The handover control method for use in a mobile communication system changes a handover method according to an overlapping zone residence time of a mobile station by ranking three handover methods for the mobile station including a gateway handover method, a base station controller path extension handover method, and a radio link path extension handover method in association with how long the overlapping zone residence time of the mobile station is, and by selecting one handover method that corresponds to the overlapping zone residence time of the mobile station. When either the gateway handover method or the base station controller path extension handover method is selected for use, the handover method selects a handover path of which load on the system is minimum among the handover paths that can be employed by the selected handover method.