Tag Archives: financial blackmail

Divorce, Irreconcilable differences, Marriage, Opinion

To Divorce or Not to Divorce; That is the Legislative Question

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At least 2 bills are pending to sort of make Mississippi Divorce Law make common sense…

Senate Bill 2018, Brice Wiggins seeks to make 2 tweaks to family law.

  1. Eliminate the willful and obstinate requirements of Desertion/Abandonment. Current law requires; a spouse’s “wilful, continued and obstinate desertion” for a period of a year is grounds for a divorce. Miss Code Ann. § 93-5-1 (2004).
  2. The New proposed law states, Fourth. * * * Continued * * * desertion for the space of one year.
  3. and adds a 13th ground
  4. 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.

an Identical House Bill also includes the above revisions. HB0496 sponsored by Representative Denton.

Why is this common sense, sort of? 48 other states have true, no fault divorce statutes. Mississippi does not. You can read why that matters here, here and here…

Why is it common sense? The law and legislature cannot make someone be a spouse or partner regardless of the status of the marriage.

Mississippi has proposed these common sense changes every year since I have been paying attention. It ain’t happened yet….

Matthew is a family law and divorce attorney in Mississippi and is in favor of some common sense changes in the law.

Divorce, General Legal, Irreconcilable differences, Opinion

BlackMail is Legal in Divorce – The Law in Mississippi; Promoting Fights Since 1976

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Mississippi law provides for parties to gain a divorce through one of two methods; 1) Agree to the Divorce and all issues, called an Irreconcilable Differences Divorce, or 2) pursue a Fault Based Divorce granted due to the other party’s misconduct. That’s it. Mississippi does not have a true NO FAULT divorce process.

So,what happens if you cannot agree and do not have grounds?

Divorce Blackmail

In the mid 1980’s this issue was pointed out by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

       “Prior to 1976 mature and responsible people who found their marriages irretrievably broken were offered by our law absurd choices…the complaining spouse had to choose between outright perjury and hoping that the chancellor would not strictly enforce the standards of proof legally required to establish one of the twelve grounds for divorce. The other choice…the ‘knock down, drag out’ fight to which the adversary system invariably leads…frequently creating more problems than are solved. Divorce had become a degrading, dehumanizing experience.”

Gallaspy v. Gallaspy, 459 So.2d 283 (MS 1984). Justice James Robertson, Concurring Opinion

       …further improvements in our law are needed. As enlightened and desirable as was the enactment of the Irreconcilable Differences Act in 1976, the job has not yet been completed…[the] Irreconcilable Differences Act–it facilitates, even encourages, financial blackmail…the chancery court has not authority to grant a divorce…unless the parties have reached an agreement…the spouse wanting the divorce or feeling that he or she must obtain a divorce is subject to financial blackmail. A party without fault grounds and no mutual agreement has only two options; (1) knuckle under and accept less than favorable financial terms or (2) go to court and try to obtain a contested divorce and an accompanying alimony and support award, when, as she and her lawyers surely must have known, she really did not have “grounds.” Id.

Justice Robertson actually proposed adding a 13th fault ground of Irreconcilable Differences, which if proven would allow the Court to award an ID divorce to one party, even over the objection of the other party and would allow the Court to rule upon the support issues.

However, Mississippi law actually perpetuates Blackmail.  If your spouse won’t agree and you don’t have fault grounds then you are STUCK.

There have been a number of bills proposed to end this divorce conundrum, but so far none has gained any traction.  Let me know your thoughts.  Do you support allowing for a true No Fault divorce, or an irreconcilable differences divorce after a period of separation?

Matthew Thompson is a Family Law attorney and is in favor of amending the Irreconcilable Differences divorce statute.

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Divorce, General Legal, Irreconcilable differences, Opinion

Divorce, Two Ways

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In Mississippi it can be very difficult to be awarded a divorce.  There are basically two ways to get a divorce.

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The most common way is Irreconcilable Differences.  This is what is referred to as “no fault.”  However, MS is NOT a true no fault state, so in order to get a divorce on Irreconcilable Differences both parties have to agree to the divorce AND all the terms of the divorce, including; custody, visitation, support, alimony, division of the assets and debts.  If there is no agreement to all of the issues there may not be a divorce.

The other way to get a divorce in MS is based upon Fault Grounds.  In order to get a divorce on Fault Grounds you have to sue based upon fault grounds and prove your case.  Most commonly fault includes; adultery, cruelty, drug use, drunkenness, and abandonment.  There are a few other Fault Grounds, but are rarely used; incest, bigamy, insanity, etc.

It can be a frustrating circumstance when you and the other party cannot agree to all issues and neither party has grounds.  You may be stuck.  In this instance one party may resort to divorce blackmail, which is alive and well in MS.

Matthew Thompson is a Family Law attorney and cautions that divorce 2-ways can be caused by 3-ways.

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You may also contact Matthew with your family law case, question or concern at (601) 850-8000 or Matthew@bowtielawyer.ms

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