Mark A. Chinn Law Blog

Mississippi is in the lead nationally in extending the support obligation to age 21 (instead of 18) and in requiring parents to pay for college if the child has the ability to go and the parents have the ability to pay.  However, the right to go to college is not absolute.  A child must show proper respect to a parent if he wishes to take advantage of the expensive opportunity of a college education. This law first evolved with a case in 1980 where a child has refused to speak... Read More

Almost every divorce involves either the transfer of ownership or use of the marital home.  What most people don’t know is that the transfer of either title or use of the marital home triggers a loss of homestead exemption and they need to reapply.  See: Read More

Mississippi law in Section 93-16-3(1), provides for grandparent visitation:
(1) Whenever a court of this state enters a decree or order awarding custody of a minor... Read More

There are many times when clients will bring documents, records, phone bills, tax returns, or financial statements in to the office with their comments or observations written directly on the document.  This is fine if the comments are on a copy, but it can be very problematic if the comments are on an original.  If the comments are on an original, it may require a lot of extra effort to obtain another original, or, it may render the document unusable in court.  So, the next... Read More

It is quite common for parties to negotiate life insurance coverage for divorce agreements, but it seems quite uncommon to provide for disability insurance.  Of course, this insurance is not as common as life insurance and may prove too expensive for many couples, but insurance agents tell us disability is much more probable than we would... Read More

As a divorce lawyer, I am seeing social networking take an ever-increasing role in my cases.  Years ago, I first encountered this when opposing counsel produced a copy of a dating service posting by my client listing himself as single.  Since that time, I have seen many instances of people posting themselves as single, when in fact, they are not.... Read More

The Jackson- based Clarion Ledger reported a marked rise in identity theft in Mississippi.  In 2007, the Jackson metro area wasn’t even ranked in identity theft complaints, but last year, it ranked 31st.   Read More

Your spouse has left the home.  You don’t know if they have a lawyer or whether divorce is imminent, but you are afraid or concerned because they have free access to the home.  What is the law, and what do you do?

Until a court order is... Read More

A lot of my clients talk with their spouses directly about settlement of divorce disputes.  Many times my clients want to know what to say.  I have developed a simple script for them to follow.  The simplicity is important, because they need to be able to remember the script under pressure. Here it is:
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For years, I have had a philosophy of not entering into a custody action without some supporting testimony from a mental health professional.  Often, there are issues reported by the children that can be brought out through the testimony of the mental health professional and one doesn’t want the other party to know this is being investigated.  We might also not want to subject the children to retaliation or brain washing prior to the evaluation.  So, there are good... Read More