This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for dui / dwi in Hawaii, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in Hawaii costs on average $9,700, typically $6,450-$12,900 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $270 to $505 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 3-6 months to resolve. Common related costs include court filing fee ($100-$300) and dmv hearing fee ($100-$200).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $2,500 | $4,400 | $6,300 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $6,450 | $9,700 | $12,900 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $12,500 | $21,250 | $31,200 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$270 – $505/ hour
Median: $370/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>DUI/DWI legal cost has two layers that are easy to underestimate: the attorney fee itself, and the non-attorney costs that follow a conviction or plea. The attorney fee is driven mainly by whether the case goes to trial (far more hours billed) or resolves through a plea agreement, plus complicating factors like BAC level, prior offenses, or an accident with injuries. Many DUI attorneys charge a flat fee for a straightforward first offense and switch to hourly billing once the case becomes contested.
Beyond the attorney, a DUI case typically layers on court fines, a state-mandated alcohol education or treatment program, license reinstatement fees, and — for many drivers — an ignition interlock device with ongoing monthly costs. Insurance premium increases are not a one-time legal cost but often the largest total expense over a 3-5 year period following conviction, which is why the figures on this page reflect legal defense costs specifically, not the lifetime cost of a conviction.
Take a moderate-complexity dui / dwi matter in Hawaii. The recorded median total is $9,700, with reported quotes clustering between $6,450 and $12,900. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $6,200–$8,500 of the Hawaii median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. 2 further recorded fees are not itemised above and are not in that total.
At $9,700, the median dui / dwi cost in Hawaii runs 31% above the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Hawaii carries 3 rows — simple, $2,500–$6,300 at $200–$405/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $6,450–$12,900 at $270–$505/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $12,500–$31,200 at $335–$605/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures put it in the top quarter of the table.
$9,700 is a median, not the middle of the band — $3,250 above the $6,450 floor, $3,200 under the $12,900 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Hawaii ranks 2nd of 51 tracked states for a dui / dwi, inside the highest-cost quarter of the table. The gap to the $7,450 midpoint is $2,250 — 30% — and only 1 states record a higher median.
Washington is only $100 above Hawaii at $9,800, but the drop to Rhode Island at $9,400 is $300 — the state sits at the bottom edge of its group, with clear air beneath it.
Only one other tracked state, Washington, records a median within three percent of Hawaii's $9,700 — a pairing rather than a cluster.
The two measures nearly agree: 1st of 51 on hourly rate at $370 an hour, 2nd on total cost, 1 place apart.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Hawaii |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | $9,800 | +$100 |
| 2 | Hawaii | $9,700 | — |
| 3 | Rhode Island | $9,400 | −$300 |
| 4 | New Jersey | $9,200 | −$500 |
| 5 | Virginia | $8,950 | −$750 |
| 6 | Colorado | $8,900 | −$800 |
| 7 | Delaware | $8,850 | −$850 |
| 8 | Alaska | $8,800 | −$900 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 7 below Hawaii against 1 above. $100 up or $300 down moves Hawaii a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 2nd position is propped up by a thin dui / dwi field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Washington and adding $100 to the $9,700 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Rhode Island, New Jersey, Virginia, Colorado, Delaware: $850.
$100 short of Washington ($9,800), $4,150 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $9,700 median divided by the $370 median rate implies roughly 26 billable hours. The peer median is 27 hours: Hawaii reaches its total in 1 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 4.8x a simple one in Hawaii, but the implied workload only rises 3.2x — 14 hours at $305 becomes 45 hours at $470 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.54x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
In dollars the Hawaii moderate band is wide: $6,450 to $12,900, a $6,450 range, $1,450 wider than the peer-median band of $5,000. End to end that is 17 hours at $370.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $2,156 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $2,361 a month across the 6-12 months recorded for a complex one.
By implied hours Hawaii falls to 41st of 51 at 26 hours, 39 places below its 2nd on cost — the dui / dwi total arriving on less recorded work.
16% up the $6,450–$12,900 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 20 hours at $370 against the 26 the local dui / dwi median implies — 6 hours apart.
| Measure | Hawaii | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $9,700 | 2nd |
| Hourly median | $370 | 1st |
| Implied hours | 26 | 41st |
| Simple median | $4,400 | 1st |
| Complex median | $21,250 | 1st |
Hawaii's $370 median rate is the highest recorded; the next row down is Washington at $330.
