US pop star Cher has dropped her bid for legal control over her son's personal and financial affairs, according to his lawyers. The singer applied for a conservatorship last December, citing 48-year-old Elijah Blue Allman's alleged substance abuse and mental health issues.
Cher's lawyers said during a brief hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday that the family members had reached a private settlement, US media report. The BBC has contacted Cher's attorney for comment.
The dismissal comes after the If I Could Turn Back Time singer and her son agreed to pause their court battle in May to try to resolve the matter privately, US media reported at the time.
When she first filed for the conservatorship, Cher argued that Mr Allman was "substantially unable to manage his financial resources".
Cher has dropped her quest for a court-ordered conservatorship over son Elijah Blue Allman after reaching a private settlement with the only child she shares with the late musician Gregg Allman, a lawyer for the superstar singer told a California judge Friday.
“I’m pleased to report that following a mediation with [two private judges], the parties have privately resolved this matter, and petitioner now wishes to end these legal proceedings,” Cher’s lawyer Gabrielle Vidal told the court. The lawyer said Cher wished to dismiss her petition without prejudice, meaning she would reserve her right to file it again if needed. It was last December that Cher first sought conservatorship control over Elijah’s finaces, claiming it was “urgently needed” to protect him. In court filings, she said her son was “currently unable to manage his assets due to severe mental health and substance abuse issues.”
Asked by the court Friday if he was in agreement with Vidal’s statement that the matter had been settled, Allman’s lawyer, Steven K. Brumer, answered, “Most definitely.”
“I don’t have the documents, but I can accept your representation on behalf of your client that she seeks to withdraw the petition. I will deny the petition without prejudice,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Jessica Uzcategui said. “Congratulations to all of you, and take care.”
After the ruling, Allman’s law firm, Cage & Miles, issued a statement: “This outcome allows the parties to focus on healing and rebuilding their family bond, a process that began during mediation and continues today.”
Neither Cher nor Allman appeared during the quick hearing held in a courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. It was back in May that they agreed to “pause” their public court battle and try to resolve their dispute behind closed doors.
At an initial hearing in the case last January, Cher’s legal team asked for an emergency ruling granting control over Allman’s finances ahead of an expected distribution from his father’s estate. It was denied on the basis that Allman deserved more time to review and respond to his mother’s claims. Cher appeared by video at a follow-up hearing three weeks later but was again denied conservatorship powers pending a larger hearing.
Allman, 48, attended both hearings in person and objected to his mom’s petition. At a third hearing in March, Cher was granted a delay to gather medical records. Her lawyers said she was willing to pay for private mediation in the meantime if Allman would agree to participate. “Cher would very much would like the opportunity to make sure she’s taken every possible step to try to resolve this informally,” Vidal told the court.
Cher’s lawyers said she genuinely feared for her son’s safety because his battle with addiction was compounded by a mental health diagnosis that “leads to periods of psychosis.” Vidal said Allman had been placed on involuntary hospital holds multiple times, including in September 2023. The lawyer said Cher was terrified that her son’s “life is at risk,” and that he was too vulnerable to safely manage the estimated $120,000 he receives each year as his inheritance.
“The concern is that if he gets this distribution into his hands, and during a period of stress, that that will lead to the drug use. This proceeding was filed because Cher was told unequivocally by the doctors treating him, that if she did not take this step as his mother, the concern was that he would once again end up on the street,” Vidal previously told the court.
“I don’t question the motivation behind Cher’s request as having been driven by concern for her son,” Judge Jessica Uzcategui said in January. “And I understand the perhaps overlapping issues with respect to substance abuse and mental health that have affected the proposed conservatee in the past. I don’t think he questions that either. I see a lot of acknowledgment of that in some of the paperwork,” the judge said. But concerns are not “sufficient evidence,” she said as she denied Cher’s emergency requests but did not dismiss the underlying petition.
In court filings, Allman admitted his struggle with addiction but said he tested negative for drugs and alcohol in a series of voluntary tests in January. He told the court he had rented a new residence and was in the process of hiring a business manager. “In the two weeks since the initial hearing, I have been successfully managing my income and expenses and have refrained from the use of illicit substances that have historically caused the incidents that have given rise to my mother’s concern,” Allman previously wrote. “I am doing well and do not need the help that my mother is offering.”
