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The Mid-South Divorce Guide: Tennessee and Mississippi


From The Mid-South Divorce Guide, by William W. Jones IV, a
Memphis family law attorney and Rule 31 Listed Family Mediator licensed
in Tennessee and Mississippi. This guide covers Shelby, Tipton and
Fayette Counties in Tennessee and DeSoto, Tate and Tunica Counties in
Mississippi.

Questions this page answers

  • How does divorce work in Tennessee?
  • What is different about divorce in Mississippi?
  • How long does a divorce take?
  • What does a divorce cost in Memphis?

This guide is not legal advice. It is not a substitute for hiring a
lawyer, and reading it does not make me your lawyer.

Family law runs on facts. Two people can walk into my office with
what sounds like the exact same problem, and the right answer is
different for each of them because of something one of them mentioned in
passing forty minutes in. A guide cannot ask you follow-up questions. I
can.

Why one guide covers two
states

Because the Mid-South does not care about the state line and neither
does your life.

People here live in Southaven and work in Memphis. They get married
in Shelby County and buy a house in DeSoto County. Half the families I
represent have a parent on one side of the line and a school on the
other. So when somebody asks me what happens in a divorce, the honest
first answer is a question: which side of the line are you filing on,
because the answers are genuinely different.

Most of this book is Tennessee, because most cases here are. But
Mississippi is not Tennessee with different scenery, and the differences
are large enough to change what you should do. Mississippi requires your
spouse’s consent for a no-fault divorce and Tennessee does not.
Mississippi now presumes equal parenting time and Tennessee specifically
does not. Mississippi child support runs three years longer. Chapter 34 lays all of
that out.

If you are not sure which state your case belongs in, that is one of
the most valuable questions you can bring to a first consult, and it is
worth more than most of the fights that follow it.

One more thing about timing

Everything in here was current as of the fall of 2026. Tennessee’s
legislature meets every year and touches family law every year. Two of
the rules described in this guide changed in 2026 alone. Mississippi’s
custody law changed on July 1, 2026, and it changed a lot. If you are
reading this well after 2026, assume something in here has moved.

Judges also differ. The law gives them discretion on purpose, and two
good judges applying the same statute to the same facts can land in
different places. When I tell you what usually happens, I mean
usually.

So use this the way it is meant to be used. Learn the vocabulary.
Learn the shape of the process. Figure out what questions you need
answered. Then go get a lawyer to answer them.

Most people walk into a divorce lawyer’s office having already had
the worst month of their life, and then we hand them a stack of paper
and start using words like pendente lite.

I have been practicing law since 2002. What I have come to understand
is that fear of the unknown is a real thing. Not understanding the
process, and not understanding how it works, is what makes people feel
vulnerable and confused. It is rarely the law itself that frightens
somebody. It is not knowing what happens next.

Jerry Seinfeld had a bit years ago whose punchline was that the
lawyer is the only person at the table who ever read the instructions.
He was joking. He was also describing my job, and it has always struck
me as a strange way to run things.

So here are the instructions, read out loud.

I want you to understand the process. Understanding it makes you a
better client, because you will know which questions actually matter and
which ones do not. It makes you a better witness, because you will not
be surprised in a courtroom. And it lets you understand why the other
side is doing what they are doing, which turns a lot of things that feel
like personal attacks back into what they usually are, which is
procedure.

It is long. Read the parts that apply to you and skim the parts that
do not. It is worth coming back to, because the part that does not apply
to you in March has a way of applying to you in October.

One more thing before we start. I am not going to lie to you anywhere
in this book. This is not going to be a fun experience. What I can tell
you is that it is a process with rules, and that the people who
understand the rules spend less time in it and spend less of their money
on the parts that turned out not to matter.

Let’s get to work.

Bill Jones Memphis, Tennessee

Part One is everything before you file. Whether to
do it, how to get ready, how to pick a lawyer, and what this is going to
cost.

Part Two is the process itself. What gets filed,
what happens next, how long it takes, and how cases actually end.

Part Three is the money. Property, debt, the house,
retirement, alimony, and taxes.

Part Four is the kids. Parenting plans, residential
schedules, child support, relocation, and modification.

Part Five is about your own conduct and your own
judgment. What to do, what to stop doing, the specific mistakes that
cost people the most, and how to decide which fights are actually worth
having.

Part Six covers Mississippi, life after the decree,
and a glossary.

At the back are worksheets. Fill them out before
your first meeting with any lawyer and you will save yourself real
money.

In the PDF version of this guide, defined terms are linked to the
glossary and every cross-reference is clickable. If a word is
unfamiliar, click it.

What is in this guide

Download
the whole guide as a PDF, with the four fillable forms

Download the whole guide. All 35 chapters plus four blank client forms, complimentary, no email required. Download The Mid-South Divorce Guide (PDF)

Questions about your own situation? The Jones Law Firm, 5100 Poplar Ave, Suite 708, Memphis, TN 38137. Call (901) 761-5353.

Contact The Jones Law Firm

Life doesn’t always happen between 9 to 5. We understand that your legal needs don’t keep bankers hours; neither should your attorney.

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