No other tracked state records $370 as its median rate, so the figure identifies Hawaii on its own within this dataset.
$9,700 buys 32 hours at $305, 26 at $370, 21 at $470.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $370 |
| 2 | Washington | $330 |
| 3 | New Jersey | $325 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 1st at the simple tier, 2nd at moderate, 1st at complex of 51 — so Hawaii keeps roughly the same relative position whether the dui / dwi is straightforward or contested.
At the simple tier Hawaii records $4,400 and ranks 1st of 51, against a tier midpoint of $3,400.
At the complex tier Hawaii records $21,250 for 1st of 51, against a tier midpoint of $16,350.
$150 separates the simple ceiling of $6,300 from the moderate floor of $6,450, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $12,500 upward. The expensive end of a routine dui / dwi and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Hawaii.
| Tier | Hawaii | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $4,400 | 1st | $3,400 | 14 |
| moderate | $9,700 | 2nd | $7,450 | 26 |
| complex | $21,250 | 1st | $16,350 | 45 |
$4,400 puts Hawaii 1st of 51 on straightforward matters, 1 up on its moderate position, and $1,000 (29%) over the $3,400 tier midpoint.
14 implied hours at $305: 54% of the moderate tier's 26, over 1-3 months.
4 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $4,400, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
$21,250 puts Hawaii 1st of 51 on contested matters, 1 up on its moderate position, and $4,900 (30%) over the $16,350 tier midpoint.
45 implied hours at $470: 173% of the moderate tier's 26, over 6-12 months.
4 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $21,250, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $4,400 |
| 2 | Rhode Island | $4,400 |
| 3 | Connecticut | $4,350 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $21,250 |
| 2 | District of Columbia | $21,100 |
| 3 | California | $20,900 |
$9,700 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in Hawaii, under Divorce, over Immigration. At 73% of Criminal Defense ($13,350).
Hawaii is consistent across practice areas: over the matter types tracked here its rank only moves between 1st (Criminal Defense) and 2nd (DUI / DWI), so its 2nd on dui / dwi reflects a general price level rather than something specific to this matter.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Divorce runs 51% above its own midpoint, while Bankruptcy runs 22% above its own midpoint — 29 percentage points apart. A single "Hawaii is expensive" or "Hawaii is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The largest tracked median in Hawaii is 5.1x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
Every one of the 8 matter types tracked for Hawaii places it in the upper third of its table, which is why the 2nd on dui / dwi is not an outlier.
That places the dui / dwi figure in the 98th percentile of the 51 states tracked here.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $5,050 | $13,350 | $38,050 | 33 | 1st | +31% | — |
| Divorce | $3,750 | $12,900 | $30,200 | 32 | 1st | +51% | — |
| DUI / DWI | $4,400 | $9,700 | $21,250 | 26 | 2nd | +30% | Washington |
| Immigration | $2,550 | $7,150 | $16,050 | 19 | 1st | +51% | — |
| Personal Injury | $1,900 | $6,650 | $20,850 | — | 1st | +28% | — |
| Bankruptcy | $2,150 | $4,400 | $6,550 | 13 | 1st | +22% | — |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,400 | $3,200 | $5,700 | 10 | 1st | +44% | — |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $750 | $2,600 | $7,750 | 7 | 1st | +25% | — |
Simple tier. $4,400 ÷ $305 = about 14 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $2,200 a month. The $5,300 step to the moderate tier is 12 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $9,700 to $21,250 is a $11,550 step, mostly work: 19 more hours at $370 is $7,030, while moving to $470 across 45 hours adds $4,500. Work carries 61%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Rhode Island ($9,400) is $300 light, Washington ($9,800) is $100 heavy — but the $7,450 table midpoint is out by $2,250, 8x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $6,450 is 17 hours at $370; $12,900 is 35. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate dui / dwi, that is 4 to 8 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At Hawaii's own recorded figures, $21,250 buys 4.8 matters at the $4,400 simple median — or, counted in time, 45 implied hours against 14, a factor of 3.2 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Hawaiicourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.