What You Need to Know About Child Custody and Parenting Time in Mississippi

There are two basic types of custody in Mississippi: legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody is the decision-making side of parenting. It involves decisions concerning a child’s health, education, welfare and the other important issues that arise in raising a child. Physical custody refers to the periods of time when a child resides with or is under the care and supervision of a parent. Joint legal custody means the parents share decision-making rights and responsibilities, while joint physical custody means both parents have significant periods of physical custody. Mississippi law continues to make the best interests of the child the controlling consideration in custody cases.

Beginning July 1, 2026, however, Mississippi law establishes an important new starting point for initial custody determinations. House Bill 1662 amended Mississippi Code Section 93-5-24 to provide that there is a rebuttable presumption that joint custody and equally shared parenting time are in the best interest of the child. When a court awards joint custody with equally shared parenting time, the court is directed to construct a parenting schedule that maximizes the time each parent has with the child while ensuring that the child’s best interests are met.

A presumption is not the same thing as an automatic result. The new law does not say that every Mississippi custody case must end in a 50/50 parenting schedule. The presumption may be rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence, and the statute identifies circumstances that may justify a different result, including a parent’s absence, mental illness, substance abuse, family violence, incarceration, status as a registered sex offender, or other relevant factors the court considers material. Parents may also agree to a different custody arrangement. If the parents do not agree and the court declines to award joint custody with equally shared parenting time, the court must document its reasons for deviating from the presumption.

The best-interest standard therefore remains central to Mississippi custody law. The new statute changes the starting point, but it does not eliminate the individualized consideration of children and families that has long been part of custody decisions. Mississippi courts have traditionally evaluated the best interests of children through the factors established in Albright v. Albright, commonly known as the Albright factors. The practical relationship between that traditional analysis and the new statutory presumption is one of the important issues lawyers and judges will navigate as the new law is applied.

The law also continues to recognize that mothers and fathers stand on equal legal footing. Mississippi law specifically provides that there is no presumption that awarding legal or physical custody to a mother is in the best interest of a child. An award of joint legal custody requires parents to exchange information concerning the health, education and welfare of their children and to confer with one another in exercising their shared decision-making responsibilities. Even when a parent is not the custodial parent, Mississippi law provides that the parent cannot be denied access to a child’s medical, dental and school records merely because of custodial status.

Parenting schedules can take many different forms. Historically, many Mississippi custody arrangements involved one parent having primary physical custody and the other parent exercising parenting time on alternating weekends, during portions of holidays and over extended periods in the summer. Those schedules remain possible, but they should no longer be viewed as the automatic starting point in an initial custody case. Under the new law, the starting presumption is joint custody with equally shared parenting time. Depending on the circumstances of the family, an equal-time schedule might involve alternating weeks, shorter rotations, or another schedule designed to maximize each parent’s time while serving the child’s best interests.

The practical details matter. A parenting plan has to work for the actual children and parents involved. School schedules, extracurricular activities, the distance between the parents’ homes, work schedules, transportation, a child’s age and needs, and the parents’ ability to manage the responsibilities of parenting can all become important considerations. Equal parenting time on paper is only useful if the arrangement works in the life of the child.

House Bill 1662 also changes the calculation of child support when parents have joint custody with equally shared parenting time. Unless the court determines that a deviation is in the child’s best interest, child support is calculated for each parent as though each were the obligor under Mississippi’s child-support guidelines. The smaller amount is then subtracted from the larger amount, and the parent with the higher adjusted gross income pays the difference to the parent with the lower adjusted gross income. Equal parenting time, therefore, does not necessarily mean that no child support will be paid.

There is also an important limitation on the new presumption. It applies only to initial temporary custody orders and initial final custody orders entered after July 1, 2026. The Legislature expressly provided that the new presumption does not apply to modifications of custody orders, whether the original order was entered before or after July 1, 2026.

The biggest takeaway is simple: Mississippi has not created automatic 50/50 custody. It has created a new legal presumption and a new starting point for initial custody cases. The best interests of the child remain at the center of the analysis, but parents entering a Mississippi custody case after July 1, 2026, should understand that joint custody with equally shared parenting time now begins with the benefit of a statutory presumption.