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Parenting Time & Schedules

Makeup Parenting Time When a Visit Gets Canceled

Learn when a canceled visit earns makeup parenting time, how state rules differ, and how to ask in writing, plus what to do if the answer is no.

Best for the Children Editorial·8 min read·October 25, 2026

Your weekend is on the calendar. The child's bag is packed, or you've been looking forward to Friday all week. Then a text comes in: your child is sick, or the other parent "has plans," or your own boss has put you on a shift you can't get out of. Is that time just lost? Not always. Whether you get makeup time depends on your state, on your court order and, most of all, on why the visit was canceled. Here is how to tell if it's owed, how to ask for it in writing, and what to do if the answer is no.

Do you get makeup time?

No single rule covers the whole country. Makeup parenting time means rescheduling a visit, or adding one, to replace time that was missed under your schedule. In most places it happens in one of two ways. The parents agree to it, or a court orders it because one parent's time was wrongfully denied.

The two states with the clearest rules show how far apart states can be:

  • Michigan requires every circuit court to have a makeup parenting time policy for a parent who was wrongfully denied time. Makeup time has to match what was lost: a weekend for a weekend, a holiday for a holiday. The denied parent chooses the makeup time, and it has to be used within one year of the missed visit.
  • Texas treats makeup time as something parents can agree to, or that a court can order as compensation when a parent brings an enforcement case.

Who canceled matters too. These rules are written for a parent whose time was denied. If you canceled your own visit for work, travel or anything else, you usually have no right to makeup time. The other parent can still agree to it as a courtesy, and many do. Asking politely, and taking no for an answer, often leads to the same courtesy when the roles are reversed.

Through all of this, remember what your child sees. Children track the calendar more closely than adults think. To a child, a missed weekend doesn't feel like a scheduling problem. It can feel like a promise that was broken.

Why the cancellation matters

Once you know your state has rules, the next question is the reason for the cancellation. A court will usually look at three kinds of reasons differently:

  • The child is truly ill. A child with a high fever who needs to stay in bed is not the same as a child with a runny nose. In one California trial court ruling from El Dorado County, the judge found that a child's severe illness was the only good reason for a missed visit in that case, and still ordered the parents to set a time to make it up. That was one local ruling, not a statewide rule. It still shows something useful: a good reason to miss a visit doesn't always erase the time.
  • A parent has a work or schedule conflict. If that parent is you, see above: makeup time usually depends on the other parent agreeing.
  • A parent simply refuses to hand the child over. This is the case makeup rules are written for.

Some local policies are stricter than parents expect. Alpena County, Michigan's model policy lists "child has a minor illness" among reasons that are generally not valid for denying parenting time. It lists a parent's drinking or drug use as a reason that may be valid. That is one county's policy, and the next county over may word it differently. Read your own order and your local court's rules before you decide whether a cancellation was "wrongful."

How to ask for makeup time in writing

Whichever side of the cancellation you're on, the request goes better in writing and as early as you can manage. Many standard orders require at least 24 hours' written notice if you can't use your scheduled time. Depending on your order, a text, an email or a co-parenting app may count.

If you're the one canceling, ask for makeup time in that same message. Remember it only happens if both parents agree.

A good request is short and specific:

  • Name the missed time. "I wasn't able to have Saturday, October 17."
  • Give the reason if you're the one who canceled. Sharing why tends to lower the temperature.
  • Offer specific dates. "Could I have Sunday, October 25, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., or the evening of Halloween for trick-or-treating?" A vague "let's make it up sometime" rarely turns into an actual visit.
  • Keep the tone cooperative. Write it as if a judge might read it someday, because one might.

When the other parent agrees, confirm the plan in writing: start and end dates and times, who picks up, who drops off, and anything else that matters, such as a costume, homework or a practice that day.

Michigan has a formal version of this for wrongfully denied time. The denied parent gives written notice to both the Friend of the Court and the other parent. The notice has to go out at least one week ahead for weekend or weekday makeup time, and at least 28 days ahead for holiday or summer time. If you're hoping to make up a missed holiday around Thanksgiving on November 26, that 28-day window is already close.

When the other parent says no

An agreement made by text can fall apart, and that is where the gap between informal and formal matters. Courts often won't enforce an informal makeup arrangement that differs from the written order. In Texas, a written agreement signed by both parents and filed with the court as a "Rule 11 Agreement" can be enforced. Other states have their own ways to make an agreement official. If makeup time matters enough to fight over, it matters enough to put on paper with the court.

If your time was wrongfully denied and talking hasn't worked, the court route depends on where you live:

  • Michigan: You start with the Friend of the Court. If it finds the violation can be enforced, it sends the other parent a notice. That parent has 21 days to respond in writing. If they don't respond, the time is treated as wrongfully denied.
  • Texas: The denied parent can bring an enforcement case and ask for civil contempt. That is the path that can produce court-ordered makeup time. Jail or criminal contempt isn't required to get it.
  • Elsewhere: Look for a "denied parenting time" complaint, a motion to enforce or a contempt motion. Some courts want you to try first. Clark County, Washington's Superior Court encourages parents to agree on makeup time themselves before filing a motion.

Deadlines can be short, so check your county's rules early.

Meanwhile, keep a simple log: the date, what was scheduled, what happened, and copies of the messages. Courts appreciate a clear record. When the time comes, send only what the court asks for. A tidy page of dates says more than a hundred screenshots.

Keeping it child-first

Makeup time is supposed to be for the child, so fit it around the child's life. If the only open weekend lands on a tournament, a birthday party or the school play, that isn't really giving time back to your child. It's taking something else away. Ask your child what they'd enjoy, when they're old enough to have a view. Just don't make them pick between homes.

Be flexible within reason. Swapping now and then is normal. Constant requests to trade and make up time wear down even good co-parents, and children feel that strain at every handoff.

Don't use makeup time to keep score. Your child will notice when "my time" turns into a weapon, and those moments tend to stay with them. In twenty-five years of family court, we've heard children describe it the same way again and again: they feel like the rope in a tug-of-war.

If canceled visits have become a pattern, whether because of a work schedule that no longer fits or repeated denials, makeup time can only patch the problem. Asking the court to change the order may serve your child better.

Every state handles this differently, so check your own state's rules and your own order. A local family law attorney or your court's self-help center can tell you which forms, notice periods and deadlines apply where you live.

Sources (5)

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