Hopefully, you will never hear any of these tired, overused threats. But if you do, take comfort in knowing you're probably on the right track and the other side is very worried. Think about it: if they have nothing to worry about, why bother? This is a partial list of the mean, nasty, false remarks we hear from time to time:

• "I am going to drag this case out forever. By the time you get your share of the property, you'll be too old to enjoy it."
• "If you persist in your economic demands, I am going to file a custody action and take the children away from you."
• "I've got the best lawyer in town. He's going to kill you and your lawyer."
• "My lawyer is mean. He's going to make your life miserable."
• "Your lawyer is a crook. His only interest is to drag out the case in order to make more money."
• "You've gotten yourself the most expensive lawyer around. The two lawyers are going to eat up all of the assets that we acquired during the marriage."
• "My lawyer knows all of the judges. There's no way that you are going to get a decent result in court."
• "I was ready to give you a fair settlement. Now that you got a lawyer, I am going to play hard ball and you're going to end up with much less that I was willing to give you."
• "You're crazy for pushing this divorce case. All that you are doing is taking money away from the children."
• "If you don't settle on a reasonable basis, I will have to take the children out of private school."
• "I'm going to tell the children that you are responsible for this mess."
• "At the rate you and your lawyer are going, I'll have to declare bankruptcy and nobody is going to win."
• "If you don't settle on my terms, I'm going to drag your girlfriend [or boyfriend] into this cause."
• "You can't trust divorce lawyers. They always work with the lawyer on the other side and run up unnecessary time to make more money."