Judge Grants Jenny Sanford a Divorce from Cheating Gov. Mark Sanford

Feb. 26, 2010 — -- A family court judge granted a divorce today to Jenny Sanford, the wife of philandering South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

The court agreed with Jenny Sanford's request to seal the divorce settlement because there were many details included in the agreement that her young children were not aware of.

The divorce was approved after Jenny Sanford testified today in family court in Charleston that her husband referred to his mistress as his "soul mate" and requested time and time again to be permitted to see her.

Family Court Judge Jocelyn Cate approved Jenny Sanford's request to divorce her husband of nearly 20 years. The divorce will become official in mid-March.

Wearing a dark suit and a tan scarf, Jenny Sanford took the stand for approximately 10 minutes and requested that the divorce settlement, which she believes is "fair and equitable and in the best interest of their children," be kept sealed.

The judge asked Jenny Sanford if she was expecting to have any more children with the governor.

She replied "Oh gosh no."

Jenny Sanford and the couple's four children moved out of the governor's mansion in August.

She testified that she had permitted her husband to see his lover one last time with a "chaperone."

"It was very clear he was not allowed to see her again," Jenny Sanford told the court.

But it became clear that her husband had kept seeing his lover, dissolving any hopes of reconciliation for the couple.

Gov. Sanford, who was not present in court, was represented by two attorneys.

The governor's office released a statement ahead of the hearing, asking for privacy and taking responsibility for his actions.

"I want to take full responsibility for the moral failure that led us to this tragic point," said the statement. "Jenny is a great person, and has been a remarkable wife, mother and First Lady. She has been more than gracious these last six months and gone above and beyond in her patience and commitment to put the needs of others in front of her own."

Judge Grants Jenny Sanford A Divorce from Gov. Mark Sanford

Jenny Sanford told the court today that she first learned about the affair in January 2009 when she said she found a romantic letter from the governor to his mistress, 43-year-old Argentine businesswoman Maria Belen Chapur, whom she said he referred to as his "eternal love and his lover."

Gov. Sanford confessed publicly in June 2009 that he had been visiting his longtime lover in Argentina instead of hiking the Appalachian Trail, as he had told his staff.

Jenny Sanford requested that the details of the divorce settlement be sealed to protect the couple's four children, whom she said have had their "world turned upside down."

Saying that there is a "wealth of information" in the settlement that the "children are not aware of," Jenny Sanford argued that she does not see the purpose it serves the public for them to be unsealed.

"I think [releasing the settlement] would serve to cause further damage to my children," she said. "More information for kids to talk about at school is not what they need at this point."

Jenny Sanford penned a memoir called "Staying True," a chronicle of her marriage to the governor, which was released earlier this month.

In court today she said that she did not include any information in that book that her children were not already aware of.

In an interview with ABC News about the memoir and her marriage, Jenny Sanford said that in the days before she married Sanford he told her that he wasn't sure he could honesty promise to be faithful. Despite his concerns, they went ahead with the wedding. Jenny Sanford told ABC News that she took a "leap of faith" in marrying Sanford.