Reveron

I. Introduction

The marriage of Timothy M. Seagondollar (Timothy) and Melinda T. Seagondollar (Melinda) 1 ended in dissolution, and they were given shared physical and legal custody of their four minor children. Timothy appeals from a postjudgment order changing that arrangement to give Melinda sole physical and legal custody and permitting her to move with the children to Virginia, where Melinda now resides with her new husband. We reverse because the trial court deprived Timothy of an opportunity to be meaningfully heard before granting Melinda’s “move-away” request.

A custody decision allowing one parent to move the children out of the state necessarily interferes with the other parent’s ability to have frequent and continuing contact with them. Such a decision “is one of the most serious decisions a family law court is required to make,” and should not be made “in haste.” (In re Marriage of McGinnis (1992) 7 Cal.App.4th 473, 477 [ 9 Cal.Rptr.2d 182 ], disapproved on other grounds in In re Marriage of Burgess *1120 (1996) 13 Cal.4th 25 [ 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 444 , 913 P.2d 473 ].) “The best interests of the children require that competing claims be considered in a calm,…