Every other week, somebody walks into my office with a printout from the internet and a look on their face like they just found buried treasure.

“It says right here. 50-50. The law says 50-50.”

And I take a breath, because what I am about to say is going to disappoint them a little, and I hate that part of the job.

Mississippi is now having this exact conversation. The state legislature is considering HB 1662, a bill that would create a rebuttable presumption of joint custody with equally shared parenting time. If that sounds like a mouthful, it is. If it sounds like it means every kid automatically splits the week down the middle, it does not.

I know, because Tennessee already passed its version. It took effect in July 2024. I practice in both states. And what actually happens on the ground is more complicated than any headline.

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What the Presumption Actually Means

A “rebuttable presumption” is one of those phrases lawyers love because it sounds definitive and is actually the opposite. It means the court starts with the assumption that joint custody and equal time is in the child’s best interest. But either parent can present evidence that it should not be. And the standard for rebutting it is not high. It is preponderance of the evidence, which is a fancy way of saying “more likely than not.”

So the presumption is a starting line. Not a finish line.

In Tennessee, judges still look at the same sixteen factors under T.C.A. § 36-6-106 they always have. Who has been doing the day-to-day parenting. Who can provide stability. Who is more likely to foster a relationship with the other parent. The presumption did not replace any of that. It just changed where the conversation starts.

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Where It Matters and Where It Doesn’t

Where the presumption helps is in the cases where both parents are good, involved, capable people and the old system would have defaulted to giving one parent the bulk of the time just because that is how it had always been done. Those cases exist. I have seen them in Shelby County courtrooms for twenty years. The presumption forces the conversation to begin with both parents on equal footing, and that is not nothing.

Where it does not help is in the cases people are worried about. Domestic violence. Substance abuse. A parent who has never changed a diaper suddenly demanding equal time because a statute says they can. The Mississippi bill (like Tennessee’s law) allows the presumption to be overcome with evidence, and it does not apply when there is an active order of protection. But proving abuse takes resources. It takes documentation. It takes a lawyer. And for some families, that is a burden that falls harder on the person who can least afford it.

That concern is legitimate. I am not going to pretend otherwise.

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What I Tell Clients in Both States

Whether you are filing in Memphis or across the state line in DeSoto County, the same truth applies. A presumption does not parent your children. A schedule does not raise them. What matters is what you can show a judge about who you are, what you have done, and what arrangement actually serves your kids.

William W. Jones IV has been handling custody cases in Tennessee and Mississippi for over two decades, and the best parenting plans I have ever seen were not built by legislatures. They were built by parents who put the child’s life at the center of the conversation instead of their own frustration.

(That is free advice, by the way. My retainer covers the more specific kind.)

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Lawyer Bill’s Advice

A presumption is not a guarantee.

It is a starting point.

And a starting point only matters if you know where to go from there.

If you are the parent who has been showing up every day, document it.

If you are the parent who wants to show up more, start now.

The law changed the default. It did not change what judges care about.

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If you have questions about custody in Tennessee or Mississippi, reach out to William W. Jones IV at midsouthdivorce.com/ask-lawyer-bill/.