So the Tuohy's were phonies (Michael Oher)

[Credo2]

Behind every angry man is an angry woman

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Really hope this isn’t just the typical story of a pro athlete that has money issues now that the cash flow has stopped.

I think this is a very safe assumption to make....

 

[hog88]

What would have been his reason to question it?

Surely he did some estate planning or at a minimum had to name some beneficiaries. Not to mention when the film came out did he not ever question where his royalties were? Sorry but I just have a hard time looking at a mentally capable college educated man as a victim.

 

[hog88]

I have a masters degree and I didn’t know what a conservatorship was until the whole Brittney Spears debacle

I never had any reason to look it up or anything so why should I know? If someone I trusted had told me it was just a legal term for adult adoption I’d have believed them and never thought anything of it.

Education doesn’t mean knowledge of everything. Unless he was persuing a law degree then I highly doubt it came up

Ok then. I have no counter to this. I would just hope it wouldn't have taken you over a decade to start questioning where were your royalties from the movie.

 

[hog88]

The Tuohys contrived a situation in which they themselves were legally responsible for explaining it to Oher, after they had crookedly and in their own interests reduced Oher to something of the status of a juvenile as pertains to his legal status.

Now, that the Tuohys let all of this go once Oher was in the league (except reportedly choosing Oher's agent for him) does not mean that what the Tuohy's did was not manifestly and grossly crooked. It means that the Tuohys' coverup of what they had done and why at that later time required that they do whatever they thought best to leave their crooked and heinous actions in the dark.

It also means that their carefully cultivated public person was and is a lie and the dedicated businesses and speaking engagements that profited from the lie were and are crooked.

I have zero doubt that if Oher wasn't a top target of their Alma Mater they would have had zero interest in him and that the conservatorship was a means to comply with NCAA rules.

 

[volbound1700]

I feel like both sides are guilty here.

Just take it to court and agree to proceed the money from the film equally. (Both the family and Michael Oher deserve funding for the movie as it is about BOTH).

 

[05_never_again]

I have zero doubt that if Oher wasn't a top target of their Alma Mater they would have had zero interest in him and that the conservatorship was a means to comply with NCAA rules.

Opportunistic altruism.

 

[05_never_again]

Ok then. I have no counter to this. I would just hope it wouldn't have taken you over a decade to start questioning where were your royalties from the movie.

I actually see how that could happen. Michael Oher wasn't/isn't a complete idiot, but I think it is also a safe assumption that he had below average knowledge of money and finance. The movie came out right when he started his NFL career and getting NFL paychecks.

I really hope for his sake that he isn't out of money - he made about $36m in his NFL career, but it is quite possible. He'd be far from the first person this has happened to.

 

[bamawriter]

I feel like both sides are guilty here.

Just take it to court and agree to proceed the money from the film equally. (Both the family and Michael Oher deserve funding for the movie as it is about BOTH).

It seems like Oher's complaint centers around what qualifies as "equally." The proceeds are currently split five ways amongst the four Tuohys and Oher. I think Oher's argument is that he should receive a larger share than the Tuohys. Maybe he has an argument there, but I'm not completely sold on it.

 

[05_never_again]

It seems like Oher's complaint centers around what qualifies as "equally." The proceeds are currently split five ways amongst the four Tuohys and Oher. I think Oher's argument is that he should receive a larger share than the Tuohys. Maybe he has an argument there, but I'm not completely sold on it.

If he presumably didn't negotiate it, then why should he get a bigger share?

It seems like the crux of his argument should be that the conservatorship was improperly installed, on the basis of 1) he was misled into it or 2) he doesn't have some kind of impairment that made it necessary, or both. If he's able to get that dissolved, I wonder if he could go after money from the film at that point. Many lawyers have already come out and talked about how they are puzzled how it was approved in the first place - doesn't it have to be approved by a judge? That seems like it could be worth looking into.

 

[volbound1700]

It seems like Oher's complaint centers around what qualifies as "equally." The proceeds are currently split five ways amongst the four Tuohys and Oher. I think Oher's argument is that he should receive a larger share than the Tuohys. Maybe he has an argument there, but I'm not completely sold on it.

I think 50% should go to Oher and 50% to Tuohy family so I probably agree with Oher there. He is the main topic of movie but the Tuohys are also a HUGE part of the movie. 5-way split could make sense as well though.

 

[stolitonic]

I think 50% should go to Oher and 50% to Tuohy family so I probably agree with Oher there. He is the main topic of movie but the Tuohys are also a HUGE part of the movie. 5-way split could make sense as well though.

But therein lies my point. Oher- or anyone-thinking that the Tuoheys each got millions out of all this really has no clue how Hollywood works lol.

I listened to the interview with the son last week and quite frankly, he seems like he most be the most level headed and normal out of everyone involved. The numbers he threw out of what he (and presumably each family member) ended up with from the movie were more in line with what would be normal.

