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.

December has a way of amplifying contrasts. Outside, Cook County leans into ritual—lights strung with intention, calendars crowded with gatherings meant to reassure. Inside the courthouse, a different accounting unfolds. Just fifteen days before Christmas, on December 10, 2025, Kori Gilbert filed a petition for dissolution of marriage, formally asking the court to end her marriage to David Gilbert.

The petition reads like a careful inventory of a long domestic chapter. Married on October 28, 2006, the couple raised two children and built a shared life that, by Kori’s account, has reached a point of irretrievable breakdown. Past efforts at reconciliation have failed, the filing states, and further attempts would not serve the family’s best interests. In language both precise and insistent, Kori asks the court to recognize what has already quietly happened at home.

Central to the petition is the future of the children. Kori seeks joint decision-making authority regarding healthcare, education, religion, and extracurricular activities—or, alternatively, sole decision-making authority—along with the majority of parenting time, subject to David’s reasonable parenting time. She further requests that David contribute to child support, child-related expenses, and future college education costs.

The financial architecture of the marriage is also laid bare. Kori asks the court to award her non-marital property, a just proportion of marital assets, and an equitable division of marital debts. She seeks temporary and permanent maintenance, asserting an inability to support herself without David’s financial assistance, while asking that David be barred from receiving maintenance. The petition also requests that David contribute to her attorneys’ fees and costs.

Kori is represented by Jason A. Pica II of Dussias Wittenberg Koenigsberger LLP. As the holidays approach, the filing stands as a reminder that endings, like seasons, rarely arrive quietly.

Please contact VowBreakers for access to documents related to the case.