Throughout the case, Cher and her lawyers said she only wished to protect her son. “Petitioner has worked tirelessly to get Elijah into treatment and get him the help he needs,” her initial filing said. “Petitioner loves Elijah immensely and has always acted with his best interests in mind.”
Cher and her son Elijah Blue Allman are putting her request for a conservatorship behind them, according to several reports. The lawyers representing both the singer-songwriter and her son appeared over Zoom Friday to announce the two sides had come to a mutually agreed upon deal. According to Rolling Stone, Cher’s lawyer Gabrielle Vidal told the judge the two sides met with mediators outside of court and have privately resolved the matter. Allman’s lawyer, Steven K. Brumer, reportedly told the court the deal had “most definitely” been agreed upon.
Cher dismissed her case without prejudice, according to the outlet -- meaning she can ask for a conservatorship in the future if she feels it’s necessary. As you know ... Cher filed for conservatorship just after Christmas last year -- saying he is “substantially unable to manage his own financial resources due to severe mental health and substance abuse issues.” Elijah fired off a series of reasons he didn’t need to be under a conservatorship in his response, filed in January ... saying he’s now sober, paying his bills and committed to managing payments from his later father Gregg Allman’s estate.
Cher was denied the conservatorship in late January ... and a judge recommended the two enter mediation ASAP. Clearly they did just that -- and, the conservatorship claim is officially done. A rep for Cher declined additional comment.
Cher has dropped her bid to be appointed her son Elijah Blue Allman's conservator. Nearly nine months after Cher, 78, requested to become her 48-year-old son's guardian, a lawyer for the Grammy-winning superstar on Friday announced she would like to end the legal proceedings, according to Rolling Stone. The outlet also noted Cher's legal team asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jessica A. Uzcategui for the case to be dismissed without prejudice, meaning she could potentially file another petition in the future. In her Dec. 27 filing, Cher alleged Allman – her only child with her late husband Gregg Allman – was experiencing “severe mental health and substance abuse issues” that rendered him unable to manage his financial assets, she contends. Elijah Allman had objected to the conservatorship in court filings.
Allman's lawyers called the move a “major legal victory” in a statement shared with USA TODAY Friday. “Under the strategic leadership of Avi Levy, Partner in Los Angeles, and the legal expertise of Steven Brumer, Lead Counsel in San Diego, the team successfully defended Elijah, resulting in Cher voluntarily dismissing her petition,” the statement reads. “This outcome allows the parties to focus on healing and rebuilding their family bond, a process that began during mediation and continues today.” USA TODAY has reached out to Cher's attorneys for comment.
The voluntary dismissal comes almost eight months after Cher's case was dealt a blow when the judge ruled “that insufficient evidence has been provided” to appoint Cher as a temporary conservator over her son's estate. Previously, Allman stated in court filings that conservatorship of his estate was not necessary and his mother was “unfit to serve” in that role, records show. He said after struggling with addiction and making irresponsible financial decisions in the past, he receives professional treatment and regularly attends alcoholics anonymous meetings, according to court records. “Given that I no longer have an active dissolution case, I believe that my wife would have priority to be appointed conservator, if necessary, but I do not need that either,” Allman said in his objection to Cher’s petition. “Under no circumstances am I comfortable having my mom as my conservator even if that was necessary.”
Cher will no longer seek conservatorship of her son Elijah Blue Allman. Nine months after the legendary singer, 78, filed for a conservatorship of her son, citing his alleged substance abuse issues, PEOPLE can confirm that the two have reached a private agreement. “The team successfully defended Elijah, resulting in Cher voluntarily dismissing her petition. This outcome allows the parties to focus on healing and rebuilding their family bond, a process that began during mediation and continues today,” a statement shared with PEOPLE from Allman's attorneys, Avi Levy and Steven Brumer of Cage & Miles, LLP, reads.
