Mississippi-Specific Essay Subjects
Mississippi-specific essay questions reward knowing the state's court structure and the statutory rules that diverge from general doctrine.
Courts and procedure
- The Supreme Court is the court of last resort; the Court of Appeals handles assigned appeals. Circuit courts hear law matters, felonies, and civil actions; chancery courts hear equity, divorce, alimony, custody, land title and partition, estates, and injunctions.
- The Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil practice in state courts and are modeled on the federal rules; the Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure govern appeals, generally requiring a notice of appeal within 30 days of entry of judgment.
Family law
- Divorce is chancery business. Fault grounds include adultery, desertion, habitual drunkenness or drug use, cruel and inhuman treatment, and bigamy. Irreconcilable differences requires both parties' consent, a period of separation, and a court finding.
- Child support follows the statutory percentage guidelines (14% for one child, 20% two, 22% three, 24% four, 26% five or more of adjusted gross income), rebuttable only with written findings.
- Alimony forms: temporary, periodic, lump sum, rehabilitative; lump sum is not modifiable. Emancipation is at age 21.
Wills and estates
- A will must be signed by the testator and attested by two credible witnesses; a self-proving affidavit supplies a presumption of validity.
- Intestate succession, renunciation, and will contests are chancery matters.
Worked example
A client wants a divorce on irreconcilable differences, but the spouse refuses to consent. The chancery court cannot grant the divorce on that ground; counsel must plead a fault ground, prove it, and then litigate support under the statutory guidelines.
Traps
Filing a divorce in circuit court; assuming the court can grant an irreconcilable-differences divorce over objection; applying the support guidelines without required deviation findings; forgetting the age of majority for support termination.