Divorce in Mississippi

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  • Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce

  • Dividing the Property

  • Alimony

  • Child Custody and Visitation

  • Child Support

    Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce

    Either you or your spouse must be a resident of Mississippi for at least six months to file for a divorce and the reason for your residency cannot be that it was for the purpose of obtaining a divorce. If you are a member of the armed services or a spouse of a member of the armed services, you are considered residents if the service member is stationed in Mississippi.

    You may obtain a divorce based on the following grounds:

    • Irreconcilable differences
    • Impotence
    • Adultery
    • Imprisonment
    • Alcoholism or drug addiction
    • Confinement for incurable insanity for at least three years prior to filing for divorce
    • 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
    • Related to each other within the degrees prohibited by law

    The legal process begins with the filing of a "Bill of Complaint for Divorce" in the Chancery Court for the appropriate county. Filing requirements vary depending on whether you filed for a divorce based on irreconcilable differences or a fault-based divorce. A divorce on the ground of irreconcilable differences may be filed for in the county where either you or your spouse resides if you are both residents of Mississippi. If one spouse is not a resident of Mississippi, divorce should be filed for in the county of the Mississippi resident. A divorce sought on a fault-based ground should be filed for in the county where the nonfiling spouse resides if he or she is a resident of Mississippi, the county where you reside if your spouse is a non-resident of Mississippi, or the county where you and your spouse last lived together if your spouse is still a resident of Mississippi.

    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 the marital property, judges will consider a number of factors, including:

    • Spouse's substantial contribution to the accumulation of property
    • Degree to which a spouse has previously expended or disposed of any marital property
    • Market and emotional value of the property in question
    • Value of any non-marital or separate property
    • Tax consequences of the division
    • Extent to which property division may eliminate the need for alimony or any other future friction between the spouses
    • Needs of each spouse

    Separate property is retained by the owning spouse. Separate property includes the following:

    • Assets you had before you married if you kept that property separated from property acquired during the marriage
    • The income produced by a separate property investment as long as it hasn't been "commingled" mixed together with marital property
    • Property you inherit from your family during your marriage if it was willed exclusively to you and you did not commingle it with marital property during the marriage

    It is important to collect all the information you can about all your property, including when you purchased it, approximately how much it is worth and details such as account numbers, serial numbers and so forth. Collecting this information before you see a Mississippi divorce lawyer 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' health and earnings
    • The spouses' needs, obligations and assets
    • Presence of any children
    • Spouses' ages
    • Standard of living during the marriage
    • Any tax consequences
    • Any marital fault
    • Any wasteful dissipation of assets
    • Length of the marriage

    Child Custody and Visitation

    In Mississippi, the court will award either sole or joint child custody based on the best interests of the child. 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. A child who is 12 years old or older may choose the parent that he or she wants to live with.

    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 a preference as to which parent he or she wants to live with, but the best interest of the child controls whether or not a change in custody will occur.

    Both parents are permitted to have liberal telephone contact with their minor child at the expense of the calling parent. Both parents are also allowed to have reasonable postal access to their child. Visitation schedules vary depending on the age of the child. Once a child enters first grade, the non-custodial parent has alternating weekends, certain holidays and summer visitation. Visitation is not conditioned upon payment of child support, so a denial of visitation for nonpayment of child support may be considered contempt.

    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. Mississippi has specific child support guidelines.

    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.

    Related Web Links:
    - Mississippi Domestic Relations
    - Mississippi Child Support Guidelines
    - Mississippi Child Support Enforcement Division
    - Mississippe State Profile
    - Family Law: Selecting a Good Lawyer
    - Divorce - General message board for more help
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