Manley v. Manley (Mississippi 2023)
A parent must provide clear and convincing evidence in order to receive credit for payments made outside of the terms of a child support order. The mother filed a contempt action against the father for failure to pay child support. The father testified he had paid for the children’s expenses including car payments, tags, car…
Read MoreHornsby v. Hornsby (Mississippi 2022)
A parent requesting a modification based on a reduction in income must show a corresponding change in his or her lifestyle. The father, a self-employed lawyer, requested a modification of child support. The chancery court denied his request. The father appealed. The appellate court affirmed. The father argued the chancery court improperly granted a motion in limine that excluded relevant evidence. However, the father made no proffer of evidence during the trial and, on appeal, failed to specify any specific evidence that was excluded.
Read MoreBaumann v. Baumann (Mississippi 2020)
A parent must plead for child support. This puts the other parent on notice of the support claim. In this case, the final divorce decree ordered the father to pay back child support starting January 2015. The father filed a motion for new trial or, alternatively to amend the judgment with respect to the back…
Read MoreCadigan v. Sullivan (Mississippi 2020)
Parents will be held to their extra-judicial agreements regarding child support. A Florida divorce decree awarded physical custody of the child to the father and set the mother’s child support. Several years later, the parents made an extra-judicial agreement that they would share custody of the child and not exchange support. The parties moved to…
Read MoreIvory v. Albert (Mississippi 2020)
A child support obligation may be terminated due to a child’s clear and extreme actions. The father filed to end his support obligation to the child. He alleged the child would not see him and didn’t want a relationship with him. The trial court ended the support. The mother appealed. The appellate court reversed the…
Read MoreDixon v. Olmstead (Mississippi 2020)
Proof of a substantial change of circumstances isn’t required when a IV-D agency petitions for a modification under the three-year review statute. However, the record must contain evidence of the parent’s income. The father filed to terminate support and his parental rights to a minor child. The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) filed a…
Read MoreWilliamson v. Williamson (Mississippi 2020)
Chancellors have discretion on the determination of adjusted gross income (AGI) for child support. As long as there is no abuse of that discretion, the child support determination will not be overturned on appeal. The father appealed the final divorce order arguing the chancery court improperly calculated his AGI. The court of appeals upheld the…
Read MoreYoung v. Air Masters Mechanical Inc, (Mississippi 2020)
If a parent’s rights to a child have been terminated, that child is not considered a dependent under the Workers’ Compensation Act. The decedent died in the course of his work. He left no survivors. The mother petitioned the Commission to pay child support arrears from the decedent’s workers’ compensation death benefits. The decedent was…
Read MoreKrohn v. Krohn (Mississippi 2020)
A court must approve any custody change. Without a court order, there may be no right to support. In this divorce, the mother was awarded primary custody of the child. The father was ordered to pay support and alimony. Post-divorce litigation regarding custody and child support began almost immediately. The father lost his high paying…
Read MorePumroy v. Sisco (Mississippi 2020)
A child’s emancipation is grounds for modification of a child support order. The mother and father, who had three children, divorced. The father was ordered to pay support for the three children. The father was ordered to pay support for their three children. This order was subsequently modified, and the child support provision stated that…
Read MoreBest v. Oliver (Mississippi 2020)
To modify a child support order, there must be a material change in circumstances that wasn’t foreseeable when the original order was established. While an increase in a child’s expenses is foreseeable, the amount of the increase is not. The mother and father divorced, and the father was ordered to pay support for their only…
Read MoreDescher v. Descher (Mississippi 2020)
For parents with high incomes, the child support guidelines allow for a deviation when applying the guidelines isn’t reasonable. The parents filed for divorce. The father owned and/or co-owned businesses that earned millions of dollars in revenue each year. The chancery court determined his monthly adjusted gross income to be $71,377.00. The mother worked for…
Read MorePope v. Fountain (Mississippi 2019)
In a paternity proceeding, all necessary parties must be joined. The child who was the subject of this case had a presumed and biological father. The biological father filed to establish paternity, and the mother responded. The presumptive father was not joined as a party to the action even though he was ordered to pay…
