Taylor Frankie Paul’s legal team has responded after child welfare officials raised concerns about the well-being of her three children.
According to legal documents published by TMZ on Wednesday, July 15, Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services filed a petition asking a juvenile court to find that her three children are “abused, neglected or dependent.”
The filing also asked the judge to order protective supervision services, appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the children and issue any additional orders deemed to be in their best interests.
Per the outlet, the Utah Attorney General’s Office filed the petition this week and requested an expedited hearing.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star, 32, shares son Ever, 2, with Dakota Mortensen as well as two children — daughter Indy, 8, and son Ocean, 6 — with ex-husband Tate Paul.
In response to the news of the filing, the reality TV star’s legal team shared a statement with Us Weekly on Thursday, July 16.
“It was recently decided that the ongoing custody actions would be best suited for juvenile court, a common step for families engaged in highly contentious, complex custody matters,” her legal representatives said via the statement. “Taylor is not deterred by this transition; she welcomes the added structure and oversight it provides and looks forward to continuing her progress toward normalizing custody and becoming the healthiest version of herself.”
The statement continued: “Taylor remains fully committed to doing whatever is necessary to reach that goal and will not be swayed from it. Taylor appreciates the professionalism of DCFS and its representatives.”
Taylor’s exes Tate Paul and Dakota Mortensen subsequently issued a statement via their legal counsel.
Last week, Taylor shared a cryptic post via social media amid her contentious legal and custody issues.
“Today was extremely difficult, meanwhile, there has been at least 12+ people throughout this trying to make it harder,” she captioned an Instagram Story on July 8. “Thank you God for revealing them all want to be nothing like them.”
She added, “They bully, I defend myself. not the same. Pay attention how this plays out. I trust.”
It’s unclear exactly who Taylor was referring to in her social media post. However, the cryptic message came hours after she appeared in court amid the ongoing custody battle over Ever with Mortensen. Both parties secured wins on July 8.
The judge ruled that Taylor will receive more unsupervised time with Ever, expanding her weekend visitation. The win came despite claims from Mortensen’s legal team that she has taken “less than half” of her allocated parenting time. Mortensen was also granted longer weekends with Ever on July 8. (Mortensen was initially granted temporary custody of Ever in March.)