While neither Allman, 48, nor Cher appeared in court on Friday, Sept. 13, Rolling Stone reports that the musician's lawyer, Gabrielle Vidal, said that they “privately resolved this matter” and that Cher wished to dismiss her petition without prejudice. This means she reserves the right to file again if needed. PEOPLE reached out to Cher's attorneys but did not immediately hear back. According to documents filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court and previously obtained by PEOPLE, Cher claimed that a conservator was “urgently needed ... to protect Elijah’s property from loss or injury” due to him being “currently unable to manage his assets due to severe mental health and substance abuse issues.” Cher claimed that Allman's wife, Marieangela King, was not fit to be his conservator because “their tumultuous relationship has been marked by a cycle of drug addiction and mental health crises.”
She further argued that “any funds distributed to Elijah will be immediately spent on drugs, leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself and putting Elijah’s life at risk.” The singer filed the conservatorship documents in late December and later requested immediate temporary conservatorship in early January, which was denied by a judge who said Allman's legal team had not been given enough time to review all documents. After filing a second immediate temporary conservatorship request later that same month, it was once again denied, with the judge ruling that Allman had proved “he has managed his finances” and “has an apartment,” and since “he has remained drug-free” after submitting “several drug tests.”
Cher and Allman later attended a private mediation session in May, during which they agreed to “pause all legal proceedings and related activities, including all discovery and motion practice, to allow the Parties to continue working together to privately and confidentially resolve this matter.”
Cher has officially ended her bid to gain a conservatorship over her son Elijah Blue Allman. “The team successfully defended Elijah, resulting in Cher voluntarily dismissing her petition,” Allman’s attorneys, Avi Levy and Steven Brumer of California’s Cage & Miles, LLP, told People Friday. “This outcome allows the parties to focus on healing and rebuilding their family bond, a process that began during mediation and continues today.”
Cher’s lawyer, Gabrielle Vidal, said in court on Friday that the singer and her son “privately resolved this matter” via mediation, Rolling Stone reported. Neither party physically appeared in court.
Cher’s representative and attorney did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment. The lawyers at Cage & Miles did not immediately return our calls, either.
The “Believe” singer, 78, first filed for a conservatorship over Allman, 48, in December 2023, citing alleged substance abuse issues as well as an inability to “manage his own financial resources.” Court docs obtained by Page Six at the time claimed that “any funds distributed to Elijah will immediately be spent on drugs, leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself, and putting Elijah’s life at risk.”
Allman, whose dad is late musician Gregg Allman, filed a response objecting to his mother’s request in January. Though he admitted in the filing that he had “struggled with addiction and spent money in ways that have not always been the most responsible,” he assured the court that he is now “clean and sober” and “a conservatorship of the estate is not necessary at this time.” He also said his mother was “unfit” to serve as his conservator.
Later that month, Eljah’s wife, Marieangela King, claimed Cher was “manic depressive” and “categorically unfit” to take control of her husband’s finances. “[Cher] is not capable of managing her own affairs — let alone those of Elijah,” she wrote in court documents obtained by Page Six. “To my knowledge, the petitioner has never known the security code to her own home, does not drive, does not prepare her own meals or dress herself, and has admitted to me that she is a ‘manic depressive.'”
Elijah, who married who wed King in 2013, filed to dismiss his pending divorce against her shortly after Cher filed for conservatorship. He originally filed for divorce in November 2021. His dismissal was granted “without prejudice” — meaning he could re-file in the future — in February.
Cher’s motion for an emergency conservatorship was ultimately denied twice by the end of January.
Months before her conservatorship filing, Page Six reported that Cher allegedly hired men to “kidnap” Elijah from a New York hotel room he was staying in with his wife to take him to a clinic to get him sober. “Cher’s kids are the important things in her heart,” a longtime friend of the Grammy winner told us exclusively in September 2023, however. “I’ve no doubt that whatever she has done for Elijah has been with the greatest and best intentions possible.”
Elijah is Cher’s youngest child. She also has 55-year-old transgender son named Chaz Bono, whom she shared with her late duet partner and ex-husband Sonny Bono.
