Little ghouls or kids dressed up like Donald Trump are scary enough on Halloween. Add in a home insurance claim on that frightful night and you’ve really got a disaster.

A trip and fall, drunken party guest, or obstructed walkway to your house, among other things, could lead to someone being injured and a personal injury claim against your homeowners insurance.

The insurance policies protect homeowners from claims brought against them by others, such as for injuries that happened on their property, dog bites or anything where someone can be injured, such as slippery steps leading to a house.

Luckily, most homeowners don’t file personal injury claims. Property damage, including theft, accounted for 97 percent of claims filed in 2013, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Only 4.8 percent of insured homes had a claim that year.

But ranked by severity in dollars, the average claim from 2009-13 for bodily injury and property damage was $19,466, according to ISO, an analytics company. The only area ahead of that were fire and lightning claims at $37,153.

Still, insurance is there to protect your home against personal injury or damage claims, no matter how rare they are. Here are some home insurance claims to avoid at Halloween, including how to prevent them:

Injured trick-or-treaters

Accidents are more likely in the dark when the little ghouls can’t see where they’re walking, especially in ill-fitting costumes and masks while carrying loads of candy with them.

If they fall on your property, the homeowner liability portion of your policy will protect you if the injured person files a claim with your insurer. If you weren’t negligent, the policy will cover their medical bills.

Your negligence wouldn’t be if a kid couldn’t see through his mask and fell. But if your Halloween decorations caused a kid to trip and fall, you could be negligent and your claim might not be covered, potentially resulting in you being sued.

The easiest solution is to keep Halloween decorations away from visitors’ feet, and to sidewalks and entryways free of obstacles. Also turn on your outdoor lighting so kids can see where they’re going.

Haunted house

The same rules apply here as they do visiting trick-or-treaters. If you’ve set up your yard or garage as a haunted house, ensure walkways are clear of trip hazards such as wires, pumpkins and throw rugs.

Drunken guests

This can happen at any party you host, so it’s worthwhile to consider not allowing your guests to drink too much any time of the year.

If someone gets drunk at your party and then drives away and crashes, your home insurance could be canceled.

Known as “social host liability,” it’s the legal term for criminal and civil responsibility of someone who provides liquor to a guest. The host isn’t liable for injuries sustained by a drunken guest who is also negligent. But the host can be held liable for third parties and passengers of the guest who have been injured.

Before hosting a Halloween party, ask your insurance agent about your homeowners coverage and limitations for this kind of risk. You’ll likely have some liquor liability coverage, but it could be limited to $100,000 to $300,000, and you may want to buy more coverage.

As the party host, it’s your responsibility to ensure guests don’t leave drunk and then drive. You can reduce your social host liability exposure by hiring a professional bartender who is trained to recognize signs of intoxication so they can limit drinking by partygoers.

You can also encourage guests to pick a designated driver who won’t drink alcohol, limit your alcohol intake, don’t pressure guests to drink, and call cabs for guests who drink too much or are too tired to drive home.

Egg-throwing ghosts

If a thrown egg dents your home’s siding, a rock is tossed at your home, or you’re the victim of some other type of vandalism on Halloween, then a standard homeowners policy should cover vandalism.

The main issue to determine is if the cost of repairing the damage is more than your deductible. Even if it is, you may want to avoid filing an insurance claim so that your rates don’t increase if you file too many claims in a year.

Decorations cause a fire

A home fire caused by a candle inside a jack-o-lantern or faulty yet decorative Halloween lights will be covered by home insurance. If the fire is so bad that you can’t live in your home during repairs, the policy will pay your living expenses.

Avoid this potential disaster by using battery-powered lights in jack-o-lanterns, and don’t put candles or matches in areas where children can reach. Look for UL (Underwriters Laboratories) safety certifications on any decorative lights you buy. And definitely don’t set up a flamethrowing jack-o-lantern.

Get proper insurance coverage for Halloween

Along with extra liquor liability coverage if you’re hosting a Halloween party, consider getting a one-time special event policy to cover you if someone is injured or property is damaged at the party.

Another option is to buy an umbrella policy, also known as personal liability insurance, to cover all of your assets and go beyond the liability limits on your home insurance policy.

By taking these precautions you may not have to deal with what every homeowner wants to avoid but probably doesn’t think about: liability claims. They could be scarier than any costumed character you see on Halloween night.

Aaron Crowe is a freelance journalist who specializes in personal finance writing. Follow him on Twitter @AaronCrowe.

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