From left: Sean Tuohy, Michael Oher, and Leigh Anne Tuohy.Photo:Matthew Sharpe/Getty
Matthew Sharpe/Getty
“That’s puzzling,” Stewart Crane, an attorney who has practiced conservatorship law in Tennessee for 35 years, tells PEOPLE. “There is a procedure in Tennessee to adopt an adult, so why they chose to go that route for conservatorship is kind of a little puzzling to me.”Ronald Nevin, another Tennessee-based attorney who has practiced conservatorship law since 1972, says the legal filing from 2004 that gave the Tuohys conservatorship powers over Oher is confusing both in its premise and in how it’s written.
Michael Oher and the Tuohy family.Jeff Zelevansky/Getty
Jeff Zelevansky/Getty
“The guy did well at Ole Miss,” Crane points out. “He didn’t just graduate, he did pretty well there. He’s not mentally impaired.” During his first year at Ole Miss, according to Oher’s petition, he “excelled in the classroom and made the Dean’s List” his sophomore year.
Oher played eight seasons in the NFL and also wrote two books about his life – the most recent of which was released earlier this month.
The Tuohy Family and Michael Oher.Leigh Anne Tuohy/ Instagram
Leigh Anne Tuohy/ Instagram
Oher’s legal petition last week accuses the Tuohys of lying about adopting him and enriching themselves off his name. The petition asks for the Tuohys to terminate the conservatorship and provide a full accounting of any money that was supposed to be owed to Oher fromThe Blind Side.
The Tuohys’ attorney Martin Singer called the allegations “hurtful and absurd,” insisting the Tuohys gave Oher “an equal cut of every penny received” from the film and “consistently treated him like a son.”
Oher’s attorney alleges in the petition that the Tuohys had told him when he was 18 there was no consequential difference between being adopted and entering into a conservatorship.
But there is, local conservatorship attorneys explain.
“There’s a huge difference,” Nevin says. “No. 1, in an adoption you become an heir. [A conservatorship] doesn’t give any rights of inheritance, any way, at all.”
Nevin says a conservatorship also gives the Tuohys “broad powers” over Oher’s life, including medical and financial decisions. The Tuohys denied taking part in his finances in a recent press conference. Oher, said Tuohy lawyer Randall Fishman, “did all of his own finances. He entered his own contracts. He has his own agents.“Oher’s legal filing alleges the Tuohys made millions off the movie while “Michael made nothing.” Asource close to the filmtold PEOPLE last week the Tuohys have received approximately $700,000 total in rights, payments and profits, which was intended to be divided between the family members — Sean, Leigh Anne, their two biological children and Oher.
However, the facts will come out as the court process plays out, as some people (like Oher’s former high school coach) have pointed out in recent days.
Michael Oher with his family and the Tuohy family.Sean Tuohy Instagram
Sean Tuohy Instagram
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Oher’s attorney has requested he be released from his conservatorship because the Tuohys failed “to meet their required duties to provide regular accountancy.” The Tuohys have since said they’re willing to remove the conservatorship, as well.
For Oher’s part, attorneys say he’ll need to provide a doctor’s letter showing he’s capable of managing his own finances and medical decisions, which may only take a matter of weeks.
source: people.com
