Child Support
Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce
Mississippi requires you or your spouse to be a state resident for six months before filing for divorce. You can't establish residency for the sole reason of getting divorced. You're considered a resident if you're stationed in there for military duty.
You can get a divorce based on these grounds:
- Irreconcilable differences (no-fault)
- Impotence
- Adultery
- Imprisonment
- Alcoholism or drug addiction
- Confinement for incurable insanity for at least three years
- Wife pregnant by another at the time of marriage without husband's knowledge
- Willful desertion for at least one year
- Cruel and inhuman treatment
- Insanity or idiocy at time of marriage, which was unknown to spouse
- Married to another at time of pretended marriage between the parties
- Marriage is illegal because spouses are close relatives
A divorce case begins by filing a complaint for divorce in Chancery Court in the correct county. The place you file, or venue, depends on the grounds for divorce. For irreconcilable differences, and you're both residents, file in the county where either of you live. If one spouse isn't a resident, file in the resident spouse's county. If it's a fault-based ground, file where the nonfiling spouse lives if he's a resident. If the spouse is a non-resident, file in the county where you reside, or where you last lived together if your spouse is still a state resident.
Dividing the Property
Mississippi is a "title" state, with each spouse retaining his or her property for which he or she has title. In addition, Mississippi has adopted an "equitable division" system of property division.
In deciding how to divide property, a court may consider factors such as spouses' contributions in acquiring property, property value, the needs of each spouse and tax consequences of the division.
Be prepared with information on your property, including when you purchased it, an estimate of value, and details such as account numbers, serial numbers and so forth. You'll be ready to meet with a Mississippi divorce lawyer and it can save you a lot of time and money.
Alimony
A court can order alimony to either party in Mississippi. In deciding whether to award alimony, a court may consider such factors as:
- The spouses' income and expenses
- The spouses' ages, health and earnings
- The spouses' needs, obligations and assets
- Marriage length
- Whether there are children
Child Custody and Visitation
In Mississippi, the court will award either sole or joint child custody based on the best interests of the child. Custody types include joint legal and/or physical custody or sole custody. The law presumes joint custody is in a child's best interest when the parents agree to it. The court may make the following awards:
- Joint physical and legal custody to one or both parents
- Physical custody to both parents and legal custody to one parent
- Legal custody to both parents and physical custody to one parent
- Custody to a third party if the parents have abandoned the child or are unfit
If both parents apply for joint custody, there is a presumption that joint custody is in the best interests of the child.
Child custody may be modified if there is a material and substantial change in circumstances after the last court order, which adversely affects the child's welfare, and a change of custody is in the best interest of the child. A child who is 12 years old or older may state custody preference. However, the best interest standard always controls in the court's decision.
Child Support
In Mississippi, child support may be ordered as the court finds just and equitable. If both parents have income, each parent may be ordered to provide support in proportion to his or her relative financial ability to pay. The child support amount based on Mississippi child support guidelines is presumed correct. A court makes a written finding stating the reason for deviating from the guidelines, such as special needs of the child, medical expenses or fluctuating incomes and expenses.
Child support lasts until each child reaches majority (age 21), becomes emancipated (married or self-supporting) or otherwise self-supporting. The court, not the parents, determines emancipation.
Child support can be modified if there is a substantial and material change in circumstances of one of the parents.
Questions for Your Attorney