Many couples have found that behaviors by in-laws they might have considered a bit quirky before the marriage can quickly become intrusive. Unfortunately, there is no rule book for how to handle your in-laws after marriage, and while in-law troubles may not cause divorce, they can certainly be a contributing factor. The trouble may not be that a spouse’s in-laws behave badly but that the spouse resents the fact that a husband or wife is not giving first loyalty to the marriage during these squabbles.
Communication difficulties, poor conflict resolution, and a partner’s lack of respect all made it into the top 10 reasons for divorce. By extension, a partner who refuses to address the problem of intrusive in-laws and does not respect his or her spouse’s feelings on the matter makes intrusive in-laws a probable factor in divorce. But what if intrusive in-law problems follow you after the divorce, impacting the allocation of parental responsibilities and peaceful co-parenting?