Mississippi passes domestic abuse divorce reform

The Legislature on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill that would allow abused spouses to more easily get a divorce, the first major change to the state’s antiquated divorce laws in more than 40 years.

“Many victims of domestic violence are too embarrassed, ashamed or afraid to pursue divorce,” said Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven, who has championed divorce reform for two years, working with anti-domestic abuse advocates. “Specifically including domestic violence as grounds for divorce makes clear that domestic abuse is unacceptable and there is a way out of a toxic relationship.”

Clay Chandler, spokesman for Gov. Phil Bryant, said: “Gov. Bryant has supported victims of domestic violence his entire career. He appreciates the Legislature’s work on the bill and will sign it.”

Mississippi’s antiquated divorce laws, little changed over 100 years except for an “irreconcilable differences” ground added in 1976, trap spouses and children in abusive situations and financial limbo, experts say. The system costs taxpayers untold millions as divorce cases drag on and on and clog courts.

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The final new divorce reform measure, after negotiations between the House and Senate, would add the term “including spousal domestic abuse” to the “habitual, cruel and inhuman treatment” ground for divorce. It further says that spousal domestic abuse can be established in divorce cases by the testimony of a “single credible witness,” including the abused spouse. It also says that spousal domestic abuse can include threats, intimidation, emotional and other non-physical abuse if it “rises above the level of unkindness or rudeness or incompatibility or want of affection.”

Earlier in the legislative session, House Judiciary B Chairman Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, killed two Senate divorce reform measures — including Doty’s — in his committee without a vote. Gipson, a Baptist preacher, said current law was already adequate and “we need to find ways to strengthen marriages, not further ways to erode them.”

But after receiving harsh public blow-back, Gipson worked with an anti-domestic violence group to come up with a measure that he amended to another bill dealing with custody of abused children. House and Senate negotiators worked out a final compromise, which Gipson led to passage on House floor Tuesday.

“Let me tell you what I believe,” Gipson told the House on Tuesday. “I believe marriage is the only time when one and one equals one … Anybody who beats up on their own flesh — you’d call them crazy and insane.”

Gipson said he still believes divorce laws were adequate and the problem is with judges not uniformly addressing them or following high court precedent. He said the new measure will address this, codifying long held court precedent.

Gipson has said the angry and vitriolic messages he received after killing the original bills are not what drove his action to pass domestic violence divorce reform. He said it was the reasoned and heartfelt pleas he received from several women in dire circumstances and input from the Center for Violence Protection, which has lobbied for years for divorce reform.

Gipson blamed the flood of angry calls and messages and social media posts he received after killing the divorce bills on “fake news” and shoddy reporting by the media. It prompted him to create an anti-fake news online site.

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Lawmakers and the state’s religious lobby have thwarted efforts to make divorce any easier or cheaper, mainly in an effort to uphold the institution and sanctity of marriage.

Yet, Mississippi continually ranks near the top of states in divorce rates.

Another measure, authored by Senate Judiciary A Chairman Sean Tindell, R-Gulfport, was not revived after Gipson killed it in committee. It would have created a 13th, “no-fault” ground for divorce: two year’s separation, providing the couple had no children under 20. Similar measures have died for years in the Mississippi Legislature.

Mississippi and South Dakota are the only states that lack a true, unilateral no-fault divorce ground.

Contact Geoff Pender at 601-961-7266 or gpender@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter .