CHICAGO (KRT) — Juanita Jordan has taken the first steps toward ending her 13-year marriage to Michael Jordan, filing for divorce in Lake County, Ill.
In a petition filed Friday in circuit court in Waukegan, J. Vanoy Jordan, 42, of Highland Park cited “irreconcilable differences” in seeking a dissolution of her marriage to M. Jeff Jordan, 38, also of Highland Park.
She seeks permanent custody of the couple’s three children, the 25,000-square-foot “marital residence” in Highland Park and half the couple’s property.
“It is the parties’ hope that the media respect the family’s need and desire for privacy in this painful matter,” Juanita Jordan’s lawyer, Don Schiller, said Monday, declining further comment.
The six-page petition says irreconcilable differences have caused “the irretrievable breakdown” of Juanita Jordan’s marriage to the basketball superstar and that future attempts at reconciliation “would be impractical and not in the best interests of the family.”
Michael and Juanita Vanoy Jordan were married on Sept. 2, 1989, in Las Vegas. Their children are 13-year-old Jeffrey, 11-year-old Marques and 9-year-old Jasmine.
MIchael Jordan cited a desire to spend more time with his family when he retired from the Bulls the first time in October 1994 and joked about “driving the car pool.”
He maintained his Chicago residence when he returned to basketball as a front-office executive with the Washington Wizards last season, but this year’s decision to resume his playing career necessitated his being in Washington full time.
The petition describes Michael Jordan as “a well and able-bodied man who is capable of making suitable provisions for the support and maintenance of the Petitioner and for the support and education of the parties’ children in a style commensurate with that enjoyed by the parties during marriage.”
Michael Jordan, who was paid more than $30 million in his final season with the Bulls, is regarded as one of the world’s richest athletes through his work as a product endorser and a reported $50 million stake in the company that controls the Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals.