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.
In the cold sprawl of Cook County, Illinois, a marriage bent and broke under its own weight. On February 21, 2025, with Valentine’s Day a brittle memory, Jennifer Ries-Buntain walked into the Circuit Court and filed for divorce from Jonathan Buntain. Her attorneys at GMR Family Law LLP cut the petition lean and true, ending a bond forged June 2, 2001, in Empire, Michigan. Twenty-three years had worn it thin, snapped by irreconcilable differences, the break clean and final.
Jennifer, 52, and Jonathan, 51, both Cook County fixtures for over ninety days, stood apart. Two sons—Noah, born 2005, free of their hold; Luke, born 2006, just 18—marked their years. No new child stirred, just the heft of property—savings, cars, retirement—piled up like driftwood. Jennifer claimed her cut, fair and sharp, her non-marital stake hers alone, and maintenance from Jonathan, both steady, both working. Debts lingered too, a load to split even. The court would draw the line, weigh the haul, settle it out.
This wasn’t a loud fall but a firm step away, filed as Valentine’s glow faded—a woman carving her own path from a past grown heavy.
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