Mississippi Divorce Petition

Filing a Divorce Petition in Mississippi

A Mississippi divorce begins with a Complaint for Divorce filed in the Chancery Court of the county of proper venue. Before the petition is valid, at least one spouse must have been an actual bona fide resident of Mississippi for the six months next preceding the commencement of the suit (Miss. Code Ann. § 93-5-5). The filing spouse is the Plaintiff and the responding spouse is the Defendant; when both agree to end the marriage on no-fault terms, they file together as Joint Complainants. Mississippi uses the word 'divorce', not 'dissolution of marriage.'

Choosing Your Grounds

Mississippi maintains a dual-track grounds regime. The single no-fault ground is 'irreconcilable differences' under Miss. Code Ann. § 93-5-2. Alternatively, a spouse may allege one of the twelve fault-based grounds listed in Miss. Code Ann. § 93-5-1, including adultery, habitual cruel and inhuman treatment, habitual drunkenness, and desertion. Importantly, Mississippi does not require the parties to live separate and apart for any period before filing, and separation by itself is not a recognized ground, so the grounds you plead, not time apart, drive the case.

The 60-Day Waiting Period

In an irreconcilable-differences divorce, the complaint must be on file at least sixty (60) days before the chancellor may hear it (Miss. Code Ann. § 93-5-2). This cooling-off window gives spouses time to finalize terms. To conclude an irreconcilable-differences case, the parties must submit a signed Marital Dissolution/Property Settlement Agreement resolving property, support, and any custody issues before the court will grant the divorce.

Required Documents

The core papers are a Complaint for Divorce (a Joint Complaint for Divorce in an irreconcilable-differences case) and a Rule 4 Summons for service on the Defendant. In a joint no-fault filing, a Marital Dissolution/Property Settlement Agreement is mandatory. You can prepare and organize your Divorce Petition here: (/legal-document/divorce-petition).

Dividing Property

Mississippi is an equitable-distribution state, meaning marital assets are divided fairly rather than strictly equally. Unusually, this rule is established by case law, Ferguson v. Ferguson, 639 So. 2d 921 (Miss. 1994), rather than by a distribution statute. Because there is no dedicated code section codifying the Ferguson factors, chancellors weigh contributions, needs, and conduct on the case record, making a well-documented settlement agreement especially valuable.

Costs and Court

Expect a chancery-clerk filing fee of roughly $150 to $200, which varies by county chancery clerk. All divorce matters proceed in Chancery Court, Mississippi's court of equity, where the chancellor reviews the pleadings, confirms the six-month residency, verifies the 60-day period has run, and approves the parties' agreement.

Putting It Together

To file successfully, confirm six-month residency under § 93-5-5, select irreconcilable differences (§ 93-5-2) or a § 93-5-1 fault ground, prepare the Complaint, Summons, and, if no-fault, a Property Settlement Agreement, pay the clerk's fee, and observe the mandatory sixty-day wait before the Chancery Court finalizes your Mississippi divorce.