Divorcio

Grounds are legally acceptable reasons for divorce. The judge may grant you a “no-fault” divorce based on irreconcilable differences if:

• both you and your spouse agree to get a divorce under this ground; or
• you file a divorce petition and your spouse does not respond to the petition or does not appear in court (defaults).

A judge may grant you a fault-based divorce if you can prove that your spouse:

• is naturally impotent;
• cheats on you (adultery), unless you and your spouse planned the cheating in order to be eligible for a divorce, or you and your spouse lived together as a married couple after you found out about the cheating;¹
• is sentenced to any state penitentiary (jail/prison) without pardon;²
• deserts you for one year;
• is habitually drunk;
• excessively and habitually uses opium, morphine, or other similar drugs;
• habitually treats you in a cruel and inhuman way, including domestic abuse. Note: You can establish domestic abuse through your reliable testimony that the abuser:
  • caused or attempted to cause bodily injury;
  • caused or attempted to cause physical threat to put you in fear of immediate serious bodily harm; or
  • engaged in a pattern of behavior against you of threats or intimidation, emotional or verbal abuse, forced isolation, sexual extortion or sexual abuse, or stalking or aggravated stalking;
• had a mental illness or intellectual disability at the time of your marriage and you did not know about it at the time;
• was already married to someone else when you “married” each other;
• was pregnant by someone else when you got married and you did not know about the pregnancy;
• is related to you; or
• is incurably mentally ill. Note: Your spouse must have been under regular treatment for the illness and confined in an institution for at least three years before filing for divorce, even if s/he was released and then returned back to the institution.Two doctors, including a state superintendent of a state psychiatric hospital or member of the institution where your spouse lives must make affidavits that s/he has an incurable mental illness.¹

¹ Miss. Code § 93-5-1
²Daughdrill v. Daughdrill, 180 Miss. 589 (1938)