Mississippi Divorce Laws: Residency, Waiting Period, Custody and Support

The chancery court can hear a divorce only if one spouse has been an actual, good-faith resident of Mississippi for 6 months before filing. A service member stationed and living in Mississippi with a spouse is treated as a resident if they were living in the state when they separated. If the evidence shows someone moved to Mississippi to get a divorce, the case must be dismissed.

Mississippi has a no-fault ground, irreconcilable differences, but only on a joint complaint of both spouses or a complaint where the other spouse was personally served or signed a written waiver of process, and not if the other spouse contests it (unless the contest is withdrawn). There are also twelve fault grounds: natural impotency; adultery; a penitentiary sentence; willful, continued and obstinate desertion for one year; habitual drunkenness; habitual and excessive drug use; habitual cruel and inhuman treatment, including spousal domestic abuse; mental illness or intellectual disability at the time of marriage unknown to the other spouse; an existing marriage to someone else; the wife's pregnancy by another man at the time of marriage unknown to the husband; prohibited family relationship; and incurable mental illness with at least three years of institutional treatment.

A complaint for divorce on the ground of irreconcilable differences must be on file for 60 days before it can be heard. The statutes reviewed set no waiting period for fault-based divorces.

Spouses who agree can divorce on irreconcilable differences by a joint complaint (or one spouse's complaint with personal service or a written waiver of process). If they file a written agreement on child custody and support and property rights that the court finds adequate, it can be made part of the judgment, and after 60 days the case can be taken as proved without testimony. If they agree to divorce but not on everything, both can sign a written consent letting the court decide the specific issues they cannot agree on.

When granting a divorce, the court may make orders for the maintenance and alimony of either spouse as it finds equitable and just, considering the circumstances of the parties and the nature of the case, and may require security for payment. The court may later change these orders. An interest as an heir of a living person or under a third party's will is not counted as property or an asset for alimony purposes. The statute sets no formula or list of factors.

Custody is awarded according to the best interests of the child, as joint physical and legal custody, joint physical or joint legal custody with the other type to one parent, or sole custody to one parent (or to a third person if both parents are unfit or have abandoned the child). In an irreconcilable differences divorce, joint custody may be awarded on application of both parents; in other cases, on application of one or both. There is a presumption that joint custody is in the child's best interest when both parents agree to it. If both parents are fit, the court may consider the preference of a child 12 or older about which parent to live with, and must explain on the record why the child's wishes were or were not followed.

Mississippi uses a percentage-of-income model based on the paying parent's adjusted gross income: 14% for one child, 20% for two, 22% for three, 24% for four, and 26% for five or more. Adjusted gross income is gross income from all sources minus taxes, Social Security and mandatory retirement contributions, and certain other support obligations. The guideline is a rebuttable presumption; a court may depart from it only with a written or on-the-record finding that it would be unjust or inappropriate. No official online calculator was found.

A marriage may be annulled for causes existing at the time of the ceremony: incurable impotency; adjudicated mental illness or incompetence (a suit for an incompetent spouse must be brought within 6 months of the marriage); failure to meet marriage license requirements if the couple never lived together; and, unless the marriage was later ratified, a party's lack of age or understanding to consent, physical incapacity, consent obtained by force or fraud, or the wife's pregnancy by another man unknown to the husband. Suits on the last two kinds of grounds must be filed within 6 months after the ground is or should have been discovered.

No, not for marriages formed after April 5, 1956. Since then, a marriage is valid only if the couple obtained a marriage license and the marriage was performed by an authorized person; otherwise it is void. Common-law marriages formed before April 5, 1956 are not affected.

When a court awards custody of a child to one parent, ends one parent's rights, or a parent dies, that parent's parents may ask the court for visitation. Other grandparents may petition if they had a viable relationship with the child and the parent or custodian unreasonably denied visitation, and visitation is in the child's best interests. A viable relationship means the grandparent supported the child financially for at least 6 months, had frequent visits including occasional overnights for at least 1 year, or cared for the child while a parent was in jail or on military duty. If the parents show financial hardship, the court must order the grandparents to pay the parents' reasonable attorney's fees.

