Domestic violence as grounds for divorce? It’s in lawmakers’ hands.
Domestic violence isn’t a cause for divorce in Mississippi but that could change if a new bill makes it through the Legislature.
Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, has co-authored SB 2703 with Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven. It would add domestic violence as grounds for divorce in the state, giving Mississippi 13 grounds for divorce.
Wiggins and Doty wrote a similar bill last year along with Sen. Jennifer Branning, R-Philadelphia, but it died in committee when a 14th condition was added to the bill — separation.
The separation condition was not in the language of Wiggins’ 2017 bill, but another Coast senator has introduced legislation to add it.
Sen. Sean Tindell, R-Gulfport, has written SB 2483. Tindell’s bill would add “bona fide separation” as grounds for divorce in Mississippi.
Jeff Clark: 228-896-2329, @thejeffclark
Grounds for divorce in Mississippi
▪ impotence
▪ adultery
▪ bigamy — marriage to someone else at the time of marriage
▪ criminal conviction and sentence to any jail time
▪ willful continuous desertion for at least one year
▪ habitual alcohol or drug abuse
▪ habitual cruel and inhuman treatment
▪ wife’s pregnancy by another at the time of marriage without the husband’s knowledge
▪ hospitalization or institutionalization of a spouse for three years due to insanity
Source: divorcenet.com
This story was originally published January 26, 2017 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Domestic violence as grounds for divorce? It’s in lawmakers’ hands.."