Oakton, Virginia · Child Visitation & Parenting Time
A canceled weekend is not just a square on a calendar. It is a missed soccer game, a birthday you were not there for, an hour of your child’s short childhood you do not get back. When your time gets taken, you want it returned. Here is the answer: make-up visitation is time a Virginia court can award to replace parenting time you lost, whether the other parent withheld it or a real-life disruption swallowed it. In Oakton, we help you recover the time instead of just mourning it.
By Corrie Sirkin, Esq. · Founding Partner, NOVA Legal Professionals
This article is one part of our larger guide to child visitation in Virginia. For the full picture, start with our cornerstone, Child Visitation and Parenting Time in Virginia. Here, I will focus on when make-up time is available, and how to actually get it back.
What make-up time is
Make-up time is replacement parenting time, days or weekends added to your schedule to substitute for time you were owed but did not get. It is one of the most practical remedies in visitation law, because it focuses on restoring the relationship rather than only punishing the other parent. You can read more on our make-up time page.
Lost time is not the same as lost money
People sometimes treat a missed visit like a missed payment, something to be squared up later without much feeling. It is not like that. The time you lost had a shape, a particular weekend, a season of games, a holiday that will not come around again the same way. You cannot get that exact afternoon back. What you can get is replacement time of equal value, and a good make-up arrangement tries to honor not just the hours but the kind of time that was lost, an extra-long weekend for a missed one, summer days for a swallowed summer week.
When make-up time applies
Make-up time comes up in two very different situations. The first is wrongful denial, when the other parent withheld your court-ordered time, which ties directly to enforcement and contempt. The second is no-fault disruption, when nobody did anything wrong but the time was lost anyway, a hospitalization, a deployment, a family emergency, a long illness. Many parenting orders include a make-up provision for exactly these moments, so the time is automatically rescheduled instead of vanishing.
Build Make-Up Into the Order Now
The smartest time to handle make-up time is before you ever need it. A well-drafted visitation order specifies what happens when a visit is missed: how quickly make-up time must be offered, who selects the replacement dates, and how an exchange that falls through is rescheduled. Parents who put this in the order up front avoid a fight later, because the rule is already written. If your current order is silent on make-up time, that is a strong reason to consider updating it.
Lost parenting time you want back in Oakton?
Tell us what you missed and why, and we will pursue the make-up time. The first call is a conversation, not a commitment.
How a Virginia court approaches it
Courts decide make-up time, like all visitation questions, under the best interests of the child standard in Virginia Code Section 20-124.3. When time has been wrongfully denied, a judge can order make-up time as part of enforcing the order under Section 20-124.2, often alongside other remedies. When the loss was nobody’s fault, the court still has the authority to reschedule the time so that neither the child nor the parent is penalized for a disruption neither caused. The focus stays on preserving the relationship.
How to actually recover the time
Start by documenting precisely what was missed and why, the same calm record that powers an enforcement case. Then ask, through the order’s make-up provision, if it has one, or through a motion if it does not, for specific replacement dates rather than a vague promise of a time someday. If your order has no make-up language at all, we can pair the request with a modification to add it. An Oakton case would be heard in the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
How we help in Oakton
We help you recover lost parenting time with specifics: documenting what was missed, asking for replacement dates of equal value, and building a make-up rule into the order so the next disruption does not cost you. We pursue it as enforcement when the time was denied and as a fair reschedule when it was not. We do this for parents across Oakton, Vienna, and the Fairfax city area.
“A canceled weekend is an hour of a short childhood you do not get back. Make-up time is how we recover it, not just account for it.”
Corrie Sirkin, Esq. · Founding Partner
Corrie’s Honest Counsel
Do not let lost time quietly disappear. Document exactly what was missed and why, then ask for specific replacement dates of equal value, not a vague promise. If the loss was due to a wrongful denial, pursue it through enforcement; if it was due to a real disruption, ask the court to reschedule. Best of all, build a make-up rule into the order now so the next missed visit reschedules itself.
Make-up time keeps a canceled weekend from becoming a permanently lost piece of your child’s childhood, restoring the relationship rather than just settling a score.
Authoritative References
Sources
- Code of Virginia, § 20-124.3. Sets the best-interests factors a court weighs when awarding or rescheduling make-up time.
- Code of Virginia, § 20-124.2. Authorizes the court to enter and enforce visitation orders, including make-up time as a remedy.
Virginia authority verified as of June 2026. Every family and every parenting schedule is different; confirm the current rules and what fits your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is make-up visitation time?
It is replacement parenting time, days or weekends added to your schedule to substitute for time you were owed but did not get. It focuses on restoring the relationship rather than only punishing the other parent.
When can I get make-up time?
In two situations: when the other parent wrongfully denied your court-ordered time, and when a no-fault disruption like a hospitalization, deployment, or emergency caused you to lose time. Many orders provide for both.
How does the court decide make-up time?
Under the best interests of the child. When time was wrongfully denied, a court can order make-up time as part of enforcement. When the loss was nobody’s fault, the court can still reschedule so the parent and child are not penalized.
Should make-up time be in my order?
Yes. A well-drafted order says how quickly make-up time must be offered, who picks the dates, and how a missed exchange is rescheduled. Putting it in the order up front avoids a fight later, and a silent order can be updated to add it.
When You Are Ready
Let’s get your time back, in Oakton.
Tell us what you missed and why, and we will pursue the make-up time. The first call is a conversation, not a commitment.