If memory serves, he says they each got like $14k when the movie was made and about $75k each over the last 15 years in residuals. Doing the math, all in that's like $450k to the family collectively including Oher-before taxes lol

Decent chunk of change but after you take out the attorneys fees, taxes, etc even if Oher got ever penny the Tuoheys got from the movie you're not talking about much money at all in the grand scheme of things.

The NCAA angle-honestly don't care at this point. It was 15 years ago. What's done is done by this point. Would you really like it if the NCAA started poking around at UT again about Kiffs shenanigans during his short tenure in Knoxville?

Conservatorship vs adoption-whatever. Yes, perhaps there was is some slime on there from the Tuoheys but in the end this is between them and Oher. "Big Mike" is a 37 year old man and the Tuoheys have to be pushing 70. As I said, this could have been handled behind closed doors and a quiet court appointment set to end the conservatorship and everyone goes their separate ways

This is why I say somebody wanted the publicity from the lawsuit. At this time, who that person is or their reasoning I cannot state but I have a feeling it will become abundantly clear who is pulling the strings in rather short order.

 

[bamawriter]

If he presumably didn't negotiate it, then why should he get a bigger share?

It seems like the crux of his argument should be that the conservatorship was improperly installed, on the basis of 1) he was misled into it or 2) he doesn't have some kind of impairment that made it necessary, or both. If he's able to get that dissolved, I wonder if he could go after money from the film at that point. Many lawyers have already come out and talked about how they are puzzled how it was approved in the first place - doesn't it have to be approved by a judge? That seems like it could be worth looking into.

It was approved by a judge. There was a hearing. So I don't know on that end. I will say, it is odd to me that the conservatorship was originally set to expire when he turned 25 or until he moved to dissolve it. There needs to be some explanation for why it's still in place.

The thing about the film money is that it can't possibly be very much. I mean, it's a lot for the average person. But between two parties that have made millions over the past couple of decades, we're talking very small change.

 

[bamawriter]

I think 50% should go to Oher and 50% to Tuohy family so I probably agree with Oher there. He is the main topic of movie but the Tuohys are also a HUGE part of the movie. 5-way split could make sense as well though.

I'm not sure I agree. Leigh Anne Tuohy is the lead of the film. She was played by a big name actress, had more screen time, and the promotional material was heavily focused on her. I think it's very difficult to argue that Oher should have a larger take than her.

 

[05_never_again]

It was approved by a judge. There was a hearing. So I don't know on that end. I will say, it is odd to me that the conservatorship was originally set to expire when he turned 25 or until he moved to dissolve it. There needs to be some explanation for why it's still in place.

The thing about the film money is that it can't possibly be very much. I mean, it's a lot for the average person. But between two parties that have been made millions over the past couple of decades, we're talking very small change.

That's why I think if Oher wants legal action, he needs to attack the legitimacy of the conservatorship. Even if he's able to prove that it is or was illegitimate though, is there a lot of money waiting at the end of that trail? For the reasons you and others have laid out, I don't know. I think Oher is under the impression (perhaps with a lawyer's convincing) that he was robbed of tens of millions of dollars or something to that effect, but I'm not so sure that was the case.

I'm all on board for the notion that the Tuohys are slimy people, that the story they've told about their "adoption" of Michael is dressed up, etc., but that doesn't necessarily mean that Oher is owed millions from them either.

 

[Charlie Kelly]

I would say that most pro athletes need help with handling their legal and financial affairs. And not just pro athletes. Most people who become instant millionaires aren't immediately able to handle everything that comes with it. In Oher's case, did it absolutely have to be the Tuohys? Probably not. But I'll be honest and say that there was nothing in the complaint that brings me to the conclusion that they were acting against his best interests.

To be fair, I don't think he was a professional athlete at the time the Tuohys took him in. He still had a few year at Ole Miss to go before he got to the NFL. Not sure what kind of financial or legal advice they could have been giving him when he was just 18 years old and didn't have a cent to his name.

Just calling it like I see it. I'm also willing to change my mind if new information requires it.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. The world would be a terribly boring place if everyone held the same opinions as I do. Again, I'm not claiming any sort of definitive truth, just explaining my reasoning behind why I believe what I believe.

I agree. And I have no doubt that guiding Oher's athletic talents to Ole Miss was a major motivating factor for the Tuohys. But at this moment I'm not seeing where they had a significant financial incentive to screw Oher over.


I disagree. He made it clear in his 2011 book that it wasn't an adoption. And for further proof of his understanding, he notes the fact that his mother attended the conservatorship hearing. An adoptee doesn't typically bring his biological mother to a hearing that is designed to say "You're no longer my mother." An adoption legally ends that relationship while a conservatorship does not.

