Virtual Parenting Time After a Relocation: What Ontario Courts Order and Expect

When a parent relocates — whether to another city, another province, or another country — the parenting-time schedule that worked before no longer works. The overnight visits, the mid-week dinners, the spontaneous pickups: all of these become impossible at distance.

In their place, courts and parents increasingly rely on virtual parenting time — video calls, voice calls, messaging platforms, and shared digital experiences that allow the non-relocating parent to maintain a presence in the child's life between in-person visits. But virtual contact has real limits, and understanding those limits is essential to building a parenting plan that actually serves your child.

What Is Virtual Parenting Time?

Virtual parenting time (sometimes called "electronic contact" or "virtual access" in older orders) refers to any scheduled parenting time delivered through technology rather than physical presence. Common formats include:

• Video calls (FaceTime, Zoom, Google Meet, or other platforms)
• Voice calls — sometimes preferred for younger children who find screens overwhelming
• Text or messaging exchanges — usually for older children who communicate independently
• Shared online activities — reading together via screen share, watching a show simultaneously, playing an online game

Courts have recognized virtual parenting time as a legitimate form of contact, and the Divorce Act explicitly acknowledges that parenting time and contact can take place through "any means" including technology. However, courts are consistently clear that virtual contact is a supplement to, not a replacement for, meaningful in-person parenting time — especially for young children.

When Is Virtual Parenting Time Ordered?

After a relocation, most detailed parenting orders include virtual parenting time as a scheduled component of the overall arrangement. It typically appears in one of two roles:

As a Bridge Between In-Person Visits

When the non-relocating parent has the child for extended blocks — summer holidays, spring break, school vacations — virtual parenting time fills the long gaps between those visits. A twice-weekly video call during the school year helps maintain the parent-child relationship across the months between in-person visits.

As a Supplement to Reduced In-Person Time

In some post-relocation arrangements, the non-relocating parent has fewer in-person days than before the move. Virtual time cannot fully compensate for lost in-person time, but a court may order it as part of a balanced package acknowledging the reality of the new situation.

What Courts Have Said About the Limits of Virtual Contact

Ontario courts have been clear and consistent: video calls cannot replicate in-person parenting for young children, and a relocation proposal that substitutes virtual contact for substantial in-person time will not be well received.

Several themes appear repeatedly in relocation cases:

Very young children — toddlers, infants, and children under about five — have developmental limitations that make sustained virtual interaction difficult. Attachment, physical presence, shared routines, and sensory contact matter enormously at this age. Courts are particularly reluctant to approve relocations where the non-relocating parent's meaningful parenting time would be reduced primarily to video calls for a young child.

Older children benefit more from technology, but even teenagers who communicate fluently via text and video still need in-person time for activities, shared experiences, and the texture of everyday life.

Virtual time depends on co-operation. If one parent is unwilling to facilitate calls, presses a child not to pick up, or allows calls to be cancelled without cause, virtual parenting time collapses quickly. Courts recognize this risk and sometimes include enforcement provisions in their orders.

What a Good Virtual Parenting Time Order Looks Like

A well-drafted virtual parenting time provision in a post-relocation order typically addresses:

Frequency and Scheduling

Specific days and times — not vague "as often as agreed." For example: "Virtual parenting time shall take place every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and every Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m."

Platform and Access

Which platform will be used, and who is responsible for ensuring the child has access to a device. Courts sometimes specify a neutral platform that both parties have agreed to use.

Facilitation Obligations

The parent who has physical care of the child at the time of the call has an obligation to make the child reasonably available. This does not mean the child must be forced to participate if genuinely distressed, but casual interference — "they're busy," "they didn't want to call today" — is not acceptable.

What Happens When Calls Are Missed

Orders may specify makeup time, or at minimum a notification requirement if a scheduled call cannot take place.

Spontaneous Contact

Some orders allow unscheduled contact at reasonable hours — a text or quick check-in — in addition to formal scheduled calls.

Building Virtual Time Into Your Relocation Proposal

If you are the relocating parent, the quality of your virtual parenting time proposal signals to the court how seriously you take the other parent's relationship with the child. Vague proposals undermine your credibility.

A strong proposal:

• Includes a realistic schedule (consider school nights, extracurricular activities, time zones if applicable)
• Specifies the platform and confirms the child will have access to a device
• Acknowledges the child's developmental stage and proposes age-appropriate call formats
• Shows you have thought about holidays, special occasions, and birthdays
• Leaves room for the schedule to evolve as the child grows

If you are the objecting parent, point out specifically why the virtual parenting time proposal is inadequate — not just that it feels insufficient, but why, given your child's age, relationship history, and needs, the proposal fails to maintain a meaningful relationship.

Frequently asked questions