Matthew operates the Thompson Law Firm, pllc, a Mississippi based Family Law firm emphasizing; Divorce, Child Custody, Child Support, Modification, Contempt and Appeals, handling family law cases throughout Mississippi.
(601) 850-8000 Matthew@bowtielawyer.ms www.BowTieLawyer.ms
Forgot your wallet or purse? No problem. You now have a legal, state issued ID on your phone or mobile device….and, we know you did not forget your phone!
Mobile ID is an app allowing Mississippi residents to maintain a valid, state-issued ID on their device. Mobile ID reports that it is a “highly secure, digitized version of your driver license or state-issued ID, carried in an app on your smartphone”
Mobile ID is endorsed by the Department of Public Safety and the MS Drivers Service Bureau. “Mississippi Mobile ID keeps user data secure and ensures privacy of personal information by only storing information with the state system of record and on the user’s device.”
Mobile ID offers a contactless method for verifying identity. “Mobile ID allows the DPS to push updates to information such as an address change or status update, so verifiers can be confident the identity they are accepting is authentic and up-to-date.”
This appears to be safe, easy and legitimate. Now you can have your ID on you whether you have your wallet or not.
This change involves the time period a non-custodial parent would have to provide child support and certain other child related benefits. It could impact health insurance, extra curricular expenses and school expenses- unrelated to college. The vast majority of other states is 18 or 19 years of age- for age of majority.
Another change is adding a ground for divorce if your marriage is irretrievably broken.
Irretrievable breakdown means that the marriage is broken beyond repair, this quasi-no-fault ground tells a court that at least one spouse wants to end the marriage, which generally should be enough for a judge to grant a divorce.
This is a potentially significant change and would align Mississippi divorce law with 48 other states. This change would significantly streamline the current fault vs. consent requirements.
In June of 2021, the Mississippi Legislature established this task force to study Mississippi’s domestic relations laws and to develop recommendations to the Legislature and the Mississippi Supreme Court to recommend needed changes in MS Family Law.
Members of the task force included;
• Senate Judiciary A Chairman Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula and House Judicial A Chairman Angela Cockerham of Magnolia; • Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Griffis of Ridgeland, Chancellor Troy Odom of Brandon and Chancellor Jennifer Schloegel of Gulfport, appointed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph; • Court of Appeals Judge David Neil McCarty of Jackson, appointed by Court of Appeals Chief Judge Donna Barnes; • attorneys Mark A. Chinn of Jackson, Donna S. Smith of Columbus, A. Regnal Blackledge of Collins and Diandra Hosey of Jackson, appointed by the Mississippi Bar; • attorney guardians ad litem Melissa B. DiFatta of Pascagoula and Lee Ann Turner of Starkville, appointed by the Mississippi Bar; • Division of Child Support Enforcement Senior Attorney J. Michael McCauley of Bay St. Louis, appointed by Mississippi Department of Human Services Executive Director Robert G. Anderson; • Professor Deborah Bell of Oxford, Senior Faculty in Service at the University of Mississippi School of Law, appointed by Dean Susan Duncan; • Professor Shirley Kennedy of Jackson, Director of the Family and Children’s Law Center and Director of Child Advocacy Programs at Mississippi College School of Law, appointed by Dean Patricia Bennett.
Kudos to this fine group of lawyers, judges and academia for much needed changes in MS law.
Matthew Thompson is a family law and defense attorney in Mississippi and welcomes common sense changes in family law.
Woody, from Toy Story, was always someone Andy could count on.
However, Woody is fiction and so is the vast numbers of people you can count on.
Today’s post is not a pessimistic world view, but you can count on five people, maybe.
You can count on your parents, usually. You can count on your siblings, oftentimes. You can count on bestfriends, sometimes. You can count on professionals, reasonably speaking. You can count on your spouse, about half of the time. Anyone else? Don’t count on it.
That co-worker that said the orange shirt looked good on you told your other co-worker it looked like you worked at Orange Julius. That friend from the gym, isn’t so friendly behind your back. That acquaintance from tennis that always smiles, is not smiling when they’re recounting the latest bit of gossip, that they know is not true…
A wise man once said, “If you have no expectations of people, you will not be disappointed.”
Humans are imperfect creatures. We all mess up. Sometimes in big public ways that lend themselves to public scorn, sometimes in private, discreet manners that result in no harm, no foul. However, we all mess up. Remember that.
Matthew Thompson is a family law/civil defense attorney and often gives the advice- prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and you’ll usually end up somewhere in between.
If you find yourself going through a divorce or about to, identify a good lawyer that can represent you, get a recommendation of a good counselor that can help deal with the emotions and drama, and strive to maintain your support system.
Matthew Thompson is a divorce and civil defense attorney and encourages you to have a support system when going through a divorce.
This is said shortly after one party disclosed the dirty details to the child regarding the other parent. Followed by the statement, “they have the right to know.”
They do not have the Right nor the need to know.
This is never appropriate.
But what about that parent, with their righteous indignation, who says, “I do NOT lie to my child?” My response? “What about the Tooth Fairy?
I get a blank stare.
We lie to our children all the time A LiveScience.com article stated it better, “Parents Lie to Children Surprisingly Often.” This article concluded that parent’s lie to protect their child and lie to preserve some semblance of innocence and childhood for their children. These are all good things.
The Tooth Fairy question gets that indignant parent every time. There is no good reason to “tell all” about the other parent’s misdeeds. You should be telling them that the other parents loves them very much. When the kids are older they will realize the truth and appreciate you all the more for allowing them to have a childhood and to love their other parent, even if the other parent did not deserve it.
Matthew Thompson is a Child Custody Attorney in Mississippi and believes sometimes lying to your children is in their best interests.
(601) 850-8000 - - BowTieLawyer.MS 