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 St. Charles County, a marriage that began with vows exchanged on February 1, 2023, is now moving toward its conclusion. On September 23, 2025, Sadie A. Gerau, represented by attorney John P. Wagner of Turken & Porzenski, LLC, filed a petition seeking dissolution of her marriage to Michael R. Ilges. What began in hope ended in silence: the couple marked their constructive separation on February 16, 2025, only two years after the union was made official.
The petition presents a straightforward truth—there are no children to protect, no shared parental responsibilities to untangle. Both Sadie and Michael are employed, both able to support themselves, and neither is in need of maintenance from the other. Yet beneath these pragmatic details lie the fragments of promises made and debts accumulated, the detritus of a brief marriage that has now broken apart.
Sadie asks the court for a dissolution of the marriage on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown. She seeks her share of marital property, relief from joint debts through equitable division, and requests that Michael be ordered to pay her attorney’s fees and court costs. The petition frames not only the dissolution of a partnership but the pragmatic dismantling of a household—one that will leave both parties walking away to carry their own burdens, separate and unbound.
For the court, the decision will be a matter of equity and division. For the couple, it is the quiet acknowledgment of an ending that has already taken root.
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