Disclaimer: All facts gleaned from the filings stated hereafter are only as truthful as the petitioner. The tone of this article expresses a style of writing historically employed by America’s greatest writers and, as such, is for opinion purposes only. No intentional harm is due. Do not read if the topic of divorce (even your own) causes you emotional distress. Continue at your own risk.
The calendar had barely turned when a private reckoning was brought into public record. January 5, 2026 sits far from the hurried endings of late December, when petitions often feel like paperwork racing the clock. A filing at the beginning of the year carries a different weight: less escape, more declaration. That day, in the Circuit Court of St. Charles County, Missouri, Katlyn R. Sanders filed a petition seeking the dissolution of her marriage to Shane A. Sanders.
The couple married on June 8, 2019, their union registered in St. Charles County, and together they have two minor children. Though they continued to reside under the same roof, the petition states that they constructively separated on January 3, 2026. The document makes no attempt to soften its conclusion: there is no reasonable likelihood the marriage can be preserved, and it is irretrievably broken.
Filed through her attorney, Kathryn L. Dudley of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard P.C., the petition lays out a clear list of requests, each one a line drawn for what comes next. Katlyn Sanders asks the court to dissolve the marriage and to grant her sole legal and sole physical custody of the children, with reasonable visitation awarded to Shane Sanders. She seeks an order requiring him to pay child support, retroactive to the filing date, and to contribute reasonable sums toward her attorney’s fees, litigation expenses, and court costs.
The petition further requests that each party’s separate property be set aside and that marital property and debts be divided in a manner the court deems appropriate. It asks, finally, for such other relief as justice may require. Where December filings often feel like an effort to close a door before midnight, this January petition reads as something steadier: a statement made after the noise has faded, when the year is new and the consequences are fully understood.
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