Leaving The Spouse, But Keeping the In-Laws: Should You Do It?

The most difficult part of leaving a marriage can be the break up of family ties with in-laws. Sometimes your relationships with a sister-in-law, brother-in-law, mother-in-law or father-in-law can develop to become closer than your own blood relatives. Should you dissolve these relationships when a marriage ends in divorce? Or should you maintain lifelong family ties, even when your "in-laws" have become your "out-laws"? What about when there are no children involved, and there is literally no reason to stay connected, other than you really liked each other? Does the presence of a former spouse create problems for a new "would-be" spouse, especially when the parents liked the former spouse better? How do you handle it if you are the new spouse-to-be? How do you handle it if you're the favored ex-spouse? Should you step aside out of courtesy, or should you still remain close with your ex-in-laws?