Read MoreSpencer Diaz v. Department of Human Services, State of Mississippi and Lora M. Ledet
A technical error will not render a paternity acknowledgement void. When the mother and father met, the mother was already pregnant. The father signed a paternity acknowledgement several months after the child’s birth. Several years later, the parents separated, and the state of Mississippi filed to establish support. The father filed to disestablish paternity, claiming…
Read MoreHerrin v. Perkins (Mississippi 2019)
A parent should object to the sufficiency of a contempt pleading at trial. The father and mother agreed to visitation and amounts for current and back child support for their child and a judgment for the mother’s attorney fees. A year later, the mother filed a contempt petition. The petition included the amounts due for…
Read MoreMartin v. Borries (Mississippi 2019)
A voluntary reduction in income is not a substantial change of circumstances for a modification of child support. A change must be unforeseen. At the time of the parents’ divorce, the father worked overseas and earned a substantial amount of money. After the divorce, his job ended, and he moved back to Mississippi and found…
Read MoreThomas v. Thomas (Mississippi 2019)
A parent is entitled to credit against monthly child support for Social Security benefits paid to a child because of a parent’s disability. The parent is also entitled to credit against arrears for a lump sum received after the arrears have accrued. The mother and father filed for divorce. To calculate support, the court determined…
Read MoreSchimpf v. Hardy (Mississippi 2019)
A non-custodial parent should receive credit for child support paid pursuant to an interim order. By a decree of divorce, the mother was granted custody of two children, and the father was ordered to pay support. The father filed to modify custody and support and for contempt. The mother answered and filed a counterclaim. An…
Read MoreYoung v. Air Masters Mechanical Inc. (Mississippi 2019)
Overruled by Young v. Air Masters Mechanical Inc., 2020 Miss LEXIS 96 (2020). A child support lien is valid even if the children have been subsequently adopted. The father and mother were married and had two children. They divorced, and the father was ordered to pay support. The mother remarried, and her new husband adopted…
Read MoreGunter v. Gunter (Mississippi 2019)
Courts may depart from the child support guideline amount but must make specific findings to support the departure. The final decree of divorce in this case ordered the father to pay guideline child support, plus half of the children’s private school tuition, daycare expenses, and unreimbursed medical costs. The father appealed, arguing this was an…
Read MoreVandenbook v. Vandenbrook (Mississippi 2019)
If a parent’s adjusted gross income exceeds $100,000, the court must make findings to support applying the guidelines. The father appealed the award of child support in the final divorce decree. The father earned more than $100,000 annually through a combination of salary, bonuses, and the exercise of stock options. To determine his adjusted gross…
Read MoreWilkinson v. Wilkinson (Mississippi 2019)
A prima facie case for contempt in a child support case is made once a parent entitled to support shows the other parent has not paid. Then, the burden of proof shifts to the paying parent to defend the nonpayment. The parents divorced, and support was set in the decree. They reconciled for a period…
Read MoreJones v. Jones (Mississippi 2019)
A parent cannot be found in contempt for failure to pay support and found to have overpaid child support at the same time. The parties divorced in 2006, and while a wage withholding was entered, it was never issued. The father paid support directly to the mother, twice a month. In 2009, a modified wage…
Read MoreMcCall v. McCall (Mississippi 2019)
When divorcing parents agree a property settlement, including child support, the court will treat the settlement like any other contract. The parents in this case filed for divorce and signed a property settlement, in which they agreed to the amount of monthly child support and a lump sum child support payment. Subsequently, the father filed…
Read MoreWilliams v. Williams (Mississippi 2019)
The Court may impute income to a parent for child support purposes when the parent’s reported income is clearly inadequate to support his or her lifestyle. In this case, the parents filed for divorce in 2013. The parents had three children, but only one was still a minor. With regards to child support, the mother…
Read MoreHubbard v. Ratliff (Mississippi 2018)
A child who enters the military is considered emancipated and child support stops. In this case, the mother filed a contempt action that alleged the father failed to pay support and to comply with other provisions of the divorce decree. The father counter-petitioned and asserted that the child had emancipated in the spring of 2016.…
Read MoreBruton v. Bruton (Mississippi 2018)
If a child support award is above the guideline amount, the Court must justify the award. In his case, the original divorce decree required the father to pay support plus day care and 60 percent of the children’s private school tuition and fees. Two years later, the father filed for a modification. The modified order…
