Tag Archives: politics

Child Custody, General Legal, Opinion, Uncategorized, Visitation

What’s all the hoopla about with Youth Court, CPS & Law Enforcement, of late?

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There have been numerous stories about State and Federal lawsuits, sheriffs’ concerned about children and the role of Child Protection Services in Mississippi.

The shortest version is as follows (these are my personal words/opinion…)

All of Youth Court is confidential, by law. An Order is required in many instances for details to be disclosed to others involved and almost all disclosures were subject to a specific statute, MCA 43-21-261. (There are a few exceptions for emergencies, mandatory reporting and the like). However, most disclosures had to either be ordered or allowed, by the language of 261.

On July 1, 2026, MCA 43-21-261 was repealed. That means it no longer existed and, legally, as if it never did. This repeal was passed by the legislature over 2 years ago with a deadline of July 1 of this year. The legislature intended to address it in a later session and attempted to this session with 11 different proposals addressing Youth Court, but all died without any new provisions being passed.

The problem was that it left Youth Court Judges, CPS, and other entities without a means to legally disclose the information it had about children, with a few exceptions for mandatory reports.

The Office of the State Public Defender sought to have this matter addressed in Federal Court and brought in the Administrative Office of the Courts. But, all the essential players were not named in the Federal action…

Youth Court Judges sought to fix it by ordering blanket/standing Orders providing for some disclosures, but every Order was different. They did not cut and paste 261, instead picking out the parts that particular Youth Court wanted and deleting parts they did not want. This, essentially, had the Youth Court judges legislating what the law is…

CPS sought relief of the Mississippi Supreme Court, knowing it would be impossible to comply with 82 different Orders from 82 counties, and that it needed legal means to disclose its findings to help protect children.

Don’t fret, however. The problems has been fixed, first by an Order of the MS Supreme Court amending the Rules of Youth Court procedure and later by an extraordinary session of the Mississippi Legislature.

Was it messy? Yes. Scary/stressful? Very. Over? Yes, for now, but not forever. The new law repeals in 2029….

However, the system is working in the means it was supposed to with an Executive branch (CPS) doing its part, the Judicial branch (MS Supreme Court) doing its part and the Legislative branch (MS Legislature) addressing all of these concerns.

SENATE BILL NO. 2001

AN ACT TO ENACT THE MISSISSIPPI YOUTH COURT REFORM ACT OF 2026 (you can read the new law(s) here.)

Matthew Thompson is Child Welfare attorney in Mississippi and supported Youth Court reform.

divorce

Joint Custody Bill being Jointly Considered by House and Senate in Mississippi

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Joint Custody is en vogue. A law requiring equally shared parenting time is back before the Mississippi legislature…

House Bill 1662 includes the following; There shall be a rebuttable presumption that joint custody and equally shared parenting time is in the best interest of the child.

If the court grants joint custody and equally shared parenting time, the court shall construct a parenting time schedule which maximizes the time each parent has with the child and ensures the best interest of the child is met.


(ii) The presumption created in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph shall be rebuttable by a preponderance of the evidence.

A court that does not award joint custody with equally shared parenting time shall document the reasons for deviating from the presumption.

The Joint Custody bill also includes a Child Support formula:


(b) To calculate child support for joint custody with equally shared parenting time, unless the court determines a deviation from this paragraph is in the best interest of the child, the court shall:

(i) Calculate a child-support award under the guidelines of Section 43-19-101 for each parent as if each parent was the obligor;


(ii) Calculate the difference in the two (2) awards by subtracting the lesser award from the larger award; and


(iii) Order the difference in the two (2) awards to be paid by the parent who has the higher adjusted gross income to the parent with the lower adjusted gross income.


(c) Upon petition of both parents, the court may grant legal and/or physical custody to one (1) parent without documenting a reason for deviation.

Senate Bill 2027 tracks the House Bill.

This iteration was kicked around last year and was scuttled at the last minute.

Matthew Thompson is a child custody attorney in Mississippi and does think Joint Custody could be in the best interest of the child in certain circumstances…

Adoption, Child Custody, General Legal, Opinion

Proposed ban on Sharia Law in Family Law in Mississippi; a Solution looking for a Problem.

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It’s that time of year again. Proposed law/legislation is being kicked around by the State Legislature.

House Bill No. 11, proposed by Representative Arnold, seeks “TO PROHIBIT THE APPLICATION OF SHARIA LAW IN DIVORCE AND
CHILD CUSTODY CASES; TO AMEND SECTION 11-63-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THE PROHIBITION AGAINST USE OF SHARIA LAW IN COURT ORDERS.”

To date, this scribe is unaware of any Court’s using, applying or considering Sharia law in the State of Mississippi, as same would be contrary to the MS Constitution anyway.

Of interest, the Bill includes that a Mississippi Court “shall not enforce a foreign law that violates the Mississippi Constitution, any laws of this state, the United States Constitution, any laws or ratified treaties of the United States and the territories of the United States * * *.”

The Bill likewise bars enforcement of ” (b) Any order by a court, arbitrator, administrative agency or other adjudicative, mediation or enforcement authority that seeks to enforce foreign law in violation of paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) shall be void.”

So far, it’s basically saying MS Court’s will not honor foreign laws or Orders that violate MS law or Constitutional law or are based on factors contrary to MS law/US Constitutional considerations. Makes sense.

However, the Bill includes one other tidbit that could prove to have unintended consequences, “In Sections 11-7-301 through 11-7-309 “foreign judgment” means any judgment, decree or order of a court of the United States * * *. The term “foreign judgment” shall not mean
or include any judgment, decree or order from any jurisdiction outside of the United States or its territories, or any judgment from another state or territory of the United States that applies law from a jurisdiction outside of the United States or its territories.

This last paragraph seems to invalidate any “foreign judgment” that was not secured within the U.S.

Why do you care? Is that foreign Adoption, which is a Judgment, valid?

That “foreign” quickie Divorce in Haiti or the Dominican Republic? Are they valid?

Up and until this Bill, Mississippi and the United States have routinely recognized foreign judgments IF they were obtained in a procedural and substantive manner consistent with that foreign entities jurisdiction and law. This is called Comity and it’s a necessary legal concept.

Does HB. No. 11 unintentionally seek to overturn Comity? I argue that it certainly may and that’s no laughing matter!

Matthew Thompson is a Family law attorney and has handled multiple matters that involve foreign decrees and clients from all over the world.

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.