This week on Legally Us, Rachael Bennett, a certified family law specialist and senior attorney at Sullivan Law & Associates, breaks down Cher filing for a conservatorship of son Elijah Blue Allman following several legal troubles.
On April 17, the legendary singer requested that fiduciary Jason Rubin take charge of her 49-year-old son’s finances.
“To get a conservatorship over an adult child in California, Cher will have to meet a pretty high legal standard,” Bennett tells Us Weekly. “She has to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Elijah is either unable to provide for his basic personal needs, things like food, clothing, shelter or medical care, or that he’s totally unable to manage his finances. Even if she proves that, the court still has to find that there’s no less restrictive alternative, like a trust or a power of attorney or some kind of other support system.”
This is the second time Cher has filed for a conservatorship of Allman’s estate. The court documents obtained by Page Six allege that Allman’s life “has significantly deteriorated” since Cher’s first conservatorship petition in 2023, which was denied in January 2024.
“Her earlier petition was denied because the judge didn’t see enough evidence of incapacity, basically saying that the petition was premature. At that time, Elijah pushed back with evidence that he was sober, that he was receiving treatment and that he was managing his own financial affairs,” Bennett explains. “The court felt that Cher’s arguments leaned too heavily on fears about what might happen. She was basically trying to be proactive at that time, and she anticipated that there would be problems down the road, but the court basically told her that she had to wait until Elijah’s life basically deteriorated before it would step in.”
The documents claim that Allman is currently confined to a psychiatric hospital in New Hampshire in an effort to restore his competency so he can stand trial on criminal charges. They add that this reflects only his “current set of problems,” emphasizing that he lacks any understanding of money and is unable to handle his own financial affairs.
Allman was arrested in New Hampshire on two separate occasions earlier this year.
His first arrest, for assault and criminal trespassing, occurred in February after he allegedly caused a disturbance at a prep school in the state. The Concord Police Department told Us that an unwelcome individual was on campus and behaving belligerently. Reports also indicated he faced two counts of assault, along with single counts of criminal trespass, criminal threatening, and disorderly conduct in connection with the incident.
Elijah waived his arraignment on charges related to the incident, local outlet WMUR reported. His trial for the related charges has been set for June 16.
His second arrest took place last month, when he was accused of breaking into a home in Windham, New Hampshire. At the time, the town’s police department confirmed to Us that he was charged with burglary, two counts of criminal mischief and breach of bail.
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“If this conservatorship is approved, it would give significant, but also very targeted control, mainly over just his finances,” Bennett tells Us. “Cher’s asking for a conservatorship of the estate, which means a court appointed professional fiduciary would step in and they would manage Elijah’s money. So in practical terms, he would lose the ability to just freely access or manage his own money, and he probably would be put on a controlled allowance system of some sort.”
Cher shares Elijah with late ex-husband Gregg Allman, to whom she was married from 1975 to 1979. Gregg died at age 69 in 2017 after a battle with throat cancer.
Us Weekly has reached out to Cher’s team for comment.