Read MorePettersen v. Pettersen (Mississippi 2018)
The court has discretion to set support for the time period before a divorce is filed. If support is set, it can only go back to one year before the filing of the action. The parents in this case filed for divorce. They had three children, two of whom were emancipated, and one who was…
Read MoreBurgess v. Williamson (Mississippi 2018)
A parent cannot challenge the court’s jurisdiction over an initial order in subsequent proceedings. The father, the custodial parent, filed a motion to hold mother in contempt for failure to pay support. The mother filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. The Chancery Court denied the motion and entered an order finding mother…
Read MoreCampbell v. Campbell (Mississippi 2018)
Modification of a child support order is only appropriate when there is a substantial change of circumstances that was not reasonably anticipated at the time of an agreement. The father appealed an upward modification of his child support. The terms of the original decree included a per child support amount and specified the conditions under…
Read MoreStrickland v. Strickland Day (Mississippi 2018)
An anonymous sperm donor is not the legal father of a child and has no parental rights. A same-sex couple married and had a child using artificial insemination. One partner carried the child. The parents divorced, and the Chancery Court found that the child was born during the marriage, but not of the marriage. While…
Read MoreHeisinger v. Riley (Mississippi 2018)
A Mississippi court can modify the support provisions of a properly registered child support order. The mother registered an Iowa child support order in Mississippi. She then requested a modification, which the chancellor denied. The chancellor found that the mother had not showed the order met the requirements for a modification under Iowa law. The…
Read MoreHarden v. Scarborough (Mississippi 2018)
A child support calculation should reflect the amount of income a parent is actually earning. It shouldn’t be based on a speculated decrease in income. A temporary order set child support for the father based on his income as a teacher and a coach. By the time of trial, the father had resigned his coaching…
Read MoreGipson v. Jackson (Mississippi 2018)
If a court deviates from the presumptive amount of child support, it must make findings as to why the application of the guidelines is unjust or inappropriate. The father appealed the Chancery Court order that increased child support by $200. The order did not contain any specific findings as to father’s adjusted gross income or…
Read MoreMcKinney v. Hamp (Mississippi 2018)
A supersedeas bond, authorized by Mississippi Rule of Appellate Procedure 8(a), will not stay enforcement of an order for prospective, monthly child support pending appeal. A signing bonus for a parent-athlete is part of the parent’s gross income for child support purposes. A court has the discretion to modify an order back to the date…
Read MoreDixon v. Dixon (Mississippi 2018)
A Mississippi statute gives courts discretion to emancipate a child and terminate child support under certain circumstances. A judgment on arrears clears a parent of contempt so as to allow for a modification of support but the parent still has to show a substantial change in circumstances. The father appealed the chancery court order that…
Read MoreSmith v. Doe (Mississippi 2018)
A party must move to set aside a final judgment within six months if the party is alleging misconduct by the other party as the grounds for the set aside. In the case at hand, the father and mother settled their divorce. The terms included a higher than guideline amount of child support and father…
Read MoreMitchell v. Moore (Mississippi 2017)
The dismissal of a paternity complaint is not a jurisdictional bar to the refiling of the complaint. In this heirship action, relatives of the deceased challenged his child’s status as his heir, arguing that the paternity order was void. The Department of Human Services filed the initial paternity complaint in 2007 and then dismissed it…
Read MoreBlack v. Black (Mississippi 2017)
When a parent’s adjusted gross income exceeds $100,000 per year, the Court must make a finding as to whether the application of the guidelines is reasonable. The guideline child support award would be 20 percent of the parent’s adjusted gross income. The father in this case is a surgeon whose adjusted gross income is more…
Read MoreCopeland v. Copeland (Mississippi 2017)
A court can terminate child support when the children’s clear and extreme behavior makes the parent-child relationship impossible. The father, the non-custodial parent in this case, petitioned the chancery court to award him custody of his children and/or for other general relief. The chancery court denied the modification but found the children’s behavior toward their…
Read MoreDennis v. Dennis (Mississippi 2017)
