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Ending a parent's visits

Emma Jane Avila Pohlman v. Clayton Trevor Fabeck

Updated Nov 11, 2026

In brief

Where it stands
Petition Pending

Awaiting an order on the petition

No decision timeline until the Court agrees to hear the case.

What it’s about
Emma Jane Avila Pohlman asks the Supreme Court to review a California custody dispute, arguing that state courts violated due process by relying on a disputed psychiatric diagnosis, excluding evidence she says supported her claims about the father, and indefinitely ending her contact with her children.
What's at stake
Pohlman's contact with her children is at issue, but the Supreme Court has not decided her claims.

Summary: written with AI from the case record.

What it's about

Pohlman says California courts relied on a disputed psychiatric diagnosis and excluded evidence in deciding custody and visitation.

Question presented

1. Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment permits a State to restrict and then eliminate a Mother’s contact with her children in reliance on an Evidence Code § 730 evaluator’s psychiatric diagnosis, after that evaluator testified under oath that the “delusion” he used to justify his diagnosis was not a “delusion” at all. 2. Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment allows a State to apply California Family Code § 3044 against a Mother based on emails found to have "disturbed Father's peace," while excluding evidence of Father's violence against Mother, and testimony from the Hawai‘i Police Department offered to prove that Father lied to the court. 3. Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment allows a State to indefinitely bar all contact between a Mother and her children under the label of a "suspension" of visitation, without clear and convincing evidence of parental unfitness or serious detriment to the children.

What happens next

The Court must decide whether to hear the case. No argument or decision date is set.

Documents

1

Docket activity

5
  • New analysis added

    Nov 11, 2026 · Court records

  • AI analysis generated: Case Briefing

    Nov 11, 2026 · Generated

  • Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata

    Nov 11, 2026 · Court records

  • Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata

    Nov 11, 2026 · Court records

  • Brief added: Petition

    Sep 8, 2026 · Court records

Sources

Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.

Checked Nov 11, 2026Methodology

Court records and filings

Reporting and analysis