What is your relationship like with your in-laws?

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I am curious about what kind of relationship people have with their in-laws. My personal experience has been mixed. In the beginning my in-laws were horrible to me. They were rude and inconsiderate. The were purposefully cruel and nasty. After my husband and I got married they were somewhat nicer. Then they became unbearable after the birth of our first child and worse yet they were unkind to our son and ignored him completely if the other grandchildren were around. It was so bad at one point we cut off ties with them for a while. Since we started speaking to them again they have been nicer to both me and my children, but there are times it stills seems very forced sometimes. It is much better than it used to be and they seem to be trying to be nice but I just can't seem to let my guard down with them. The worst part is that my son is autistic and my husband's step sister's children are down right cruel to our son in front of my mother-in-law, her husband, and his daughter (my husband's step sister) who by the way is a pediatrician, and no one does anything. The last time we saw them my son was in such a panic after being repeated tormented that he was screaming and on the point of meltdown and no one did anything. I was outside and happen to look up and se my son in the door way with panic on his face and could tell he was melting down. I went running inside only to find our "niece and nephew" systematically torturing our son and the adults in the room ignoring it despite his screams. I have never been closer to doing physical violence to anyone than I was that moment. Has anyone else ever had a strained relationship like this with their in-laws and how did you handle it?