Cher’s son, Elijah Blue Allman, objected to his mother’s efforts to place him under a conservatorship, arguing that he doesn’t need one and that Cher is “unfit to serve” as his conservator.
Allman filed the objection last week, rebuffing his mother’s arguments that she should gain control of his finances because of his struggles with mental health and substance abuse issues. Allman also objected on the grounds that, if he needed a conservatorship, Cher does not have priority since Allman was still married.
In arguing against the conservatorship, Allman said he’d been working to get his finances in order and was “capable of managing” his own financial resources, as well as “resisting fraud and undue influences” (Allman receives quarterly payments from a trust set up by his late father, Gregg Allman.) He went on to acknowledge his struggles with addiction in the past but resisted the claims that he is mentally ill, saying there’s no evidence to uphold those claims made in Cher’s petition.
“I know that my mother’s actions are meant to help me but I do not need this help,” Allman argued. “My mother seems to believe that controlling these quarterly trust distributions will prevent me from engaging in self-destructive behaviors. She is misguided. In the event that I am inclined to engage in self-destructive behaviors, I do not need my trust distributions to do so: the world is full of addicts and mentally ill persons who do not have a trust distribution from which to draw. The only person who can save me from my demons is me — and I’m doing just that.”
Allman also argued pointedly that he believed Cher was “unfit” to even serve as his conservator. In describing their “strained relationship,” Allman recalled an incident last October where Cher allegedly arranged for him to be brought to Mexico for what he was told was “holistic alternative therapy.”
But upon arriving, Allman said, “I was told I was not there for holistic/alternative treatment and, in fact, was not permitted to leave.” His wife, Allman said, had to hire a lawyer, who “negotiated my release from the facility in Mexico. (Cher was previously accused of hiring four men to abduct Allman in 2022 in an effort to stop him from reconciling with his then-estranged wife. Cher has denied the claim.)
Allman further argued that Cher “does not manage her own finances” and expressed “grave concerns about this court permitting her to manage” his. He said his mother’s personal assistant handled her “private and public affairs” and worried that any responsibility over his finances would be delegated to the personal assistant or others “with whom I have negative associations.”
Lastly, Allman cited his mother’s age and own struggles with mental health in the past: “My mother is seventy-seven years old and will be seventy-eight when this matter is heard. I have seen her suffer with depression in the past, and I do not believe that she is capable of making appropriate decisions for my estate.”
A lawyer for Cher did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Cher filed her petition back in Dec. 2023, asking a Los Angeles court to make her the sole conservator of her son’s estate as he is “substantially unable to manage his financial resources.” But Cher’s initial efforts fell short: First, Judge Jessica Uzcategui denied her emergency bid, saying Allman deserved more time to review his mom’s claims; then, a few weeks later, a temporary conservatorship was denied after Uzcategui said there was not enough evidence to show Allman lacked the capacity to manage his own affairs.
Cher scored a minor victory in early March when Uzcategui denied to dismiss the conservatorship bid, giving the musician three months to gather medical records and pursue a private settlement. Allman’s official objection comes ahead of the next hearing in the case, June 11.
