NIKO

*348 Opinion

Uikilifi Niko appeals from the trial court’s order modifying a prior child custody judgment and establishing a new coparenting plan. Niko is the father and Robyn Foreman is the mother of Taylor. The prior judgment granted the parents joint physical custody with essentially a 50/50 division of physical custody time and provided that neither parent could change the child’s residence to a location outside the state of California without the written permission of the other party, or alternatively, by order of the court. The modification order at issue continues the joint custody order, but allows Foreman to change Taylor’s residence to Colorado and significantly changes Niko’s physical custody time with his son. Under the new coparenting plan, Foreman will have the physical custody of the child during the school year and Niko will have physical custody during summers, a portion of each winter vacation, and alternating Thanksgiving vacations and spring breaks.

Niko asserts the court applied the wrong standard in deciding Foreman’s modification petition, improperly considered the preference of the minor, and erroneously denied his motion to dismiss the petition and his…

I agree with my colleagues on the sanctions issue, but cannot agree with that portion of the majority opinion which rejects Niko’s challenge to the move-away order in this case. I must, therefore, respectfully dissent.

There are few concepts in the law as vital—as sacrosanct—as the finality of judgments. It is not hyperbole to say that assuring litigants of the finality of judgments is a sine qua non of an effective system of civil justice. At a time when both the Statue of Liberty and Coca-Cola were new, and neither basketball nor motion pictures had yet made an appearance, California courts were holding that “there must be an end of litigation; and when parties have once submitted a matter ... it must be regarded as final and conclusive, unless it can be shown that [something] has prevented a fair submission of the controversy.” (Pico v. Cohn (1891) 91 Cal. 129, 133 [ 25 P. 970 ].) We have considered it so important that we have upheld it even when the judgment has been procured by perjured testimony, false evidence, or intrinsic fraud. “ ‘[P]ublic policy requires that only in exceptional circumstances should the consequences of res judicata be denied to a valid judgment.’…

O'LEARY, J.

Uikilifi Niko appeals from the trial court's order modifying a prior child custody judgment and establishing a new co-parenting plan. Niko is the father and Robyn Foreman is the mother of Taylor. The prior judgment granted the parents joint physical custody with essentially a 50/50 division of physical custody time and provided that neither parent could change the child's residence to a location outside the state of California without the written permission of the other party, or alternatively, by order of the court. The modification order at issue continues the joint custody order, but allows Foreman to change Taylor's residence to Colorado and significantly changes Niko's physical custody time with his son. Under the new coparenting plan, Foreman will have the physical custody of the child during the school year and Niko will have physical custody during summers, a portion of each winter vacation, and alternating Thanksgiving vacations and spring breaks.

Niko asserts the court applied the wrong standard in deciding Foreman's modification petition, improperly considered the preference of the minor, and erroneously denied his motion to dismiss the petition and his…