What are Grounds for Divorce in Mississippi?

Mississippi law provides 12 causes for divorce which include: (1) natural impotency; (2) adultery; (3) being sentenced to any penitentiary; (4) willful desertion for at least one year; (5) habitual drunkenness; (6) excessive use of drugs; (7) habitual cruel and inhuman treatment; (8) mental illness or retardation at the time of marriage that was unknown to the spouse at the time of marriage; (9) being married to someone else at the time of the alleged marriage between the parties; (10) pregnancy of the wife at the time of the marriage by someone other than the husband that was unknown to the husband at the time of marriage; (11) being related to one another by a degree of kindred prohibited by Mississippi law; or (12) incurable mental illness. (Mississippi Code Title 93, Chapter 5 Section 1) A divorce may also be granted on the grounds of irreconcilable differences if the complaint is filed jointly, if personal service is made on the defendant or if the defendant has entered a written waiver of process. (Mississippi Code Title 93, Chapter 5 Section 2)