How to File for Divorce in Mississippi

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.

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.

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.

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.