Mississippi has a fault-based divorce system, meaning that there are several ways that you can seek divorce even if your spouse doesn’t agree to it. One of the justifications for seeking divorce is that your spouse engages in excessive drug use. But what constitutes “excessive” in the eyes of the law?
Addressing drug use in a Mississippi divorce
Before a court will grant your divorce based on your spouse’s drug use, you must show that the drug use is habitual, excessive, and uncontrollable. One-time use or drug use that is infrequent will not successfully support a divorce petition. In other words, the court will likely only grant a divorce here if your spouse is a drug abuser, essentially in that they can’t control their use.
While the letter of the law seems to indicate that only harder drugs will support a divorce petition under the excessive drug use provision, in some cases even excessive marijuana use is sufficient to support a divorce determination.
When your marriage involves a drug like marijuana, though, you’ll want to be sure you diligently show how the drug use negatively impacted your spouse’s ability to contribute to the marriage and support your family, since this is the underlying justification for this type of fault-based divorce. Basically, you have to show that your spouse’s drug use has rendered them unfit and unable to fulfill their marital responsibilities.
Is drug use negatively affecting your marriage?
If so, then you might want to consider your next steps, as divorce may be your best course of action. Before pursuing marriage dissolution, though, you’ll want to have a clear understanding of how the law applies to your set of circumstances. That way you can gather the evidence needed to support your position and hopefully secure the next chapter of your life.