Cher is opposing any oversight of her son’s mental health by her daughter-in-law and is asking a judge to delay proceedings in California pending the outcome of guardianship proceedings in New Hampshire.
Cher’s attorneys filed court papers Friday with Judge Jessica Uzcategui stating that she may drop her bid for a conservatorship in California if the New Hampshire guardianship efforts regarding 50-year-old Elijah Blue Allman turn out to her satisfaction.
After Allman’s arrest earlier this year in New Hampshire, Marieangela King Allman filed for divorce because at that time she was “emotionally exhausted, overwhelmed, and believed separation was necessary,” King Allman says in her court papers
However, since filing for dissolution, Elijah Blue’s placement through the New Hampshire court system into structured treatment environment and her continued concern for his well-being caused her to reconsider ending the marriage and drop the idea, according to King Allman.
King Allman is acting as her own attorney. She contends in her Los Angeles Superior Court papers that Cher and her husband’s other “estranged relatives” have “repeatedly attempted to impose a conservatorship or similar restraints” on Allman without her knowledge. She is offering herself as his conservator.
But Cher’s attorneys state in their court papers that King Allman has an ulterior motive.
“Now that a conservatorship is pending, Mrs. King-Allman clearly sees a financial opportunity to control his income and she has attempted to seize the opportunity created by his incarceration to try to reinsert herself back into his life,” according to Cher’s lawyers’ court papers.
Whether Allman ultimately chooses to be in a relationship with King-Allman is his choice, but given her behavior and indifference to his health and living situation over the prior year, she, in no way, should ever be considered as a viable candidate to serve as a court-appointed fiduciary, Cher’s attorneys further contend in their court papers.
Former Allman girlfriend Kayti Pease repeatedly requested that King Allman assist her in providing care for Allman, but King Allman “never lifted a finger to help, despite the fact that Mr. Allman was supposedly her spouse,” according to Cher’s attorneys’ filing.
Allman’s siblings, Devon Allman and Chaz Bono, have sought appointment as Allman’s guardians in a New Hampshire court, both Cher and King Allman have noted in their court papers.
If Cher determines the New Hampshire guardianship is permanent and protective enough, then she will file a notice to dismiss the California conservatorship action, her attorneys state in their court papers.
King Allman says Elijah Blue “vehemently opposed” appointment of Cher as his conservator when she sought the role in April only to be denied by a judge.
“I am extremely concerned that appointment of conservator hand selected by (Cher) is equally not in Elijah’s best interests and will be viewed by Elijah as further punishment and an effort to interfere with his autonomy, rather than an attempt to help him,” King Allman says, adding that an alternative solution would be to appoint her as her husband’s conservatory.
King Allman says she and her husband have “experienced challenges within our marriage, many of which were related to his struggles with substance abuse, mental health issues and the consequences that followed.”
The next hearing in the conservatorship proceedings is Tuesday unless the judge grants Cher’s request for a 120-day postponement. Allman is the 80-year-old Cher’s only son with the late Allman Brothers singer Gregg Allman.