Are there certain principles or guidelines as to what a relationship should look like between in-laws?

The wife will set the stage basically for the husband and set boundaries with her parents, right?

It shouldn't be the guy's role to have difficult conversations with her parents, and vice versa, right?

It should be the guy's role to have these conversations with his parents before getting married. So a lot of it is like the setup leading up to it.

In premarital counseling, I talk a lot about your relationship with your parents because it's difficult to cope with change.

And for our parents, like you have a mom and maybe there's such a dynamic that between your parents, like your dad and mom, they don't get along that well.

And because mom doesn't have anybody to talk to. You're her like you're her person, right? So then she's complaining to you. She's talking to you like her best friend. She vents to you and there's this expectation and now all of a sudden you get married and your time is split.

Have you properly navigated that relationship with your mom and transitioned properly and told her look, you know I'm still your son, but it's different now.

And if you haven't then there's going to be problems.