Taylor Frankie Paul’s custody dispute with ex-husband Tate Paul has taken another turn, with Tate asking a Utah court to unseal the results of drug and alcohol testing that was placed under a protective order earlier in the case.
Tate filed the motion on Aug. 13, according to TMZ. The former spouses, who were married from 2016 to 2022, share daughter Indy and son Ocean.
Court documents obtained by Us Weekly stated that Taylor’s sobriety testing would be subject to a “strict protective order” while the court used the results to determine the terms of her parenting time.
No publicly available report has disclosed what those tests showed. TMZ reported that a source close to Taylor said she completed testing and that the parties agree the results can be shared with the state as part of broader cooperation, but the outlet did not say that Taylor had agreed to make the results public.
Taylor Offered to Take Drug and Alcohol Tests
The testing became part of the case after Tate went to court on June 30 seeking a temporary restraining order and changes to the former couple’s divorce and custody agreement. Tate raised concerns about Taylor’s recent stay at a treatment facility and argued that recent events justified changing their custody arrangement.
Sources close to Tate told TMZ at the time that he wanted sole legal and physical custody of Indy and Ocean. A Utah court commissioner rejected the initial emergency request the following day. “As Tate himself recognizes, many of his supporting allegations are based upon inadmissible hearsay, without any corroborating evidence,” the court wrote, according to Us Weekly.
The ruling said several concerns Tate raised, including reports that the children were struggling at school and expressing sadness, required continued attention but did not establish the “immediate and irreparable harm” necessary for an emergency custody change. The judge also noted Taylor’s representation that Tate had left the children in her care from June 11 through June 17 while he traveled to Iceland.
Taylor then offered two measures intended to address concerns surrounding her treatment stay. She agreed to make treatment records available if Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services wanted to review them and offered to undergo sobriety testing.
The court accepted that proposal and required a 15-panel hair or nail test along with a PEth test for alcohol. Taylor was also instructed to bring her prescriptions and have a doctor verify whether any detected medication levels were consistent with her prescribed dosages.
The Results Were Tied Directly to Her Parenting Time
The testing order carried immediate consequences for Taylor’s time with Indy and Ocean. Until the results were issued, the court ordered her parenting time to remain professionally supervised so an independent third party could observe her interactions with the children.
“If there is a positive test for any unprescribed drugs or alcohol or a determination that the levels in Taylor’s system are in excess of any prescribed drugs, Taylor’s parent time shall continue to be supervised,” the ruling stated. If the tests were negative, the court said Taylor would be restored to unsupervised parenting time.
Tate was also ordered to reimburse her for the cost of the testing if the results came back negative. Taylor had initially proposed that Tate undergo drug testing as well, but the judge declined to require it after finding no basis in the record to order him to be tested. The court simultaneously directed that Taylor’s test results be covered by a “strict protective order,” setting up the issue Tate is now asking the court to revisit.
Taylor Said Her Treatment Stay Was for Her Mental Health
Taylor’s brief stay at a treatment facility became a major point in Tate’s court filings, but she and sources close to her have said the stay was related to her mental health rather than presenting it as treatment for substance use.
A source close to the reality star told Entertainment Weekly that Taylor “voluntarily checked herself into a facility for mental health reasons” on the recommendation of her doctor. The source said she was later cleared and returned home. Taylor subsequently addressed the treatment stay herself.
“Facilities are not for just substance,” she said, according to Us Weekly. “There are a list of reasons why people go into that. Number one priority was just a reset for my mental health, and to get away, decompress, whether it’s one day, whether it’s seven, whether it’s 30. I willingly did that.”
Tate Is Now Asking the Court to Unseal the Results
TMZ reported that Tate filed court documents on Aug. 13 asking for Taylor’s drug test results to be unsealed. Sources close to her previously told TMZ that she believed her former partner Dakota Mortensen had been giving Tate false information that contributed to his decision to seek emergency court intervention.
The latest TMZ report also included a response from Taylor’s side concerning the testing itself. “Taylor took a drug test and the parties agree that the results should be shared with the State,” a source close to Taylor told the outlet. “This is part of broader cooperation and transparency with the State.”