A person who voluntarily agrees to pay support may be held to that obligation under a quasicontractual theory. In this case, the great-grandparents were the custodians of a child. The great-grandparents subsequently divorced and in the settlement agreement, the step great-grandfather, who had no biological connection to the child, agreed to pay child support. Several…
Read MorePlummer v. Plummer (Mississippi 2017)
When a parent’s income varies from year to year, the court must use its discretion in calculating the monthly income for child support. In this child support modification action, the Chancellor averaged the father’s high and low adjusted gross income to reach his income for child support. The appellate court found this appropriate. The Chancellor…
Read MoreMississippi Dep’t of Human Services v. Porter (Mississippi 2017)
UIFSA does not require an initiating tribunal or registered child support order for a responding tribunal to have subject matter jurisdiction to establish a support order. Additionally, UIFSA calls for the responding state to apply its laws and procedures to the order, including its age of majority. The state of Illinois requested Mississippi’s assistance in…
Read MoreCollins v. Mississippi Dep’t of Human Services (Mississippi 2017)
A parent’s obligation to support a child financially does not end even when their relationship has deteriorated due to extreme behavior from the child, especially when the parent also had a role in the decline of the relationship. The mother in this case appealed a child support order obligating her to pay support for her…
Read MoreAli v. Ali (Mississippi 2017)
When setting child support for a high-income parent, a strict application of the guidelines may not be reasonable. The court must make findings to support its decision. In this case, the chancery court found that applying the child support guidelines to an income greater than $100,000 was not reasonable and set child support based on…
Read MoreIn re CT: Taylor v. Timmons (Mississippi 2017)
When a substantial change of circumstances occurs, a court can modify a child support order. If the court deviates from the new presumptive amount, written findings must support the deviation. In this case, the father appealed his modified order, which increased his support amount from $300 to $1,500 per month. He argued inadequate findings. The…
Read MoreVincent v. Rickman (Mississippi 2017)
If a parent willfully fails to follow the terms of a child support order, the court can find the parent in contempt. Contempt is appropriate if the order is final and the terms are clear. The appellate court upheld the contempt ruling against the father, finding that he failed to comply with the unambiguous terms of…
Read MoreHolman v. Holman (Mississippi 2017)
A parent must create a record to support the amount of arrears requested. The mother in this case failed to support her claim, and it was denied. The mother included medical bills in her arrears request, which was not appropriate. She also claimed the father had missed several child support payments, but did not question his…
Read MoreCarter v. Davis (Mississippi 2017)
The court has discretion to count payments made directly to a child as child support. The pivotal question is would not giving credit unjustly enrich the custodial parent. The father in this case made direct payments to his daughters while they were in college, and the court gave him credit against his arrears for those…
Read MoreHamilton v. Young (Mississippi 2017)
A Mississippi court does not have jurisdiction to modify the child support provisions of an out-of-state divorce decree unless neither of the parents reside in the issuing state or the parties agree in writing to transfer jurisdiction. The issuing state retains jurisdiction until one of these conditions is met. In this case, a Mississippi chancery…
Read MoreDavis v. Davis (Mississippi 2017)
A parent who requests a modification of a support order must show a substantial change of the circumstances that existed at the time of the court order. The change must be unforeseen and happen after entry of the order. In this case, the father was convicted of a felony after the order was entered. Finding…
Read MoreThomas v. Crews (Mississippi 2016)
Substantial and credible evidence must support a child support award. The chancellor found credible evidence that father was the sole member of a limited liability company, he earned a salary from the company, the business had turned a profit, and the business had ongoing operating expenses. The chancellor used this evidence to set father’s income…
Read MoreVance v. Miss. Dep’t. of Human Services (Mississippi 2016)
A child support obligation continues when a child is placed in foster care. The obligation vests in the child and will be enforced on behalf of the designated payee. MDHS is that designated payee when the parent was receiving AFDC benefits at the time of the child’s removal and had assigned their right to support…
Read MoreSmith v. Williams (Mississippi 2016)
A parent who requests reimbursement for birth and other child-related expenses incurred prior to the establishment of a support order must provide proof of the expenses, and the proof must be admitted into evidence. The mother in this case did not provide sufficient proof of her expenses, and the court did not order reimbursement.
