Few reality-TV storylines collapse the distance between screen and courtroom as quickly as Taylor Frankie Paul’s did in 2026. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star spent much of the year in Utah courts, where a temporary protective order against Dakota Mortensen — the father of her youngest child, Ever — became a three-year mutual order on April 30, according to Los Angeles Times court coverage. The verified record shows a relationship that ended in legal filings, and a custody arrangement still being rewritten.
Full name: Taylor Frankie Paul ·
Known for: “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” ·
Children: 3 ·
Baby fathers: 2 ·
Protective order: Mutual, 2026-04-30 ·
Order length: 3 years
Quick snapshot
- Both Paul and Mortensen were granted protective orders on 2026-04-30 (Los Angeles Times)
- Ever, Paul’s youngest child, is Mortensen’s son (NBC News)
- Temporary custody of Ever went to Mortensen until the April 30 hearing (NBC News)
- Final custody of Ever is still unresolved after the April 30 hearing (Los Angeles Times)
- Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services filed a July 2026 petition; no juvenile court ruling is in the verified record (People)
- 2026-04-07: Paul granted a temporary protective order — the first of the 2026 filings (NBC News)
- 2026-04-30: Judge grants mutual protective orders for three years (Los Angeles Times)
- 2026-06-01: Commissioner allows unsupervised visits between Paul and Ever (The Salt Lake Tribune)
- 2026-07-08: Judge expands Paul’s parent-time to alternating weekends plus a midweek day (People)
- The juvenile court’s decision on the state’s July 2026 petition (People)
- Any further custody orders after the July 8 expansion (People)
- Whether the three-year protective order gets modified or stays in place (Los Angeles Times)
Three custody hearings and one criminal-calendar ruling in 2026 explain the whole case: each custody hearing gave Paul more time with Ever, while the protective order never budged.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full name | Taylor Frankie Paul |
| Known for | “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” (reality series) |
| Children | 3 — two fathers: Tate Paul and Dakota Mortensen |
| Temporary protective order | 2026-04-07, filed by Paul against Mortensen |
| Mutual protective orders | 2026-04-30, three years, 100 feet apart |
| Temporary custody of Ever | Mortensen, until the April 30 hearing |
| Supervised visitation | Up to eight hours per week, set at the April 30 hearing |
| June 1 change | Paul’s visits with Ever unsupervised |
| July 8 change | Alternating weekends through Monday morning, plus one midweek day, no overnights |
| 2023 assault charge | Reduced to a class A misdemeanor on 2026-08-07 |
What has Taylor Frankie Paul been diagnosed with?
Short answer: there is no confirmed diagnosis in the verified record. The court coverage that exists is about protective orders, child custody, and a 2023 domestic-violence assault charge — no medical or psychological diagnosis appears anywhere in it.
The absence matters because the question keeps circulating. Search interest in a diagnosis for Paul has produced plenty of speculation, but no doctor’s statement, no court finding, and no public confirmation from Paul herself appears in the coverage reviewed for this article.
Any “diagnosis” headline about Taylor Frankie Paul is not supported by the documented case record. Until a doctor, a court document, or Paul herself says otherwise, treat the claim as unverified.
Why this matters: the diagnosis rumor is the one thread of this story with no document behind it — which makes it the easiest to spread and the hardest to correct.
What happened with Taylor Frankie Paul and her husband?
Part of the confusion is a title problem: Paul’s ex-husband is Tate Paul; the man in the 2026 court case is Dakota Mortensen, who was never her husband. Two different relationships get rolled into one tabloid question.
- Ex-husband: Tate Paul — marriage around 2021, separation around 2024, per the show’s public narrative
- Co-parent in the 2026 case: Dakota Mortensen — father of Ever, not a husband
- Verified legal status: mutual protective orders since 2026-04-30 keep them apart
Who is Dakota Mortensen?
- Father of Paul’s youngest child, Ever
- Respondent in Paul’s 2026-04-07 protective order petition
- Publicly identified in the case as Ever’s father and as a party to the mutual orders
Mortensen carries a double role in the coverage: reality-show partner first, legal respondent second. The two roles converged in April, when a court filing turned a televised relationship into a legal matter.
His exact job title is not confirmed in the verified record, despite recurring searches — more on that below.
Did Dakota cheat on Taylor in season 3?
- Season 3 of the show built its arc around infidelity allegations involving Mortensen
- The verified court record does not address the cheating claim
- The legal case centered on protective orders and custody, not infidelity
The cheating storyline is the tabloid layer; the protective-order case is the legal layer. They attract the same public interest, but they are not the same record. Anyone looking for a court ruling on the affair will not find one.