The duty to support a child ends when the child is emancipated. Unless the support judgment says otherwise, emancipation happens when the child turns 21, marries, joins the military full-time, or is convicted of a felony and sentenced to two or more years. The court may also find a child emancipated earlier if the child is 18 or older and stops full-time school enrollment (unless the child is disabled), or moves out, sets up independent living, gets a full-time job and stops school before 21, or lives with another person without the paying parent's approval. Emancipation does not erase past-due support.

Child support services are provided by the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS), Division of Child Support Enforcement. MDHS links to Quick Apply on the state's ACCESS portal for applications. A parent applying for services pays a $25 application fee unless they receive a state-supported benefit such as SNAP, TANF or Medicaid. A 'locate only' application is free; if the other parent is found, you can pay the $25 fee to pursue a support order.

MDHS can enforce support through income withholding (including wages, workers' compensation, retirement and other payments), withholding from unemployment benefits, interception of federal and state tax refunds, contempt of court (which can lead to jail until a set amount is paid, after other remedies have been tried), credit bureau reporting (after a payment is at least 60 days late, with advance notice), freezing and seizing bank and credit union accounts, and suspension of state-issued licenses such as driver's, hunting and professional licenses when a parent is one or more months behind, misses a payment plan payment by 30 days, or ignores a child support subpoena or warrant. Parents who owe $2,500 or more will have their passport revoked or application denied.

Support can be changed only by a court order. Parents have the right to request an MDHS review every three years from the date the order was entered or last modified; reviews on that three-year cycle do not require proof of a substantial change in circumstances. Either parent may ask for a review sooner if circumstances warrant, but then a substantial change must be shown, such as a big change in the paying parent's income, increased needs as children get older, or special health needs of the child or a parent. Reviews are requested with the MDHS review questionnaire forms, and both parents get notice of the results and a chance to agree or disagree before a court approves the final order.

A chancellor may, on reasonable notice, hear requests for temporary custody of children (and temporary alimony and child support) while a divorce is pending, including while holding court anywhere in the chancery district.

The Mississippi State Department of Health Vital Records office does not keep divorce records. For a $17 fee it offers a five-year search of county divorce indexes (January 1, 1926 to June 30, 1938, and January 1, 1942 to the present) to find the county, book and page where a divorce was recorded; not all divorces are on file. A certified copy of the divorce decree must be obtained from the Chancery Clerk in the county where the divorce was granted.

Apply in writing to the circuit clerk of any Mississippi county. Both applicants swear to the application, which lists their names, ages and addresses, their parents' names and addresses, and witness signatures. Proof of age is required, such as a birth certificate, driver's license, school record, military ID or discharge, tribal ID, or other official document, which the clerk examines and keeps a copy of. Applicants under 21 must also provide parental (or guardian) consent and affidavits of age from a parent, guardian or next of kin. The clerk may not issue a license if an applicant appears intoxicated or, because of mental illness or intellectual disability, does not seem to understand the application.

An unmarried adult, a married person whose spouse joins (or who does not live with the spouse), or others where the court finds it in the child's best interest may adopt by sworn petition in the chancery court of the county where the petitioner lives or where the child lives or was born. Mississippi courts generally have jurisdiction if the child or the prospective adoptive parent lived in the state for at least six consecutive months before filing (or other listed grounds apply). The petition must include a doctor's or nurse practitioner's certificate on the child's condition. A home study must be completed before placement, except that the court may waive it for a stepparent, relative or foster-to-adopt adoption. The parents must consent (no earlier than 72 hours after birth) or be served, and a child over 14 must consent or be personally served.

