Boardwalk Empire: Rose Petition to Divorce Nelson Van Alden from Episode 307

Rose Van Alden’s petition to divorce Nelson Van Alden is scene in Season 3, Episode 7, titled “Sunday Best.”

In this episode, Nelson (living as George Mueller) is spending Easter Sunday with his new “family” — Sigrid and their child — while trying to maintain the appearance of a normal, respectable life. During a conversation, Sigrid mentions receiving a letter from Rose, revealing that Rose has officially filed for divorce.

This moment is significant because it marks a final severing of ties between Van Alden and his former life — the upright, devout federal agent with a religious wife. It's also layered with irony: Van Alden, who once lived by strict moral codes, now resides with a woman who isn’t his wife, raising a child conceived through an affair, while working with bootleggers.

The divorce filing is not dramatized with a court scene or direct confrontation, but its mention serves as a powerful reminder of Van Alden's moral and personal collapse — a man who once punished others for sin now fully immersed in it himself.

It comes with a certificate of authenticity.