Read MoreHarris v. Porter (Mississippi 2016)
A child’s decision to attend college may be a material change in circumstances that warrant modifying child support. By statute, additional expenses can be added to a support amount, such as college tuition. The father in this case claimed the obligation to pay for half his child’s college expenses would seriously affect his lifestyle; however,…
Read MoreMosher v. Mosher (Mississippi 2016)
A child support issue must be properly raised in the lower court, or it is procedurally barred from appellate review. The lower court has an obligation to review all child support agreements to ensure the support amount is adequate and sufficient to support the child.
Read MoreOster v. Ratliff (Mississippi 2016)
A father argued his two children emancipated for purposes of ending child support because they had moved out of their mother’s home into an apartment and were employed full time. The Court found the children were full-time students, not full-time employees, and depended on their parents for financial support.
Read MoreStallings v. Allen (Mississippi 2016)
A parent can be found in civil contempt of court for a failure to provide dental insurance and to pay a portion of uncovered medical expenses as ordered.
Read MoreBurnham v. Burnham (Mississippi 2015)
An agreement for child support that is chancellor–approved will not be reviewed on appeal if the agreement was not presented to the trial court for review.
Read MoreCaldwell v. Atwood (Mississippi 2015)
A court cannot outright forgive child support arrears.
Read MoreLowrey v. Simmons (Mississippi 2015)
A child support obligation will not be terminated just because the relationship between the child and the obligor parent has deteriorated.
Read MoreBranch v. Branch (Mississippi 2015)
Adjusted gross income for income tax purposes and adjusted gross income for the purpose of calculating child are not necessarily the same amount.
Read MoreAnderson v. Anderson (Mississippi 2015)
A stipulated child support agreement will be treated as though court-ordered, and the amount will not be reviewed for a modification unless there is a material change of circumstances that occurred after the agreement was entered.
Read MoreLewis v. Pagel (Mississippi 2015)
Modification of a support order can be considered as long as the arrears have been reduced to judgment.
Read MorePrice v. Snowden (Mississippi 2015)
The Court of Appeals reversed Chancery Court decision finding father was not in contempt of court.
Read MorePrice v. Snowden (Mississippi 2015)
The Court of Appeals reversed Chancery Court decision finding father was not in contempt of court.
Read MoreDeckard v. Deckard (Mississippi 2015)
Court of Appeals upheld lower court finding of contempt against father for failure to pay child support appropriate, that father was not entitled to a retroactive modification of the support amount, and that father had no proof of any extra judicial agreement to lower the support amount.
Read MoreArtz v. Norris (Mississippi 2015)
Court of Appeals held finding of contempt against father was appropriate, father could not unilaterally modify court order and make child support payments directly to child without the court’s approval, and father was liable for his payment toward the child’s medical insurance premium even though mother’s new husband employer paid for the insurance.
Read MoreArtz v. Norris (Mississippi 2015)
Court of Appeals held finding of contempt against father was appropriate, father could not unilaterally modify court order and make child support payments directly to child without the court’s approval, and father was liable for his payment toward the child’s medical insurance premium even though mother’s new husband employer paid for the insurance.
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