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Log What You Lost
Record each missed visit with the date and the reason, so there is no argument later about what is owed.
Monday - Friday8:30AM - 5PM
OfficesFairfax | Manassas
Child Visitation / Make-Up Time
Make-Up Time · Virginia
Time you were owed, given back as real dates.
When you lose parenting time you were promised, "you'll get it back" is not good enough. We ask the court for specific make-up days, written down and enforceable, so the time you missed is actually returned.
First call is a conversation, not a commitment.
The Short Answer
When the other parent wrongly denied your court-ordered time, a Virginia court can order make-up time so you recover what you lost. The key is asking for specific replacement dates, not a vague promise that you will get the time back somehow. Specific make-up days are clear and enforceable.
How It Works
Lost time is not gone time.
A missed weekend is not just a square on a calendar. It is a birthday you were not there for, a game you did not see, a stretch of your child's life you do not get to rewind. When that time is taken from you in violation of the order, the law does not expect you to simply absorb the loss. It lets you ask for the time back. The trick is in how you ask.
Vague promises versus real dates
The single most common mistake is accepting a fuzzy promise. The other parent says you will make it up "sometime," and that sometime never arrives, or it turns into the next argument. The fix is to ask the court for specific make-up days, with actual dates and times. A precise make-up order is something you can hold up and enforce. A vague one is just the next fight waiting to happen.
When the other parent denied your time
If your time was lost because the other parent withheld the child in violation of the order, make-up time is one of the central remedies. You document each denial, bring it to the court, and ask for replacement days as part of the relief. This is where make-up time and enforcement run together, the denial proves the violation, and the make-up days repair the damage.
When time is missed for a good reason
Sometimes the missed time is nobody's fault. A parent gets sick, work sends them out of town, a child's activity swallows a visit. The cleanest way to handle this is to build a make-up provision into the order from the start, so legitimate missed time can be rescheduled without a court fight. Where the order is silent, we work toward agreement first and ask the court only if we have to.
Ask promptly
Whatever the reason, raise it quickly. Courts respond far better to a parent who flags a missed visit right away and asks to reschedule than to one who lets months pile up and then demands a long ledger of back time. Promptness reads as good faith, and good faith matters.
The remedyThe court can order make-up time to replace what was wrongly lost.
Do it rightAsk for specific dates and times, not a vague promise.
If deniedMake-up days are a central remedy in an enforcement case.
Plan aheadBuild a make-up provision into the order for legitimate misses.
SourceBest interests standard, Va. Code § 20-124.3; court enforcement powers.
Specific Beats Vague Every Time
"You'll get it back" is the promise that disappears. A make-up order with real dates is the one you can enforce. When you recover lost time, insist the days be written down, not left to good intentions.
Source: Va. Code § 20-124.3
Corrie Sirkin, Esq.Founding Partner
Attorney Insight
A few honest things about make-up time.
"The difference between getting your time back and losing it for good is almost always one word: specific."
I have watched too many parents accept a friendly "we'll make it up" and never see those days again. So I am blunt about it. If you are owed time, we ask for it as dates on a calendar, not as a feeling of goodwill. When the time was wrongly withheld, we fold the make-up request into the enforcement motion so the court fixes both at once. And when a visit was missed for an honest reason, I would rather we build a make-up rule into the order ahead of time than argue about it afterward. Specific, written, prompt. That is how lost time becomes time you actually get.
Questions Parents Ask
Plain answers about make-up time.
These are the questions parents ask most when they have lost time they were owed. If yours is not here, we are happy to answer it directly.
Have a specific question?
Call 571.260.0999 or send us a message.
Can I get back visitation time I missed?
Often, yes. When the other parent wrongly denied your court-ordered time, a Virginia court can order make-up time so you recover what you lost.
The key is to ask for specific replacement dates rather than a vague promise that you will get the time back somehow.
How is make-up time ordered?
The most reliable approach is for the court to order specific make-up days, with dates and times, instead of a general statement that the time will be returned. Specific make-up days are clear and enforceable, while a vague promise tends to evaporate and lead to another dispute.
What if I missed time for my own reasons?
That depends on the order and the circumstances. The cleanest solution is to build a make-up provision into the order in advance, so missed time for legitimate reasons can be rescheduled. Courts are generally more receptive when the time was missed for a good reason and you raise it promptly.
How does make-up time relate to enforcement?
Make-up time is one of the main remedies in an enforcement or contempt case. If the other parent denied your time, you document the denials, take them to court, and ask for specific make-up days as part of the relief. The two issues usually travel together.
When You Are Ready
Owed time you never got back? Let's recover it.
Bring us the dates you lost, and we will pursue specific make-up days you can count on, by agreement where possible and by the court where necessary. Three offices across Northern Virginia, one phone number.