MISSISSIPPI BAR EXAM DISTINCTIONS — ONE-PAGE CHEAT SHEET
Condensed companion to the Mississippi Bar Exam Distinctions long outline.
1. EXAM FORMAT
NON-UBE — own two-day state exam: the MBE (national MBE day) + Mississippi-drafted essays prepared and graded by the Board of Bar Admissions, testing Mississippi law including subjects not on the MBE (Mississippi civil procedure, chancery practice, wills/estates, commercial law) · MBE and essay scores combined by Mississippi's own formula · scores NOT transferable in or out · plus MPRE + character/fitness · WRITE "Mississippi law provides…" affirmatively on essays—state distinctions score points here.
2. CIVIL PROCEDURE
Catch-all SOL 3 years (§15-1-49) covering most torts/contracts · intentional torts (assault/battery/defamation) 1 year (§15-1-35) · written money contracts 3 yrs · distinctive separate Chancery (equity) court—mandatory for divorce, custody, wills/estates, guardianships, land-title disputes—vs Circuit (law) court for most tort/contract suits · MRCP tracks the Federal Rules · long-arm reaches nonresidents doing business, committing a tort, or contracting in-state, to due-process limits.
3. EVIDENCE
Mississippi Rules of Evidence, closely modeled on the FRE and largely parallel in numbering · Daubert standard for expert testimony (adopted by rule and case law)—do not write Frye · statutory physician-patient AND accountant-client privileges with no FRE analog · spousal, clergy, attorney-client privileges also recognized.
4. FAMILY LAW
Fault-based divorce remains the practical norm (12 enumerated grounds: adultery, habitual cruel and inhuman treatment, desertion, habitual drunkenness, etc.) · no-fault "irreconcilable differences" requires BOTH spouses to consent; a single objection forces the petitioner to plead and prove a fault ground · equitable distribution (not community property) under the Ferguson factors · alimony (periodic, lump-sum, rehabilitative) under the Armstrong factors · percentage child-support guidelines on the payor's adjusted gross income (1 child 14%, 2 children 20%).
5. WILLS / TRUSTS / ESTATES
NON-UPC (Title 91 + chancery case law)—do not assume UPC defaults · attested will = testator's signature + 2 credible subscribing witnesses in the testator's presence · holographic wills VALID (§91-5-1): a will written entirely in the testator's own handwriting and signed is valid without witnesses · no UPC augmented-estate elective share—instead the spouse may renounce the will and take a statutory share by intestacy, a child's share capped at one-half (§91-5-25) · intestate spouse takes a child's share equally with children (with two children, spouse takes one-third); takes all if no descendants · homestead exemption up to 160 rural acres protecting spouse/minor-children occupancy · pretermitted-child statutes.
6. REAL PROPERTY
Notice recording act (§89-5-3 et seq.)—a later BFP for value without notice wins even if she records second · adverse possession 10 years (§15-1-13) under claim of ownership with the usual elements · conveyancing by deed of trust with a trustee holding the power of sale