Cher’s request for a temporary conservatorship for her son was denied by a judge on Monday – despite the superstar’s fears he may be dead within the year unless her petition was approved.
Judge Jessica A. Uzcategui ruled there was insufficient evidence that recovering addict Elijah Blue Allman, 47, couldn’t look after himself and manage his own finances, currently held in trust.
She said he showed no ‘lack of capacity’ to manage his own affairs. There is ‘no urgency,’ she added.
The court heard that Elijah Blue is currently ‘drug free’ and has rented an apartment to live in.
The news was a blow for the superstar singer and Best Actress Oscar-winner, 77.
Sounding dejected, as if reading from a teleprompter, ‘My name is Cher’, is how she introduced herself to the courtroom in Room 236, Department 5 Los Angeles Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles.
She was appearing remotely on screen via video link.
Cher had argued Blue Elijah was unfit to care for himself amid severe substance abuse and mental health issues.
Elijah Blue, wearing a black suit, appeared in court with wife Marieangela King, 36, left
Cher ‘s request for a temporary conservatorship for her son was denied by a judge on Monday – despite the superstar’s fears he may be dead within the year unless her petition was approved
Cher had argued Blue Elijah was unfit to care for himself amid severe substance abuse and mental health issues
Cher sat stoic, unsmiling, upright on a cream colored sofa with beige curtains behind her, wearing a plain black jacket with a white top underneath.
Her immaculate raven hair was wavy and long, down to her chest.
Elijah Blue, wearing a black suit, appeared in court with wife Marieangela King, 36. Neither he nor Cher smiled at each other.
King, 36, had previously said said that Cher would be ‘categorically unfit to serve’ as the head of a conservatorship even if one was implemented, according to court documents.
Elijah Blue Allman his wife and attorney leaves the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse Monday
The court heard that Elijah Blue is currently ‘drug free’ and has rented an apartment to live in
Elijah Blue Allman, his wife, far left, and attorney leave on Monday following the hearing
The news was a blow for the 77-year-old superstar singer
King said that she’s known Cher for more than a decade; and that the Moonstruck actress ‘doesn’t drive, doesn’t make her own food or dress herself.’
Cher’s attorney, Gabrielle Vidal – chair of law firm Loeb & Loeb’s Guardianships practice – told the court that Elijah Blue, despite his recent sobriety, still suffers from ‘periods of psychosis.’
A temporary guardianship was needed to protect ‘the assets’, said Vidal, adding: ‘Cher fears her son would not be alive within the year.’
Elijah Blue, said Vidal, has been 5150 sectioned ‘multiple times over the last calendar year.’
A section 5150 is the number of the section of the Welfare and Institutions Code, which allows an adult who is experiencing a mental health crisis to be involuntarily detained for a 72- hour psychiatric hospitalization if deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
Elijah Blue, explained Vidal, is currently being treated by ‘a non-medical doctor.’
‘Periods of stress create psychosis,’ she said. ‘He has a history of drug addiction.
‘Mental illness makes Mr Allman vulnerable. People around him deny the psychosis.’
Although ‘she applauds his efforts,’ medical experts told Cher ‘that if she did not take this step (a conservatorship) as his mother he would once again end up on the street.
‘This is not about Cher wanting to control Elijah or his money.
‘We do believe that the urgency exists.’ Elijah Blue’s history of drug abuse and mental issues are ‘separate but interrelated.
If the funds from his trust ‘come directly into his hands they could be misused.’
After the verdict outside court, Elijah Blue’s attorney Steven Bremer said: ‘Elijah is thrilled that the court saw he does not need a temporary conservatorship. He’s grateful to his fans, friends, other members of the recovery community for their support.’
Last week Elijah Blue told the court that he has been sober, financially responsible in paying his bills , and taking administrative steps to manage the quarterly payments he receives from his late father’s trust
Elijah Blue is the son of Cher and late rocker Gregg Allman, the artist of hits such as Ramblin’ Man and Midnight Rider, who died at the age of 69 in May of 2017
. Cher said that Elijah receives interval payments from a trust Allman set up, and that she’s worried he will use his money to obtain more drugs instead of paying essential expenses
Elijah Blue Allman and Cher are pictured together in 1994 when he was 18 and she was 48
After the verdict outside court, Elijah Blue’s attorney Steven Bremer said: ‘Elijah is thrilled that the court saw he does not need a temporary conservatorship.
He’s grateful to his fans, friends, other members of the recovery community for their support.’
Another hearing is scheduled for March 6.
