Halloween marks the time of the year when a months-long procession of holidays, events and seasonal celebrations begin. When you think of the holiday season, you probably think of Thanksgiving and Christmas. But you should not forget about Halloween - especially if you have younger children. 

Halloween is a very child-oriented holiday, and it is one that your children will probably have memories of for years to come. You do not want to spend this holiday fighting over who gets to spend time with your child when, which is why if you do not already have these issues outlined in a parenting plan, you should start talking about it now with the help of a skilled family law attorney. 

Here are 3 tips to help you have a happy and fun Halloween:

Traditionally, it was assumed that the man works to support his family financially while the woman, though she may have had a career before she was married, would quit her job to stay home and take care of the children and the home. Because of that, many women would be in a state of financial distress if they got divorced because they did not have any income of their own - which is where alimony came in. 

In Illinois, alimony is called spousal support or spousal maintenance. These days, it is no unusual to see the man acting as the stay-at-home parent, or neither parent being a stay-at-home parent. Spousal maintenance is an important part of any divorce in which one spouse decided to sacrifice career for his or her family.

Determining Eligibility

Maintenance is not guaranteed to all divorcing couples. In some cases, the court will decide that maintenance is not appropriate or not needed. When making this determination, Illinois courts look factors such as the needs of each spouse, whether a spouse quit their career to tend to children or the home and the earning potential of each spouse.

In some divorces, the completion of the divorce is the last time that the couple will have to talk or communicate with each other. Once you have gone your own ways, there is no need to have anything to do with each other again. 

If you have children, divorce can become a little bit more complicated. Having children with someone means that you will forever be bound to that person because you share a child or children in common. 

Even though you may still have feelings of anger or hurt against your ex-spouse, it is important that you put those feelings aside for the sake of your children. Co-parenting takes a great deal of cooperation and compromise. Here are five tips to help practice successful co-parenting after a divorce:

When you are engaged to get married, one of the last things on your mind is divorce. Though it is not a romantic topic, or even one that you want to broach, thinking about what would happen if the marriage ended should be on your to-do list before you tie the knot. 

Talking with your partner about what divorce might look like in your case can help the both of you have peace of mind during the marriage and could make for a simple divorce if it does happen. Prenuptial agreements can help you sort out your finances and help determine how marital property is divided if you decide to call it quits. 

People enter prenuptial agreements for the security that they provide, so it is important that your agreement will hold up in court. There are several mistakes that can make your prenuptial agreement invalid, and many times these mistakes occur when one or both spouses does not retain counsel when agreeing to a prenup.

It does not matter whether you and your spouse are divorcing amicably - you still have to divide your property between the two of you before your divorce can be finalized. While this process can be annoying at best and combative at worst, it is a necessary evil of divorce. Illinois courts look at the division of property as being equitable, rather than equal. You may not necessarily come out of the marriage with everything that you personally gained during the marriage. Dividing property during a divorce can be a careful game of negotiations, especially when it comes to high-value assets, such as a house or a vehicle. Here are a few common assets that most couples have and how they can be divided:

Your Home

Though the family home can be a source of emotional attachment for many people, the easiest way to decide what happens to the home is to sell it and split the profits. That would only work if you have equity in your home. If you have to sell your home for less than what you owe on your mortgage, you will have to determine who pays the remaining mortgage amount after it is sold. If one of you wants to keep the home and the other one does not, then the spouse who wants to keep the home can buy out the other half of the home, but you will need an accurate assessment of what your home is currently worth.

Your Vehicle

If you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse own a vehicle together, it can go the same way as the home. You can either sell the vehicle and split the profits, or one of you who wants to keep the car and buy out the other person’s half. Figure out what the current value of your vehicle is and then split that in half - that would be the amount your spouse should pay you if he or she wants to keep the vehicle.