Missouri House Speaker and wife to divorce

On behalf of The Marks Law Firm, L.L.C. posted in Divorce on Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Just 80 miles south of St. Louis sits Perryville, home to one of the great success stories in Missouri politics in recent years. Steve Tilley has risen from unknown Perryville optometrist to the state House Speaker.

However, that rise in politics has taken its toll in Tilley’s personal life. He and his wife recently announced that they have filed for divorce after more than a decade and a half together.

Tilley, who is running for lieutenant governor, blamed the split, in part, on his political career.

“For 18 years my wife Kellie and I have been blessed with successful careers and two beautiful daughters,” Tilley wrote in a statement to his colleagues. “Unfortunately, we have also grown apart emotionally and our demanding schedules only perpetuated things.”

Not long ago, one researcher came to the conclusion that emotional distance, or a lack of emotional support, is one of the leading reasons for divorce in America. In fact, it placed second, behind only incompatibility, as the most common reason.

Other top causes of divorce include physical abuse and sexual problems, as well as financial problems.

While it might surprise some people, especially in tough economic times, that financial disputes rank so low, the researcher insists that only about 5 percent of divorces are due to money problems.

The California professor said it’s possible that the popular perception that money is the root of many divorces exists because money is easier for people to blame for divorce than the more common reasons such as sexual problems or incompatibility or emotional distance between the spouses.

“No one is going to say, ‘I got divorced because I was a jerk,'” the professor said. “It’s more acceptable to say, ‘We had money troubles.'”

We wish the Tilleys and their two children the best as they go through the divorce process.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “House Speaker Tilley tells colleagues he’s getting a divorce,” Steve Wagman, Oct. 11, 2011

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