Court Grants Taylor Frankie Paul Extended Mother's Day Visit Amid Protective Order

In a move that offers a rare bit of brightness amid ongoing legal turbulence, a Utah judge handed Taylor Frankie Paul an early Mother’s Day gift: extended time with her two-year-old son, Ever. What started as an eight-hour supervised visitation agreement has now stretched to nearly eleven hours for Sunday, May 10, allowing the reality TV personality to spend time with Ever from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The expanded window comes as part of a broader shift in the custody arrangement. Court documents filed on May 6 reveal that Paul’s weekly parenting time has jumped from eight to twelve hours—a meaningful increase that reflects some movement in her favor, even as mutual protective orders remain firmly in place between Paul and Ever’s father, Dakota Mortensen. The two must stay 100 feet apart, a restriction expected to last three years following their April 30 hearing before Utah Commissioner Russell Minas.

What’s notable here is the court’s apparent recognition that supervised visitation can happen in structured blocks rather than as one marathon session. The court recommends Paul have three separate four-hour visits to ensure consistent, quality time with her youngest child. It’s a practical approach that acknowledges the reality of her situation: she remains under supervision, but the framework is shifting toward something more sustainable.

This case carries the weight of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives production being halted, a 2023 domestic violence arrest (where Paul pleaded guilty to aggravated assault), and the cancellation of her planned Bachelorette season after a resurfaced video showed her throwing chairs at Mortensen. When a judge describes a relationship as“beyond the pale in a lot of ways, the toxicity,”it’s hard to overstate how damaged things have become. Yet even in that toxicity, the court appears focused on one thing: making sure Ever isn’t caught in the middle.

A follow-up hearing on June 1 will determine whether these temporary increases become permanent. What happens in that courtroom could reshape the custody landscape for Paul and Mortensen’s relationship as coparents—assuming they can put their own conflict aside long enough to prioritize their son. The judge made his expectation clear:“You’ve got to put your child first and shield the child from this conflict.”Whether they can actually do that remains an open question.