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.
There are marriages that fade not with fury but with finality. Such is the story of Richard O. Deppen v. Sherry L. Deppen, now before the Circuit Court of St. Charles County. On October 8, 2025, Richard filed his petition for dissolution of marriage through his attorney, Anthony M. Pezzani of Engelmeyer & Pezzani LLC, marking the formal end of a union that began on November 22, 2011.
The court filing reveals a marriage past its last tether. Richard and Sherry, both long-time residents of St. Charles County, separated just a week earlier, on October 1. There are no children born of the marriage, and Sherry is not expecting. The petition speaks in the neutral but unyielding language of legal closure: the marriage, it states, is irretrievably broken, with no reasonable likelihood of reconciliation.
Richard asks the court to divide their marital property and debts equitably, set aside his separate property, and issue any other relief deemed proper. Neither party serves in the military, a small fact that underscores how grounded and local this dissolution feels—an ordinary couple reaching the quiet terminus of shared years.
What remains, now, is the formal dismantling of what once stood as promise. The simplicity of Richard’s requests belies the emotional complexity beneath: the recognition that a life built together must now be unbuilt, piece by piece, through the deliberate hand of law.
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