Stepparent adoptions use the same chancery court petition. The required home study does not apply to a stepparent or relative petitioner, and the court may decide no home study is needed; the court may still order an investigation and report. The child's other parent must consent by sworn consent or be made a party by service of process, and a child over 14 must consent or be personally served.

Anyone interested in a minor's welfare, including the minor, may petition the chancery court to appoint a guardian; the petition explains why guardianship is in the minor's best interest and names the proposed guardian. A hearing is set, and summons must be served at least 7 days before it on each parent who can be found, the minor if 14 or older, and anyone who had primary care of the child for at least 60 days in the prior six months. The court may appoint a lawyer for the minor on request of a minor 14 or older.

The court may appoint a guardian for an adult who lacks the ability to meet essential requirements for physical health, safety or self-care because the adult cannot receive and evaluate information or make or communicate decisions even with supportive services or technological assistance, or has a mental illness or intellectual disability and cannot care for himself or herself. The court grants only the powers needed, must encourage maximum self-determination and independence, and must consider less restrictive alternatives. An emergency guardian may be appointed for up to 60 days (extendable once) to prevent substantial harm.

Unmarried parents may sign a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity on the state form, offered at the hospital or birth attendant within 24 hours of birth; once both signatures are notarized and it is filed with the Bureau of Vital Statistics, it is a full determination of parentage. A signer may rescind within the earlier of one year or the date of a court proceeding about the child in which the signer is a party; during that year the alleged father may request genetic testing through the Department of Human Services. After that, it can be challenged only for fraud, duress or material mistake of fact. A paternity case may be filed by the mother, father, child or a public agency until the child turns 21 (unless emancipated), and the court must order genetic testing on motion.

A person petitions the chancery court (or the chancellor in vacation) of the county where the petitioner lives to change his or her name.

The chancery court of the county where a minor lives may remove the disability of minority. For a nonresident minor who owns Mississippi real estate, the chancery court where the land is may remove the disability only as to that real estate, letting the minor deal with it as if 18. Separately, people 18 or older (who have not yet reached the age of majority) can enter binding contracts, residential leases and utility agreements, and can sue and be sued in their own names.

The Mississippi Judiciary posts a guide, "How to File an Irreconcilable Differences Divorce Case in Mississippi," for people who prepared their divorce papers at a legal clinic. The documents for an agreed (irreconcilable differences) divorce are a Civil Cover Sheet, a Joint Complaint for Divorce, a Property Settlement Agreement, a Judgment of Divorce, and, with minor children, an Affidavit Under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). Both spouses sign the joint complaint and settlement agreement before a notary, and the papers are filed with the Chancery Clerk in the county where you file; a hearing cannot be set until 60 days have passed.

The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS), Division of Child Support Enforcement, helps establish paternity, obtain child support orders, locate the other parent, enforce and review orders, and handle interstate cases. Families applying for SNAP or TANF complete the Notice of Child Support Enforcement (MDHS EA Form 941); others submit the Child Support application (Form 675) with a $25 application fee by mail or in person to MDHS-Division of Child Support, 950 E. County Line Road, Suite #G, Ridgeland, MS 39157. Support is paid to MDHS and received by direct deposit or a Way2Go Debit MasterCard; documents can be uploaded at cs-upload.mdhs.ms.gov. Child Support Call Center: 877-882-4916.

Mississippi does not use an income-shares worksheet; the Mississippi Department of Human Services publishes the Mississippi Child Support Guidelines (Miss. Code Ann. 43-19-101 and 43-19-103), which set support as a percentage of the paying parent's monthly adjusted gross income: 14% for one child, 20% for two, 22% for three, 24% for four and 26% for five or more. Adjusted gross income is gross income minus taxes, Social Security and mandatory retirement/disability contributions and existing court-ordered support for other children (and possibly an amount for other children living with the parent), divided by 12. The guidelines are a rebuttable presumption; the court or agency may depart from them with a written or on-the-record finding that they would be unjust or inappropriate.