Halloween & Parental Access

One of the hardest aspects of the holidays for people going through a divorce, or who are divorced, is to not share every holiday with your children. During settlement negotiations with your spouse, it is important to workout a holiday access schedule. This not only includes major religious holidays, but also more secular holidays like Halloween.

Over the last decade, Halloween celebrations have greatly increased in popularity. Whether it is Halloween parties, trick-or-treating, or doing a trunk-or-treat at your children’s school, these are all important events in your children’s lives. It is important to put your children’s needs first, especially as they get older and prefer to do more of these activities with their friends.

In general, secular holidays are alternated between the parents with one parent having the children for certain holidays in even years and then the other parent having the children for those holidays in odd years. However, there is often a provision that if there are school events that both parents are able to participate in those events. Therefore, if it is not your year to celebrate Halloween with the children, you can still participate in the school trunk-or-treat. It is important to keep things cordial with your former spouse in front of the children and at the children’s school.