Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, known for their roles as guardians and inspirations behind The Blind Side, have announced their intention to relinquish their conservatorship over former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher.
During a press conference in Memphis, the couple’s attorneys revealed the Tuohys had decided to formally dissolve the conservatorship that has been in place for nearly two decades, since Oher’s youth.
“If that’s what [Oher] wants to do, is terminate it, then we’re more than glad to do so,” said Randall Fishman, one of the legal representatives representing the Tuohys.
Oher, who is 37 years old, filed a petition last week seeking the termination of the conservatorship granted to the Tuohys. He alleges that the family capitalized on his name, identity and likeness, and “tricked” him into a conservatorship rather than an adoption nearly 19 years ago.
The initial conservatorship filing in 2004 outlined Oher’s desire for the Tuohys to serve as his legal guardians until he reached the age of 25 or until a court dissolved the conservatorship. In his petition, submitted earlier this year in February, Oher contended that he had come to realize that he was not legally a member of the Tuohy family.
Steve Farese, another attorney representing the Tuohys, assured the media that the couple’s financial resources were more than sufficient outside of their involvement with Oher.
“They don’t need his money,” Farese asserted. “They’ve never needed his money.”
In an interview with The Daily Memphian, Sean Tuohy refuted all of Oher’s allegations.
“It’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children,” Tuohy said. “We were never offered money; we never asked for money. My financial history is meticulously documented; you can verify how much my company was sold for.”