To be fair, I don't think he was a professional athlete at the time the Tuohys took him in. He still had a few year at Ole Miss to go before he got to the NFL. Not sure what kind of financial or legal advice they could have been giving him when he was just 18 years old and didn't have a cent to his name.

Secondly, I wholeheartedly support your right to call it as you see it. I think the world would be a terribly boring place if everyone agreed with everyone else. Again, I'm not claiming any sort of definitive truth, just trying to explain my reasoning process.

As for your third objection, I've never read his book so I don't know what it contains. I would frankly be shocked if he wrote that himself. Celebrities (whether they be athletes, politicians, or movie stars) writing hundreds of pages connected into a coherent narrative (not an easy task) in their own spare time has always struck me as a bit specious. Either way, I think what I got out of the petition was that he didn't understand there was a significant difference between conservatorship and adoption. I feel that's an easy mistake to make when you're 18 and under-educated- then add on spending most of the next 15 years playing football and maybe he didn't have all that much time to think about it. Maybe this isn't about money for him. Maybe it is. Maybe, when he finally put the pieces together, his feelings were genuinely hurt. Only he knows. I sure don't.

 

[LouderVol]

I appreciate your anecdotal information about your knowledge but I'd bet Oher knows a lot details about playing offensive tackle that you don't because he was involved in that.

I wonder if he might've been involved in a conservatorship???? Why yes, yes he was. It's ridiculous to compare yourself, who wasn't involved in that kind of arrangement to someone who was.

my understanding is that a conservatorship doesn't involve a whole lot of interactions, no one practices a conservatorship multiple hours a day for years on end. trying to compare it to this kids chosen profession is missing the mark by a wide margin.

How many people understand the legal distinctions of their company's structure? S-corp, C-corp, LLC, etc?
How many people understand all the implications of their various insurances? you get the basics that need to understand, but no one dives into the specifics.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

my understanding is that a conservatorship doesn't involve a whole lot of interactions, no one practices a conservatorship multiple hours a day for years on end. trying to compare it to this kids chosen profession is missing the mark by a wide margin.

How many people understand the legal distinctions of their company's structure? S-corp, C-corp, LLC, etc?
How many people understand all the implications of their various insurances? you get the basics that need to understand, but no one dives into the specifics.

As I've said repeatedly in this discussion, any kind of estate plan or financial plan SHOULD have given Oher a "heads up" that he wasn't adopted. A passport, unless the Tuohy's obtained one for him, would have shown he's not adopted.

There's a number of situations that happen in life and deaths where legal kinship comes up.

My BIGGEST issue is that the Tuohy's knew his status and didn't move to remove the conservancy they had over Oher. That's suspicious.

I have trouble believing Oher didn't know and I have trouble accepting the Tuohy's acted fully in his best interest.

I think there's Oher's side, the Tuohy's side and the truth in this. I hope the court gets to the truth.

 

[Nerwen Aldarion]

As I've said repeatedly in this discussion, any kind of estate plan or financial plan SHOULD have given Oher a "heads up" that he wasn't adopted. A passport, unless the Tuohy's obtained one for him, would have shown he's not adopted.

There's a number of situations that happen in life and deaths where legal kinship comes up.

My BIGGEST issue is that the Tuohy's knew his status and didn't move to remove the conservancy they had over Oher. That's suspicious.

I have trouble believing Oher didn't know and I have trouble accepting the Tuohy's acted fully in his best interest.

I think there's Oher's side, the Tuohy's side and the truth in this. I hope the court gets to the truth.

That’s a fair assessment until we know more

 

[volbound1700]

I'm not sure I agree. Leigh Anne Tuohy is the lead of the film. She was played by a big name actress, had more screen time, and the promotional material was heavily focused on her. I think it's very difficult to argue that Oher should have a larger take than her.

I can see that.

 

[VAVol85]

Call me cynical, but I have to wonder if what Oher recently learned was that he did not have a stake in the Tuohy estate (which is sizable) that was comparable with that of the other children.

 

[Firebirdparts]

You know, I hadn’t thought about that, but it makes a ton of sense.

Who would have ever thought he in particular would thinking about inheritance after 8 years in the league as good as he had? What a world.

 

[VolNExile]

I would think that, at least for a while, he might look to the Tuohy’s for financial advice, like my kids ask me. After all, they were rich and getting richer, and they were just like family, right? If it has never occurred to you that you might be getting exploited, at least to some degree, you might not see how your advisors were actually making money off of you. Cough *Morgan Stanley, etc.* cough

 

[GroverCleveland]

Hasn't it come out now that the family as a whole only got about $750k for movie?

 

[stolitonic]

Hasn't it come out now that the family as a whole only got about $750k for movie?

Yup. Before taxes, agent fees, etc etc.

$400k actually making it into their accounts would be about right

For transparency, the production company also says they made a $200k donation to the Tuoheys charity fund after the success of the movie. They made an identical offer to Oher, but he declined.