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In the Family Court of St. Louis County, a petition for dissolution of marriage was entered into the record under Case No. 26SL-DR00457. The filing, made in February 2026, names Melanie M. Pierce as petitioner and John E. Stintzi as respondent, and asks the court to bring their marriage to an end.

Pierce states she has been a Missouri resident for more than 90 days preceding the commencement of the action and currently resides in Kansas City, Missouri. Stintzi is likewise alleged to have satisfied the same residency requirement, also residing in Kansas City. Both parties are over the age of 18. They were married on August 2, 2020, with the marriage registered in Jackson County, Missouri, and separated on or about February 7, 2025.

The petition affirms there are no unemancipated children born to the parties and that the petitioner is not pregnant. It further states that neither party is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States or its allies. Each is described as employed. The pleading indicates that both hold certain items of separate property and non-marital assets.

According to the filing, the parties accumulated marital property and obligations during the marriage. Pierce asks the court to find any Marital Settlement Agreement entered by the parties not unconscionable, or, if no such agreement is executed, to divide marital property and debts in a fair and equitable manner. She states the marriage is irretrievably broken and that there remains no reasonable likelihood it can be preserved. The petition requests dissolution, no award of maintenance to either party, and the setting aside of non-marital assets to their respective owners.

Filed at the outset of a new year, the case reflects the procedural steps required when a marriage is said to have reached its end. The court will review the assertions, any agreement reached, and the allocation of property and debt before entering judgment, marking the formal close of a union that began less than six years ago.

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