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 marketing itself as a season of harmony—garlands looped over doorways, resolutions postponed until January, disputes softened by candlelight. Yet on December 19, 2025, in Jackson County, Missouri, the machinery of family law moved forward without sentiment, as Tara M. Sturtevant filed a petition to dissolve her marriage to Shea A. Sturtevant.

The filing, made just days before Christmas, reads less like a rupture than a carefully itemized reckoning. The marriage, the petition states, is irretrievably broken, with no reasonable prospect of repair. The parties meet the residency requirements, are adults, and are not shielded by military status. What remains is not romance or regret, but structure.

Represented by attorney Emily B. Null of Drama-Free Divorce LLC, the petitioner asks the court to divide marital property and marital debt in a fair and equitable manner, while setting aside each party’s non-marital property. She further requests a judicial finding that any Marital Settlement Agreement entered into by the parties is not unconscionable—an appeal not to emotion, but to balance.

The petition addresses the care of the minor child with similar restraint. It asks the court to adopt the parties’ Joint Stipulated Parenting Plan, find it to be in the child’s best interest, and calculate child support pursuant to Missouri Form 14. Health insurance is to remain intact during the proceedings, and uninsured medical expenses addressed as required by law. Neither party seeks maintenance, and each is to pay their own attorney’s fees.

Outside the courthouse, December insists on celebration. Inside, the law offers something else: closure, drafted in paragraphs and filed before the year’s end.

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