Why did Dakota and Taylor break up?
- The split escalated into Paul’s 2026-04-07 protective order petition
- Mutual protective orders followed on 2026-04-30
- Neither party has issued a verified public statement naming a single cause
The closest thing to an official reason is procedural: by the end of April, the court had decided that these two co-parents needed to stay at least 100 feet apart. Whatever the personal causes, the legal one is now on the record.
The difference matters for anyone searching for a single narrative: the court case involves only one of them.
How many baby daddies does Taylor Frankie Paul have?
Three children and two fathers, so the “baby daddies” answer is short. The longer answer is about which father belongs to which child and who has custody of Ever right now.
- Children: 3
- Fathers: Tate Paul and Dakota Mortensen
- No third father is named anywhere in the verified record
Does Dakota have custody of Ever?
- As of 2026-04-30: Mortensen held custody of Ever; Paul’s visits were capped at up to eight supervised hours per week
- As of 2026-06-01: Paul could see Ever without supervision
- As of 2026-07-08: Paul’s parent-time expanded to alternating weekends through Monday morning plus one midweek day, with no overnights
The custody picture is the most moving part of the record: it changed three times in ten weeks. The April arrangement gave Mortensen the stronger hand; the July arrangement gives Paul regular, unsupervised time — but not overnight parenting.
Each 2026 hearing moved toward more parenting time for Paul, but the court has still not issued a final custody ruling. That keeps every number in this section provisional.
The upshot: custody remains in flux, but the father count is settled.
Is Taylor having another baby with Dakota?
- No pregnancy announcement appears in the verified record
- No court filing or cited coverage supports the rumor
This question circulates because the rest of the story is so public: a televised relationship, a shared child, and a courtroom file. But absence of documentation is not the same as denial — it simply means there is nothing reliable to answer it yet.
Are Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota still together?
- No. By the end of April 2026, mutual protective orders prohibited them from being together
- The orders require 100 feet of separation
- The earlier temporary order also barred phone, email, and any other form of contact
This is not a “they’re taking a break” situation. The court order is specific about distance, duration, and contact — the relationship now has a legal wall around it.
Is Taylor back together with Dakota?
“Back together” collides with a 100-foot rule: as of the 2026 mutual orders, being together would mean violating a court order that runs for three years.
No verified report shows a reconciliation. Even the premise of the question — that they could simply restart the relationship — is blocked by the protective orders.
Who is Dakota Mortensen’s ex-girlfriend?
- The verified record does not name an ex-girlfriend
- Season 3 discussion of Mortensen’s past relationships created the question, but no cited coverage confirms a name
This is the clearest case of a gap filling itself in public: viewers infer a third party from a storyline, and the inference hardens into a search query. The honest answer is that no verified source names her.
The pattern: every “is she or isn’t she” question about this couple now runs straight into a court order.
What does Dakota Mortensen do for a living?
- No verified source in the 2026 coverage identifies Mortensen’s occupation
- In the court record, he is characterized by his role as Ever’s father and as a respondent in the case
The job question surfaces in related searches because the show never made his career a central fact, and the court filings don’t discuss it. Without a verified source, a job title is speculation.
Who is Tate Paul with now?
- No verified reporting in the available record names Tate Paul’s current partner
- His role in public coverage is defined by the marriage to Paul and by his children, not by a new relationship
The same rule applies here: an absence of documentation, not a confirmation of anything. Tate Paul’s private life is not part of the verified 2026 record.
The trade-off: reliable coverage of this case tells you a lot about court dates and almost nothing about résumés or new partners.
Timeline: how the 2026 court case unfolded
The pre-2026 dates come from the show’s public narrative and are approximate; the 2026 dates are the verified court record from the cited coverage.
- — Marriage to Tate Paul (approximate, show’s public narrative)
- — First child with Tate Paul (approximate)
- — Separation from Tate Paul; relationship with Dakota Mortensen begins (approximate)
- — Birth of Ever, Paul’s youngest child, with Mortensen (approximate)
- — Paul files a temporary protective order: Mortensen must stay at least 100 feet away and may not contact Paul by phone, email, or other means; he keeps temporary custody of Ever until the next hearing (NBC News)
- — Judge grants mutual protective orders for three years; both parties must stay 100 feet apart; no final custody decision is reached
- — Commissioner rules Paul can see Ever without supervision; the change takes effect immediately and runs at least until the July 8 hearing
- — Judge expands Paul’s parent-time to alternating weekends through Monday morning plus one midweek day, without overnights
- — Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services asks a juvenile court to find Paul’s three children abused, neglected, or dependent
- — Paul’s 2023 domestic-violence assault charge is reduced to a class A misdemeanor (The Salt Lake Tribune)
The timeline confirms a clear trajectory: protective order fixed, parenting time expanding.
