“Are there more marriage licenses or divorce cases filed around Valentine’s Day?”
Each year around this time, James P. Cunningham, family law attorney and adjunct professor of Family Law at Western Michigan Univerity Cooley Law School in Auburn Hills, asks his students this question.
While topics dealing with the legal and financial fallout of relationships that have gone awry are the standard fare of the Family Law class, “students are disappointed to learn that couples actually break up around what is supposed to be the most romantic time of year.”
Cunningham has been following this unlikely statistic for years. “Historically, while marriage license applications are relatively stable in number, when the economy is improving, you tend to see more divorce filings. People are optimistic about their future and are willing, and can afford to start over.”
Caseload reports published by the Michigan Supreme Court appear to confirm this. Divorce filings declined, hitting an all-time low in 2009, following the onset of the recession. “Couples stick together during hard times.”
As the country rallied from the 2008 meltdown, the divorce rate began creeping up. “For the two years 2012-2014,” said Cunningham, “for the day before and day after Valentine’s Day, there were 79 marriage licenses and 111 divorce filings,” almost a 40% difference. While a disappointment for romance, and antidotal of course, a good sign for the economy.
However, even with the recession remaining in the rear-view mirror, for the first time in years, the gap between marriage license applications and divorce complaints is at least narrowing. In 2014-2016, love lost narrowly to heartache, 98-108. Divorce is down, and marriage license applications have increased. Cupid’s feeling much better.
So how does Cunningham explain this? “As Alexander Pope said, ‘hope springs eternal.’”
Cunningham’s interest in the subject is more than just academic. A partner in the Birmingham law firm Williams, Williams, Rattner, & Plunkett, for over 30 years in private practice, has been consistently rated as one of the top domestic relations lawyers in the state. He is past-president of the Oakland County Bar Association and the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, an organization comprised of the nation’s top family law attorneys, and a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers.
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