Last week Elijah Blue told the court that he has been sober, financially responsible in paying his bills, and taking administrative steps to manage the quarterly payments he receives from his late father’s trust, TMZ reported, after reviewing court documents.
King had previously said in court docs that Cher personally told her that she was ‘manic depressive.’
In the court papers, King reiterated claims she previously made that Cher attempted to kidnap Elijah Blue in the fall of 2022 in an effort to send him to a rehab facility; Cher has denied the allegations.
King told the court at an earlier hearing that Elijah Blue had been taken to Rosarito, Mexico and left at a ‘makeshift prison-type facility known as the Baja Rehab where he was being held against his will.’
King said that Elijah Blue was told by a doctor that he’d be ‘doing holistic alternative therapy’ while at the facility, the outlet reported, citing court docs.
King said that Elijah Blue had been ‘held captive’ at the facility – in a situation ‘his mother arranged’ – for two months until Mexican government officials gave him an escort out of the facility and transported him to the U.S. border.
Cher in December told the court Elijah Blue is ‘substantially unable to manage his own financial resources due to severe mental health and substance abuse issues.’
Elijah Blue is the son of Cher and late rocker Gregg Allman, the artist of hits such as Ramblin’ Man and Midnight Rider, who died at the age of 69 in May of 2017.
Cher said that Elijah receives interval payments from a trust Allman set up, and that she’s worried he will use his money to obtain more drugs instead of paying essential expenses.
Elijah Blue and his partner King made their case as to why a conservatorship should not be implemented in new court docs
Elijah Blue told the court that he has been sober, financially responsible in paying his bills, and taking timely administrative steps to manage the quarterly payments he receives from his late father’s trust
In the court papers, King reiterated claims she previously made that Cher attempted to kidnap Elijah Blue in the fall of 2022 in an effort to send him to a rehab facility; Cher has denied the allegations
The If I Could Turn Back Time singer said that as Elijah’s mother, she is best suited to be the conservator, and has received internal family support on the issue.
Cher said King has been a destructive presence in his life and is impeding efforts to have him get the help he needs with drug and mental health issues.
The Believe singer said in court docs that she has not been able to effectively communicate with Elijah on the important issue, The Blast reported last month.
Cher ‘has been unable to discuss Elijah’s preferences concerning the appointment of a temporary conservator because given Elijah’s current mental and physical health issues,’ her legal team said.
Attorneys claimed Elijah ‘is unable to form or express a preference concerning the appointment of a conservator for his estate.’
In legal docs, Cher said she was concerned that ‘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.’
Cher last month filed court papers seeking to place her adult son Elijah Blue Allman into a conservatorship, saying that he’s addicted to drugs. Pictured in Germany in November 2023
King said that she’s known Cher for more than a decade; and that the Moonstruck actress ‘doesn’t drive, doesn’t make her own food or dress herself,’ TMZ reported, citing court docs
The entertainer said Elijah Blue is ‘substantially unable to manage his own financial resources.’ Pictured in Las Vegas in 2002
Cher was pictured holding a one-year-old Elijah Blue in NYC in September of 1977
Cher and son Elijah Blue Allman pose for a portrait in 1980 when he was four
‘Their tumultuous relationship has been marked by a cycle of drug addiction and mental health crises,’ Cher said in court docs.
Cher said in legal docs that King has not been ‘supportive of Elijah’s recovery and … actively works to keep Elijah from getting clean and sober or receiving mental health treatment that he desperately needs.’
Cher said she was ‘informed and believes’ King was instrumental in making moves ‘to check Elijah out of the treatment center where he was receiving much needed medical care.’
Cher said it ‘would be unsafe for Elijah and his estate’ to assign King any control of the conservatorship,’ saying that ‘it would result in the immediate loss or dissipation of Elijah’s assets for self-destructive purposes.’
In October, Cher spoke with People about King’s past claims that Cher had kidnapped Elijah, calling them ‘not true.’
She added: ‘I’m not suffering from any problem that millions of people in the United States aren’t. I’m a mother. This is my job – one way or another, to try to help my children.’
The iconic entertainer was seen carrying her son in LA in March of 1977
Cher and late ex-husband Gregg Allman pictured in 1976 with their then-baby son Elijah Blue
Cher noted, ‘You do anything for your children. Whenever you can help them, you just do it because that’s what being a mother is.
‘But it’s joy, even with heartache – mostly, when you think of your children, you just smile and you love them, and you try to be there for them.’
Cher is also mother to son Chaz Bono, 54, from her marriage to the late Sonny Bono, who died in January of 1998 in a skiing accident in South Lake Tahoe, California.