What’s confirmed — and what’s still unclear
Separating the two lists is the fastest way to read this story without getting lost in the noise.
- Confirmed: Paul and Mortensen both received protective orders on 2026-04-30; the orders last three years
- Confirmed: The temporary order from 2026-04-07 barred contact until the April 30 hearing
- Confirmed: Paul’s youngest child, Ever, is Mortensen’s son
- Confirmed: Paul’s visits with Ever moved from supervised to unsupervised on 2026-06-01
- Confirmed: On 2026-07-08, a judge expanded Paul’s parent-time
- Confirmed: On 2026-08-07, Paul’s 2023 assault charge was reduced to a class A misdemeanor (The Salt Lake Tribune)
- Unclear: An official medical or psychological diagnosis for Paul — none in the verified record
- Unclear: A final custody ruling for Ever — still pending after three hearings
- Unclear: The juvenile court’s response to the DCFS petition filed in July 2026
- Unclear: Any confirmed relationship status beyond the protective orders
- Unclear: Mortensen’s occupation, the identity of any ex-girlfriend, and Tate Paul’s current partner
- Unclear: Whether the three-year orders will be modified before they expire
The “unclear” list is as long as the “confirmed” list for a reason: most of what fans are asking about — a diagnosis, a new pregnancy, an ex-girlfriend, a job — sits outside the verified court record.
The distinction helps readers separate verified facts from unanswered questions.
What the court record says
The three statements below are the backbone of the case: the temporary order, the custody ruling, and the family-services petition.
Commissioner Russell Minas ordered supervised parental visits for Paul before the next court date.
— Commissioner Russell Minas, Utah court, as reported by NBC News
A Utah judge granted both Paul and Mortensen mutual protective orders on April 30, 2026.
— The Utah court’s April 30 ruling, covered by Los Angeles Times
Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services asked a juvenile court in July 2026 to find Paul’s three children abused, neglected, or dependent.
— Utah Division of Child and Family Services, as reported by People
One striking pattern: the court and the tabloid version of this story are quoting from different documents — and only one of them is verifiable.
The takeaway
Here’s the tension the verified record leaves behind: Taylor Frankie Paul’s parenting time kept expanding through 2026 — supervised in April, unsupervised by June, alternating weekends by July — while the three-year mutual protective order continued to require 100 feet between her and Dakota Mortensen. For Paul, the stakes are concrete: the next hearings will decide whether the state’s child-welfare petition, which names all three children, reshapes a custody arrangement that is still provisional. For anyone following the case, the choice is clear: keep watching the court calendar, or keep relitigating a season 3 storyline that the legal file never settles.
tmz.com, globalnews.ca, cnn.com, pagesix.com, usatoday.com, latimes.com, latimes.com
Frequently asked questions
Was Taylor Frankie Paul charged in the 2023 domestic violence incident?
Yes. The 2023 domestic-violence assault charge against her was reduced to a class A misdemeanor on 2026-08-07, per The Salt Lake Tribune.
What is the current custody arrangement for Ever?
As of the 2026-07-08 ruling, Paul has alternating weekends through Monday morning and one midweek day, without overnights. The court had not issued a final custody decision as of that hearing.
Can Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen have any contact?
The temporary protective order from 2026-04-07 barred phone, email, and other contact until the hearing. The mutual orders granted on 2026-04-30 require both to stay 100 feet apart for three years.
How long do the protective orders last?
The mutual protective orders granted on 2026-04-30 run for three years. The April 30 hearing did not produce a final custody decision.
What did Utah’s child welfare agency ask the court to do?
In July 2026, Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services asked a juvenile court to find Paul’s three children abused, neglected, or dependent. No juvenile court ruling appears in the verified coverage.
Are the fathers of all three children publicly named?
Yes: Tate Paul, Taylor’s ex-husband, is the father of her older children, and Dakota Mortensen is the father of her youngest child, Ever.
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Oliver Jack Carter Cooper is a staff writer for EveningLedger.uk, covering UK news, politics, business and culture. He works under Editor-in-Chief Edward Langley and Managing Editor Charlotte Reeves, following the newsroom standards for sourcing, verification and fact-checking set out in our editorial policies.