The number of divorces in Leelanau County fell to a 16-year low of 55 last year. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “marital bliss” for all the couples who remain married.

Economic stresses that are tough on couples also make them financially dependent on one another, experts say. Couples who have a hard time paying for one household may find it even tougher to pay for two, which may explain why the divorce rate has dropped.

The divorce numbers are included in a series of year-end reports from the county that also measure births, deaths and marriages in Leelanau. No change stood out like the falling divorce rate, however.
In 2007, 66 divorce decrees were issued in Leelanau County, which is also the average since 1980 but 11 more than in 2008.

According to the web site Divorce360, a contested divorce proceeding that goes to court with a couple having at least one child can cost from $53,000 to $188,000. Expenses include attorney fees, financial advice, counseling and real-estate costs for buying or renting separate homes.

Historically, many of the expenses have been recovered when a couple sells their home and divides the proceeds. However, the falling real estate values is leaving some homeowners owing more on their mortgages than their properties are worth — turning what would normally be their biggest marital asset into a liability.

While there are no statistics that link the falling divorce rate to the economic downturn, there have only been six times since in the past 29 years in which fewer than 55 divorces were granted.
Fewer divorces during the recession of the early 1980s were also noted. The average number of marriages dissolved from 1982 to 1985 was 44.

Meanwhile, numbers in three areas of vital statistics tracked by the county clerk’s office were up in 2008 compared to the previous year.

In 2008, 161 couples had marriage licenses issued in Leelanau County, up 4.3 percent from 154 in 2007 and well above the 29-year average of 133. Last year also marked the second in which county Clerk Michelle Crocker was authorized to perform marriages. She performed 19 ceremonies in both 2007 and 2008.
“We’ve had some small weddings in which our staff members served as witnesses,” Crocker said. “We had a couple weddings off the deck on the lower level of the county building.”

Crocker, Magistrate Norene Kastys and Probate Court Judge Joseph Deegan are also authorized to perform civil ceremonies. However, Crocker is the only one of the three who will go “off site,” meaning someplace other than the Government Center in Suttons Bay Township.

Some of the other venues in which Crocker has performed weddings included a hilltop on a farm near Cedar, the beach at Suttons Bay, and vineyards.

One of the 161 marriages performed in the county was special to the clerk in that it involved her son and daughter-in-law.

“I could have done it, but it was better that I enjoy my time as mother-of-the-groom,” she said.
Crocker said she enjoys her new task and tries to spend time with the couple prior to the ceremony to get an idea of what they’d like.

“I have a couple different ceremonies … it all depends on the couple’s preference,” Crocker said.
The number of births increased by two in Leelanau from eight in 2007 to 10 last year. But a large increase, the largest by category, was in the number of death certificates issued on the peninsula.

Deaths outnumbered births in Leelanau County, 10-to-1. Part of this is due to the fact that most live births from the county take place at Munson Medical Center and are recorded in Grand Traverse County.
Regardless, the Grim Reaper has a firm hold in Leelanau County, which has averaged 95.5 deaths annually for the past 29 years.

The number of deaths recorded in the county jumped to 109 last year, up from 97 in 2007. Interestingly, there have only been two years since 1999 when fewer than 100 deaths were recorded.

Since 1980, deaths in the county have ranged from a high of 114 in 2004 to 64 in 1988. Some of the trend could be attributed to Leelanau’s aging population. In 2000, for instance, the Census placed 12.2 percent of Leelanau’s population at age 70 or older. That ratio was estimated to have grown to 14.3 percent in 2007.
The Census breaks down Leelanau’s population into 5-year age groups.

In 2000, the most populated group was 45-to-49-year-olds, a category that included 9.4 percent of county residents. In 2007, the largest age group was 50-to-54-year-olds with 9.3 percent while the 45-to-49-year-old population had fallen to represent 8.1 percent of residents.