Category Archives: General Legal

General Legal, Opinion

NOT SO FAST! How Mississippi House Bill 1089 Affects Radar Laws for Sheriffs

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Mississippi House Bill 1089

There is proposed legislation to allow the Sheriff’s department to have the use of radar. It may come as a surprise that most Sheriff’s departments do not and are not allowed to use radar speed sensing devices.

The current law is based, in part, on the concern and stigma of speed traps as revenue generators for unincorporated areas.

The propsoed legislation seeks to AMEND SECTION 63-3-519, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE ANY COUNTY SHERIFF OR DEPUTY SHERIFF TO UTILIZE RADAR SPEED DETECTION EQUIPMENT UPON THE APPROVAL OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

  The Current law states;

     63-3-519.  It shall be unlawful for any person or peace officer or law enforcement agency, except the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, to purchase or use or allow to be used any type of radar speed detection equipment upon any public street, road or highway of this state.  However, such equipment may be used:

          (a)  By municipal law enforcement officers within a municipality having a population of two thousand (2,000) or more according to the latest or a previous federal census upon the public streets of the municipality, but in no case where the latest federal census population for the municipality is less than one thousand five hundred (1,500) * * *.

          (b)  By any college or university campus police force within the confines of any campus wherein more than two thousand (2,000) students are enrolled * * *.

          (c)  By municipal law enforcement officers in any municipality having a population in excess of fifteen thousand (15,000) according to the latest federal census on federally designated highways lying within the corporate limits

…

Proposed, new legislation includes:

          (e)  By any county sheriff or deputy sheriff upon the county roads of their respective county with board of supervisors approval.  Such approval shall be voted on and approved by a majority vote, and the approval shall be spread upon the board minutes of the county.

    …

     SECTION 2.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.

Will this pass? Is this about public safety and protecting and serving? Is this necessary? Or, is this about generating revenue? Will it be abused if passed?

Matthew Thompson is a family law and civil litigation attorney in Mississippi and is keeping an eye on proposed legislation this session.

Divorce, General Legal, Opinion

Don’t Make Your Problems BIGGER!

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We all run into problems from time to time and sometimes we are even responsible for those problems…

But, one great practice tip is to not make those problems bigger.

If you are doing the WRONG thing, stop! If you are making bad decisions, make better decisions. If your judgment is compromised, acknowledge it and choose better.

Doubling down on the bad and wrong decisions is not a good path forward.

Also, your decisions may be hurting other people. Think about that. A problem you created or you contributed to may hurt someone else. It may hurt an innocent, unintended person.

Its never too late to do the right thing.

Child Custody, Divorce, General Legal, Irreconcilable differences

Two Family Law BILLS Died in Committee

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Mississippi legislation kicked around 2 significant ideas for changes in Family Law. Both failed to become law in the State.

This “was the year” for Irretrievable Breakdown, Mississippi’s answer to No Fault Divorce.

In MS, you do NOT have a right to a divorce. You either have to have fault grounds that you can prove to the satisfaction of the Chancellor or have an agreement with your spouse to ALL issues. 48 other states have a No Fault Divorce process. MS does not.

Thirteenth. Upon application of either party, the court may
grant a divorce when the court finds there has been an
irretrievable breakdown of the marriage and that further attempts
at reconciliation are impractical or futile and not in the best
interests of the parties or family.

Secondly, a Joint Custody bill was proposed. There were several iterations of this legislation, but the gist of it was that the Court was to assume that Joint Physical Custody was in the best interest of the child when parents could not agree (and, even if they could) and if the Court found Joint Physical Custody was not in the best interest of the child it had to state why. (There were some issues with the proposed legislation as it was drafted, but this Bill found some traction and was discussed and bandied about for weeks…ultimately to no avail).

(2) * * * (a) There shall be a presumption, rebuttable by a
preponderance of evidence, that joint custody and equally shared
parenting time is in the best interest of the child. If the court
does not grant joint custody and/or equally shared parenting time,
the court shall construct a parenting time schedule which
maximizes the time each parent has with the child and ensuring the
best interest of the child is met.
(b) Upon petition of both parents, the court may grant
legal and/or physical custody to one parent.

Both bills failed and there are limited changes to MS Family Law. A blog for another day.

Matthew Thompson is a Family Law Attorney in MS and is in favor of some common sense changes in Mississippi Law.

Divorce, General Legal, Opinion

Potential Change in Divorce Law?

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Another legislative session another attempt to align MS family law with 48 other states…a change that is needed.

Pending legislation seeks to make changes to existing divorce law in Mississippi. House bill No. 1046 proposes to to amend Sec. 93-5-1 to delete the requirement of willful and obstinate from the ground of Desertion and provide a new 13th ground of Irretrievable Breakdown.

Thirteenth. Upon application of either party, the court may
grant a divorce when the court finds there has been an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage and that further attempts at reconciliation are impractical or futile and not in the best interests of the parties or family.

Fourth. * * * Continued * * * desertion for the space of one (1) year.

