A recent review of court workloads across Michigan flagged Grand Traverse County as needing another local elected judge to help handle cases for Probate Court and 13th Circuit Court. County commissioners Wednesday expressed support for adding the position, which would need legislative and gubernatorial approval but could potentially put a new judge on the 2026 ballot to start serving in January 2027.

SCAO – the State Court Administrative Office, the administrative agency for the Michigan Supreme Court – conducts an analysis every two years in which judges are asked to track their time. That data is used to produce a report for legislators about different courts in the state where there are either too many or not enough judges serving, based on workloads. Thirteenth Circuit Court – which serves Grand Traverse, Leelanau, and Antrim counties – currently has two elected judges: Kevin Elsenheimer and Charles Hamlyn. Judge Jennifer Whitten is the elected Probate Court judge and also handles Family Division cases.

SCAO determined that three judges are not enough to serve local needs, with Grand Traverse County “underjudged” by 1.02 judges. “We agree with SCAO's analysis that we need another judge, and we believe that that would primarily help the consumers to receive more efficient justice,” Whitten told county commissioners Wednesday. “They'd be able to have hearings in a more timely fashion, because we only have so much docket space.”

Elsenheimer said criminal cases – which are typically handled more quickly than civil cases – are so backed up that cases coming in today likely won’t go to trial until February or later. If criminal cases are that delayed, that “should tell you what the impact is on the civil docket,” he said. “That delay for our taste is too long. We’d like to see that sped up. Adding another judge would do that.”

Whitten said families are also impacted by the overloaded dockets. Divorce cases can get pushed out for months, she said, as can custody battles or other domestic relations issues. That can have impacts when, for example, one parent is withholding a child but gains an advantage in custody hearings because they’ve been the one caring for the child in the months leading up to a court date. “The time constraints there are really, really difficult,” she said. “That’s just delaying a finality for families and a quick resolution.” Hamlyn said expanding the bench is “not about less work for us, because the work will be there – it’s about shortening the window for the people using the system.”

The judges said there is sufficient space in both the historic courthouse and the Griffin Hall of Justice for courtroom expansion to accommodate another judge. The trio envisioned the new judge to be an elected probate judge who would also serve 13th Circuit Court. “Our thought would be that the judge would primarily do Family Division tasks,” Whitten said. In response to commission questions, she said it was possible that specialty courts – like mental health or drug courts – could also be offered with increased hours if another judge came online.

Even with SCAO’s report that Grand Traverse County is underjudged, Elsenheimer cautioned that adding the new position is “a long process that involves all three branches of government.” The first step will be for Grand Traverse County and other areas around the state to submit a secondary analysis by the end of this week with more details on their court operations and caseloads for SCAO to review. From there, SCAO will make a recommendation in the coming months to legislators on potential court changes across the state.

“That’s where things get a little fishy,” Elsenheimer said. Legislators rarely add more judges to the overall total in Michigan. Instead, they tend to pull one judicial position from an overserved area and reassign it to an underserved one. Communities usually don’t like losing judges, however, so it becomes a “regional political fight,” Elsenheimer said. SCAO also looks at where judges are retiring and focuses on eliminating those positions rather than eliminating sitting judges where possible.

Once legislators have settled on where judicial positions should be moved, that recommendation goes to the governor for approval. If Grand Traverse County is recommended to receive another judge, candidates would run on the 2026 ballot – with a new judge to begin serving in January 2027. While the salary for an elected probate judge is entirely covered by the state, Grand Traverse County would be responsible for covering benefits.

The county would also need to hire support staff. A new judge would likely require three new staff positions – without which Elsenheimer said the efficiency of the position would be nullified – including a court recorder/reporter, a staff attorney, and an office specialist. Those combined salaries could be upwards of $200,000 annually. “That’s a significant increase from what we have right now, so that’s something we’d need to discuss,” said Commissioner Ashlea Walter.

However, commissioners generally expressed support for the concept. “I'm not going to micromanage you telling us what you need,” said Commissioner Rob Hentschel. “This has my full support individually.” Commissioners Darryl Nelson, Penny Morris, and Scott Sieffert were among other board members who vocalized support. Because commissioners were in study session Wednesday, they didn’t take any official action to back the proposal. However, commissioners are expected to approve a formal resolution of support at their next regular board meeting.