Overview: Getting a Divorce in Mississippi
GETTING A DIVORCE IN MISSISSIPPI
In Mississippi, there are three ways to get a divorce:
Parties can agree to all of their issues — how assets will be divided, whether alimony will be awarded, child custody, and child support — and then get a no-fault (“Irreconcilable Differences”) divorce.
Parties can agree to get a no-fault divorce but ask the judge to decide any issues that they cannot resolve themselves.
One party can prove that he or she is entitled to a divorce on a fault ground.
The Mississippi Rule for Getting A Divorce
Mississippi is unusual among the 50 states because it requires parties to agree upon a no-fault divorce. The overwhelming majority rule in the United States is that if a spouse wants a divorce, he or she can have one, no questions asked, and without the other spouse’s consent.
This simply is not the case in Mississippi. [South Dakota is the only other state that follows the same rule as Mississippi.] To get a divorce without the other spouse’s written consent, one must convince the judge that the other spouse is guilty of a fault ground, discussed below.
The consequence of this rule is that, if the other spouse is (a) not guilty of a fault ground, and
(b) refuses to agree to a no-fault divorce, not only will a divorce not be granted, but neither will the remedies that flow from divorce: property division and alimony. This cannot be stressed enough.
If there is no divorce, there will be no property division and no alimony. Some judges carry this rule even further and say that there will also be no award of child custody, visitation, or child support, even if the spouses/parents are separated.
Read on to learn more about various grounds for divorce:
No-Fault Divorce (“Irreconcilable Differences”)
