The term divorce refers to the dissolution or the legal end of a marriage. There are both fault-based and no-fault based grounds for divorce.

Either you or your spouse must be a resident of Mississippi for at least six months to file for a divorce and the reason for your residency cannot be that it was for the purpose of obtaining a divorce. If you are a member of the armed services or a spouse of a member of the armed services, you are considered residents if the service member is stationed in Mississippi.

You may obtain a divorce based on the following grounds:

• Irreconcilable differences
• Impotence
• Adultery
• Imprisonment
• Alcoholism or drug addiction
• Confinement for incurable insanity for at least three years prior to filing for divorce
• Wife pregnant by another at the time of marriage without husband’s knowledge
• Willful desertion for at least one year
• Cruel and inhuman treatment
• Insanity or idiocy at time of marriage, which was unknown to spouse
• Married to another at time of pretended marriage between the parties
• Related to each other within the degrees prohibited by law

The legal process begins with the filing of a “Bill of Complaint for Divorce” in the Chancery Court for the appropriate county. Filing requirements vary depending on whether you filed for a divorce based on irreconcilable differences or a fault-based divorce. A divorce on the ground of irreconcilable differences may be filed for in the county where either you or your spouse resides if you are both residents of Mississippi. If one spouse is not a resident of Mississippi, divorce should be filed for in the county of the Mississippi resident. A divorce sought on a fault-based ground should be filed for in the county where the nonfiling spouse resides if he or she is a resident of Mississippi, the county where you reside if your spouse is a non-resident of Mississippi, or the county where you and your spouse last lived together if your spouse is still a resident of Mississippi.

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