Court and the state Judiciary offer free resources. Here’s what’s available if you’re filing on the Big Island without an attorney.
- Third Circuit Divorce Forms and the Uncontested Divorce Packet
The Family Court of the Third Judicial Circuit maintains its own divorce forms and a packet of instructions for an uncontested divorce — meaning both spouses agree on the divorce itself and have settled all matters between them (property, custody, support, etc.). Forms can be downloaded from the Judiciary website
A few things specific to the Third Circuit are worth knowing:
The Third Circuit is still in the process of revising its court forms. The Judiciary provides a JEFS cover sheet for attorneys e-filing in the interim, but self-represented litigants who file conventionally at the courthouse do not need to use it.
The Third Circuit offers an online document drop-off service, which lets you submit documents without an in-person courthouse visit — useful given the geographic spread of Hawaiʻi Island.
If your case is contested, or your spouse won’t agree to terms, the standard packet may not cover everything you need, and court staff will likely point you toward hiring an attorney rather than trying to complete it alone.
- Self-Help Center (Big Island)
The Judiciary has established self-help centers in every circuit statewide, including on Hawaiʻi Island (Hilo and Kona). These centers are staffed by volunteer attorneys, along with AmeriCorps members and Legal Aid Society of Hawaiʻi staff, who provide limited legal information — not legal advice — to help self-represented litigants identify the right forms and understand court processes. This is the most direct in-person resource available to Third Circuit pro se litigants.
- Interactive Self-Help Forms
The Judiciary’s Hawaii Self-Help Interactive Forms tool is available statewide including to Third Circuit filers. It asks a series of questions and auto-generates the correct court documents, rather than requiring you to fill out static PDFs from scratch — helpful if you’re unsure which version of a form applies to your situation.
- eCourt Kōkua and JEFS E-Filing
eCourt Kōkua lets you look up the status of your own Family Court civil case online.
The Judiciary Electronic Filing and Service System (JEFS) allows electronic filing and service, which can reduce the number of in-person trips to the courthouse — a meaningful convenience for litigants on a large, rural island. As of September 13, JEFS requires multi-factor authentication to log in.
- Divorce Law in Hawaiʻi Seminars (Statewide, Available via Zoom)
Although sponsored by the Family Court of the First Circuit, the monthly Divorce Law in Hawaiʻi seminar is streamed on Zoom and open to residents statewide, including the Third Circuit. It’s a free, one-hour session covering custody and visitation, child support, property division, alimony, and the difference between contested and uncontested divorce. 2026 marks the program’s 25th year. I highly recommend everyone contemplating a divorce attend this!
Language Access and ADA Accommodations
Third Circuit litigants can request interpretation services in a wide range of languages through the Judiciary’s Language Access Services, and ADA accommodations through the ADA Coordinator at adarequest@courts.hawaii.gov.
On the Percentage of Pro Se Divorce Cases in the Third Circuit
I want to be straightforward here: I could not find a published, official statistic breaking out the percentage of Third Circuit divorce cases specifically that involve one or both parties self-represented. Here’s what does and doesn’t exist:
The Judiciary’s Family Court statistical tables (the most detailed public caseload data I could locate) break divorce filings down by circuit and by contested versus uncontested status, but they do not report representation status — that is, whether a party appeared with or without an attorney.
The Hawaiʻi Access to Justice Commission’s 2025 Annual Report discusses a “Divorce Navigator” pilot project in development, intended to help litigants through the divorce process, and notes ongoing work assembling a resource guide for divorce and custody cases — but it doesn’t cite a Third Circuit-specific self-representation rate.
Nationally, family law self-representation is very high — one widely cited industry figure puts it at 72% of family law cases involving at least one self-represented party — but that’s a national aggregate, not a Hawaiʻi or Third Circuit figure, and I’d caution against treating it as a stand-in for local data.
Hawaiʻi has been independently ranked highly (6th nationally in a recent Justice Index, and previously ranked 1st for self-represented litigant support) for its self-help infrastructure, which is indirect evidence that self-representation is common enough statewide to justify the investment — but again, this isn’t a hard percentage.
If you need an actual number for the Third Circuit specifically, your best bet is to contact the Third Circuit Family Court Clerk’s Office directly, or file a request with the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary’s Office of the Administrative Director of the Courts, since that level of case-level detail isn’t in any published report I could locate.
Bottom Line
Hawaiʻi Island’s Family Court has real infrastructure for pro se divorce litigants — forms, a self-help center, online filing and drop-off options, free seminars, and mediation pathways. But if your case is contested or complicated, you may need to consult with an attorney.
The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this post does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Judy S. Howard. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change over time, and the application of law to any particular situation requires individual legal analysis. If you need legal advice, please consult a licensed attorney directly.