Should parents who miss out on time with a child because of Covid-19 get make-up time? This question came up in a webinar I attended recently. I wasn’t surprised to hear different opinions expressed in the answers. This week I took a look at the recent case law dealing with make-up parenting time in the Covid-19 context to see what the courts are saying. The case law also shows mixed opinions. In some cases, specific make-up access was ordered by the judge hearing the urgent motion. (See Multani v. Rana, 2020 ONSC 2433; C.L.B. v. A.J.N., 2020 ONSC 213; Tessier v. Rick, 2020 ONSC 2391; Feldman v. Knight, 2020 ONSC 1971; and Smith v. Smith, 2020 ONCJ 180.) In other cases, the judge told the parents to try to agree on make-up access and if they couldn’t to include written submissions on that point along with their costs submissions. (See Lee v. Lee, 2020 ONSC 2044 and Price v. Salhia, 2020 ONSC 2271.) In another case, the judge said the question about make-up access wasn’t urgent so the details about it should be dealt with in the future, not now. (See Berube v. Berube, 2020 ONSC 2591.) And, in some cases where make-up access was requested, the judge either didn’t address it or declined to make a determination. (See Peerenboom v. Peerenboom, 2020 ONSC 2533; Balbontin v. Luwawa, 2020 ONSC 2060; and McNulty v. Graham, 2020 ONSC 2264.)

Given all these different approaches, how can lawyers give proper advice and parents make good decisions about this issue? Think about it from the child’s perspective. The questions we should really be asking are: Should a child have make-up time with the other parent because of missed time during Covid-19? What opportunities for developing the child-parent bond did the child miss? Has or can that missed opportunity be provided for in some other way or at some other time? As Justice MacEachern said in Rick v. Tessier, ONSC 239, we shouldn’t get hung up on “counting time” but rather “focus on the quality of time, maintaining the child's connection to both parents, in a manner that also provides a safe, secure, and stable environment.” If we take this approach, I think we will find that some additional time will be appropriate in most cases.