Everything That Happened at Taylor Frankie Paul’s Court Hearing

Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen were both in court virtually on April 7 over their two-year-old son, Ever True. Third District Court Commissioner Russell Minas of Utah ruled that Paul cannot have unsupervised visits with her son up to eight hours per week until they meet again in court later this month. “I don’t think this is necessarily an intentional child abuse case either. I do think that there’s incidental child abuse that has occurred, domestic violence in the presence of a child,” Minas explained.

Earlier in the day, Paul filed a protective order against Mortensen, citing a “pattern of abusive conduct and coercive control” and four domestic violence incidents. “Dakota is excellent at escalating and aggravating Taylor; when she reacts, it’s 100% at Dakota,” Paul’s lawyer Eric Swinyard shared. “Dakota pushes buttons; he is excellent at that. As long as these people stay apart … then there is no risk to the child.” They also detailed the alleged incident on February 23, claiming that Mortensen slammed Paul’s head onto the dashboard of his truck during an argument. Mortensen claimed Paul threw a drink at him. “To me, that makes me very nervous about her ability to control herself, and her volatility,” Mortensen’s lawyer, Michael McDonald, said. In the protective order, Paul added photos of her injuries and text messages after the incident. Mortensen filed a protective order against her on March 19.

Separately, both parties are at the center of a domestic violence investigation with the Draper police department. West Jordan police are also investigating Paul for domestic violence claims from Mortensen. 

Their next court hearing is on April 30.