How to Check Your Record on eCourt Kōkua — Hawaii Court Records Self-Audit

Why eCourt Kōkua Matters for Your Background

eCourt Kōkua is the Hawaii Judiciary's public online case search system. It's the database that commercial background check companies, landlords, and employers search when they screen you. If your old court case appears here — even a case that was dismissed years ago — it will show up on a background report.

Running a self-audit on eCourt Kōkua before applying for jobs, apartments, or professional licenses is the single most practical step you can take to know exactly what the world sees when it searches your name.

How to Search eCourt Kōkua

Navigate to the Hawaii State Judiciary's website (courts.state.hi.us) and access the eCourt Kōkua case search. The search is free and doesn't require an account.

Search by name. Enter your first and last name. The system returns all case records matching that name across every circuit — criminal, civil, family court, traffic. Use middle names and name variations to catch entries filed under different spellings.

Search by case number. If you know your case number from old court documents, this is the most precise search. It pulls up the specific docket with every entry.

Read the docket entries carefully. What you're looking for is the final disposition line — the entry that shows how the case ended. Common disposition codes:

• "Dismissed" or "Nolle Prosequi" — charges were dropped; you're eligible for administrative expungement
• "Acquitted" — found not guilty; eligible for expungement
• "Deferred Acceptance" — if you see a subsequent "Discharge and Dismissal" entry, you completed the deferral program and are eligible for expungement one year after the date on that written discharge and dismissal order
• No final entry — the case shows as open or pending, which is the ghost arrest problem

What to Do If Your Expunged Case Still Appears

Since July 1, 2025, the HCJDC automatically transmits approved expungement orders for cases eligible for court sealing under HRS § 831-3.2(f) to the judiciary, which then removes the case from eCourt Kōkua. But there are scenarios where a case you thought was cleared is still showing:

Pre-July 2025 expungements. If you received your HCJDC expungement certificate before the automated system took effect, the court-sealing step was manual. You needed to file a separate written request with the originating court. If you never filed that second request, your case is still on eCourt Kōkua despite the state considering the arrest record expunged.

Multi-charge or multi-defendant cases. Under HRS § 831-3.2(f), the court cannot seal a case if you were charged with multiple offenses and at least one charge isn't covered by the expungement certificate, or if a co-defendant's records in the same case haven't been expunged. In these situations, the court issues an "Order Denying Sealing of Case" and the entire case file stays visible.

Processing delays. Even for post-July 2025 expungements, there's a lag between the HCJDC issuing the order and the court processing the removal. Check back periodically.

Verifying Removal After Expungement

After your expungement is processed, run another eCourt Kōkua search to confirm the case has been removed. A properly sealed case should return no results — not a redacted entry, not a "sealed" label, but simply nothing. The Supreme Court of Hawaii's ruling in State v. Rogan (2025) established that expunged records must be completely removed from the online database.

Keep in mind the Rogan ruling's other side: while the case is removed from eCourt Kōkua, the physical paper file remains accessible for in-person review at the physical courthouse. This means a professional court runner or determined searcher can still find the original documents at the clerk's office — but automated background check companies won't.

When eCourt Kōkua Shows No Record But Your Background Check Does

Private screening companies buy court database snapshots in bulk. If a company cached your eCourt Kōkua record before the expungement was processed, their internal database may continue reporting the case for months. In this situation, send your HCJDC expungement certificate to the screening company with a formal FCRA dispute to force a correction.

Our Hawaii Expungement Guide includes a post-approval verification checklist that walks through confirming removal from eCourt Kōkua, challenging inaccurate commercial screening reports, and handling the legacy pre-2025 manual court-sealing step if your expungement predates the automated system.

See more Hawaii guides →