Family Law

No. Mississippi divorce law allows couples to file for divorce on no fault grounds if both you and your spouse can agree before the court that your marriage cannot be repaired because of irreconcilable differences. This standard is essentially the parties not placing any blame on another person, but stating that the marriage just did not work out and the spouses do not get along anymore.

No-fault divorces are the most common by a margin of 90% of all Mississippi divorces. Mississippi no-fault divorces do have some basic requirements, such as residency and waiting period requirements.

Yes, Mississippi law states that one of the spouses must be an “actual bona fide resident of Mississippi for six months before filing for divorce. There are exceptions to the six-month rule for members of the armed services stationed either in Mississippi or Mississippi residents that are in the armed services and are stationed elsewhere in the country.

There is a 60-day waiting period before a divorce can be finalized. The law specifically states, “Complaints for divorce on grounds of irreconcilable differences must have been on file for sixty (60) days before being heard.”

In Mississippi, the law says that there will be an “equitable distribution of property.” This doesn’t mean that the divorce judge will evenly divide the property and give each spouse 50%. It means that a judge will take into account several factors in deciding how much property each spouse should receive when the divorce is finalized.

Under Mississippi child support law the parent who does not have primary custody of the children, must pay a percentage of their adjusted gross income (AGI) to support their children. The specific amount of child support is generally based on the number of children and the amount the non-custodial parent earns.