Christopher Harper Solop v. Sarah Elizabeth Solop

── Christopher Harper Solop v. Sarah Elizabeth Solop ── Court: Mississippi Supreme Court Date: May 21, 2026 Category: General IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI NO. 2025-CA-01513-SCT CHRISTOPHER HARPER SOLOP v. SARAH ELIZABETH SOLOP DATE OF JUDGMENT: 10/17/2025 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. CYNTHIA L. BREWER TRIAL COURT ATTORNEYS: TRAVIS JONATHAN CONNER LYNN PATTON THOMPSON JOHN ROBERT WHITE, JR. CHRISTOPHER SOLOP DANNA ALBERT O’BRIEN WILLIAM THOMAS HOLLINGSWORTH MARC E. BRAND COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: MADISON COUNTY CHANCERY COURT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: LYNN PATTON THOMPSON JOHN ROBERT WHITE, JR. CHRISTOPHER SOLOP TRAVIS JONATHAN CONNER ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: JOHN S. GRANT, IV BROOKE TRUSTY GRANT MARC E. BRAND NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - CUSTODY DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 05/21/2026 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: EN BANC. BRANNING, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT: ¶1. Sarah Elizabeth Solop and Christopher Harper Solop share joint legal and physical custody of their three minor children, with equal custodial time rotating weekly. Christopher, an active-duty captain with the Mississippi Army National Guard, received a seven-month overseas deployment that began in January 2026. Before his deployment, Christopher filed an emergency petition in the trial court seeking to delegate all of his court-ordered custodial time to his parents, Christopher and Juanaree Solop (the Solops), during his deployment. Because the trial court correctly interpreted the applicable law and because its decision was supported by substantial evidence, we affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY ¶2. After a twelve-year marriage resulting in three children, Christopher and Sarah were granted an irreconcilable-differences divorce in which the court ordered that they “rotate physical custody of the children on a week on, week off basis.” After the parties’ separation, Christopher began residing at his parents’ home and exercised his weekly custodial time there. Because Christopher “received military orders [from the United States Army] requiring intermittent in-country training beginning in January 2026, for a period of unknown duration,” he filed an emergency petition requesting the temporary delegation of his custodial rights and responsibilities of his minor children to his parents. ¶3. After a hearing on Christopher’s emergency petition, the trial court denied Christopher’s request for delegation of his custodial time but, instead, awarded the Solops “extensive temporary visitation” during Christopher’s deployment. More specifically, the trial court granted the Solops: (a) visitation on the first, third, and fifth weekends of every month; (b) visitation on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. during alternating weeks when the Solops do not have weekend visitation; and (c) visitation Wednesday night through Thursday morning of these same alternating weeks. Further, the 2 trial court ordered Sarah to retain custody during times not allocated to the Solops for visitation, to make the children reasonably available to Christopher when he has leave, and to facilitate the children’s having electronic communications with Christopher during deployment, all as required by Mississippi Code Section 93-5-34(3)(c) (Rev. 2021). ¶4. Christopher moved for clarification and reconsideration of the trial cou