This is needed in MS law as we are 1 of 2 states in the Country that does not recognize a person’s right to a divorce. Mississippi law has created a financial blackmail niche area of practice. This occurs when a party does not have provable grounds for divorce and the other party will not consent. It happens more than you’d think.

Also, opponents indicate this will somehow open divorce floodgates in Mississippi. I contend it will not. MS has the 13th highest divorce rate in the country despite the most stringent laws.

Similar efforts have previously failed every year. Below are just a few blogged here.

2023, 2022, 2021, 2015…

Matthew Thompson is a family law attorney in Mississippi and supports common sense changes in Family Law in Mississippi.

General Legal, Opinion

Don’t let the “RIGHT” result prevent you from doing it the RIGHT way.

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Oftentimes we hear that the ends justify the means. However, in the legal world it does not…or should not.

Cutting corners and taking shortcuts should not be the roadmap to success. The law can be complex, convoluted and sometimes contrary to good common-sense. However, the laws, rules, processes and procedures are there to protect you, be it as the litigant, the attorney and even the Judge.

When liberties are taken with the rights of other’s – even for the “right” reasons – it impugns the integrity of the Court, the trust in the system and offends Constitutional safeguards we swore to uphold and defend.

If you are a lawyer and/or a judge and you are wondering if this is pointed at you, the answer is yes.

Follow the law. Strictly. Follow the procedure. Honestly. Demand compliance. Demand competency. 99 times out of 100 you can still achieve the same result, but when you take the easy way out it begins the slippery slope into fiefdoms and dictatorships that degrade a society, degrade the people’s confidence in the Court and actually contributes to rigged systems.

General Legal, Opinion

MC Law to Honor Professor Larry Lee- a Game Changer

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Larry Lee has built a career on making a difference. He was a collegiate basketball athlete, a law partner with Dossett, Magruder & Montgomery, served as interim Dean of the Law School and a fulltime Professor of Law.

MC Law professor Larry Lee.

Larry Lee, long-term Professor of Law at Mississippi College School of Law, retired in 2021 from full time education. Despite his retirement, he has continued to support MC Law.

Having taught tax law for over forty years, Prof. Lee prepared young lawyers to handle tax law matters regarding general tax code regulations, unfiled returns, wage garnishments, property liens, and compromises with the IRS, all as part of a complex field.

Prof. Lee served as the interim Dean of the Law School and accomplished such feats of admitting me as a law student!

Prof. Lee also had the privilege of being a part of the Game of Change. This game is hailed as the NCAA matchup that defied the color barrier, between Mississippi State University and the Loyola Ramblers, an integrated team, during the civil rights era.

The Mississippi State team “snuck” out of the state to play the integrated team, Loyola, in Michigan. A matchup opposed by Mississippi elected officials. Lee, served as a decoy, at the airport expecting to get arrested for even attempting to travel out of state for this game. In a recounting of the story, Lee said upon arrival at the airport, the sheriff sent to serve an injunction had not arrived. The “decoys” phoned the starters, who made there way to the airport to depart for the game.

MSU was defeated in a hard fought game 61-51. Despite that loss, MSU won the SEC that year, and finished ranked #6 in the country. Loyola made a run in the tournament, finishing the season at 24-2, and a #3 ranking in the country.

refer to caption
Loyola captain Jerry Harkness about to make a layup over opposing guard Stan Brinker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Change

Today is the 51st anniversary of that game and an appropriate time to announce that MC Law is honoring Prof. Larry Lee on March 21, 2024 at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

Stay tuned for details and information on how you can be a part of celebrating Larry Lee.

General Legal, humor

Valentine’s Special…

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Happy Valentine’s Day from your favorite Divorce Attorney!!

alienation, Child Custody, Child Support, Divorce, General Legal, Irreconcilable differences, Opinion

What Does it Look Like when you are Not Ready for Divorce?

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I have written several times on sometimes just not being ready. I have seen multiple instances of person just not being ready…

What are the signs of Not Being Ready?

Things are moving TOO Fast.

The divorce process is actually fairly slow in Mississippi. It is typically at least 60 days with the average cases taking closer to 90 days, if uncontested. If contested, the case could take 6-18 months. A few take even longer!

Things are TOO Emotional.

Of course divorce is highly emotional. In some respects you may never “get over it.” However, the best results require that you treat the financial aspects as a business transaction. If you are so focused on the emotion, getting even or some other aspect, you’ll regret it later.

It makes NO Sense.

If you are in a brain fog and cannot explain in plain terms what the lawyer has explained to you, you may not be ready. I don’t expect you to know every legal term of art, but there are some very important concepts you need to understand.

It’s TOO Hard.

Getting to simple agreements is a Herculean effort. When commonsense has left the station.

These are just a few indicators of Not being ready. Be on the lookout for these signs in your spouse and/or yourself. Recognizing these issues will allow for them to be better handled.

Matthew Thompson is a Divorce and Custody lawyer in Mississippi and warns you that negotiating a divorce when you are not ready may result in regret.