Attorneys Explain What’s ‘Puzzling’ About Michael Oher’s Conservatorship Filing — and What’s Next

Last week, former NFL player Michael Oher, whose life story inspired the Oscar-winning film The Blind Side, filed a legal petition that stated he was not actually adopted by the family who once took him in as a teenager but rather placed into a conservatorship which he alleges allowed them to profit from his story. He requested that the conservatorship be ended. 

Oher, now 37, was placed into a conservatorship at 18 and had no physical or mental disabilities when the conservatorship was put in place, per the 2004 conservatorship order obtained by PEOPLE.

“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.

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Michael Oher and the Tuohy family.

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty

According to the 2004 conservatorship filing, reviewed by PEOPLE, a judge placed Oher into a conservatorship with the Tuohys and declared the Memphis-area couple “should have all powers of attorney to act on his behalf and further that Oher shall not be allowed to enter into any contracts or bind himself without the direct approval of his conservators.”

“That’s not typical,” Nevin says. The attorney points out the 2004 filing was for a conservatorship “of the person,” which usually only grants the conservators – in this case, the Tuohys – the power to make medical decisions for the person under the conservatorship – in this case, Oher.Even that’s strange, given the fact that the conservatorship filing notes that Oher had “no known physical or psychological disabilities.” Oher graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he played football before he was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in 2009.

“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.

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The Tuohy Family and Michael Oher.

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 from The Blind Side.

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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.”

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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.”

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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.” A source close to the film told 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.

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Michael Oher with his family and the Tuohy family.

Sean Tuohy Instagram

Nevin and Crane, the conservatorship attorneys, say courts typically follow up with conservators for an annual financial accounting for the person under the conservatorship, meaning the Tuohys should have filed an annual report of Oher’s finances with the Shelby County probate court.  However, no public filings appear to exist. 

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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.

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The Tuohys will next need to explain to the Shelby County probate court whether they’ve received money on Oher’s behalf and whether they properly distributed it to him, according to Nevin. “If they got checks, they need to account for them,” the attorney says. 

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.

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Source: HIS Education