Your state’s pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. Bookmark it. I built this for the Mississippi T&E solo who knows Mississippi’s own probate scheme (Miss. Code Title 91, supervised in chancery court) cold but still loses an afternoon a week hunting the current homestead number, the Mississippi Medicaid (Division of Medicaid) slot posture, whether the latest the Mississippi Bar (Formal Opinions) guidance changes how you scope an engagement, or whether a recent Mississippi Court of Appeals decision just moved the law on capacity, undue influence, or a trustee’s duties. What’s below is what mattered in Mississippi lately — the week’s developments and the recent rulings from the bench.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments from the last seven days that I think actually matter to a Mississippi T&E solo. Each one has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each one comes with the citation so you can verify the detail yourself before you use it with a client.
The 2025 act (signed March 2025, amending Miss. Code §§ 43-28-23, 43-13-317 and related sections) bars the state from recovering Medicaid benefits from a Mississippi ABLE account during the beneficiary’s life, while preserving a death-time claim after qualified-disability expenses.
If your practice touches special-needs or disability planning, re-read SB 2396 before your next ABLE-account conversation. Mississippi now statutorily protects ABLE balances from recovery during the beneficiary’s lifetime, which changes how you sequence an ABLE account against a first-party special-needs trust and what you tell families about what survives recovery at death.
Miss. SB 2396 (2025); Miss. Code §§ 43-28-23, 43-13-317 · billstatus.ls.state.ms.us · SB2396
In Estate of Michael Edward Roberts (2023-CA-00713-COA, decided April 22, 2025, rehearing denied), the Mississippi Court of Appeals held a will validly attested under Miss. Code § 91-5-1 even though the testator never told the witness she was signing a will — publication may be accomplished through construction.
The holding confirms a will is not automatically void for lack of express ‘publication,’ but don’t read it as license to get sloppy at execution. Build a clean, observable execution ceremony anyway — the case is a margin-of-safety ruling, and the cheaper path is a record that makes attestation obvious rather than one that has to be rescued by construction on appeal.
Estate of Roberts, 2023-CA-00713-COA (Miss. Ct. App. Apr. 22, 2025) · Miss. Code § 91-5-1 · courts.ms.gov
Formal Opinion 267 (the Mississippi Bar) sets attorney duties for generative AI under the Rules of Professional Conduct: competence, an affirmative duty to verify AI output, confidentiality, and supervision. It is still the current and only formal Mississippi Bar AI ethics statement as of June 2026.
Frame AI use to clients and staff as a professional-responsibility duty, not a law. The affirmative verification duty is the operative point: you own every AI-produced citation and factual assertion that leaves your office, and confidentiality limits what client data you may feed a tool. Supervise both the staff using AI and the tool’s output before it reaches a filing or a client.
Miss. Bar Formal Opinion 267 · msbar.org · Formal Opinion 267
Decisions from the courts that bind a Mississippi practitioner — the Mississippi Supreme Court and the Mississippi Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi, and the Fifth Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
The Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed that a will was validly executed under Miss. Code § 91-5-1 despite the testator never expressly telling the attesting witness she was signing a will. Publication — the testator’s communication that the instrument is a will — can be accomplished “by construction” from the surrounding circumstances of the signing, not only by an express declaration. Rehearing was denied.
The decision is a margin-of-safety ruling, not a relaxation of good practice. It means a Mississippi will should survive a no-express-publication challenge — but the cheaper, surer path is still a clean execution ceremony where attestation is obvious on the face of the record. Treat Roberts as the backstop, and keep papering execution so you never need it.
Estate of Roberts, 2023-CA-00713-COA (Miss. Ct. App. Apr. 22, 2025) · Miss. Code § 91-5-1 · official opinions: courts.ms.gov
This slot holds the next significant trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision from Mississippi’s appellate courts or the federal courts covering Mississippi. The lane reads each opinion before it lands here, and reads-and-discards Medicaid program/provider litigation as not T&E. When the trailing window has no new ruling, this row says so plainly rather than inventing one.
Nothing further to re-paper from the bench this period; the decision above remains the most recent material Mississippi T&E appellate ruling identified.
Awaiting verified weekly signal — CourtListener used for discovery only, never cited as authority.
This week in Mississippi for the T&E solo with Mississippi Medicaid clients: the developments from the Mississippi Bar and the Mississippi Division of Medicaid that actually moved your practice this period — each one primary-source verified.
Bar and Medicaid changes land on different schedules and aren't indexed by practice focus. Every item here was checked against its primary source, with the link, so you can verify before relying on it.