Though Todd and Julie Chrisley’s legal problems aren’t going away any time soon, it doesn’t seem like they have all that much to worry about officially when it comes to their granddaughter Chloe, whose birth mother has spoken out about attempting to regain custody of the young Chrisley Knows Best co-star. The family heads are set to kick off their lengthy prison sentences in 2023, and are having to spend some of their final weeks of the current year dismissing the claims and assertions made by Angela Johnson, former girlfriend of Todd’s estranged son Kyle Chrisley.
Angela Johnson, who gave birth to Chloe back in 2012, went public in saying she was working hard to legally get the child back, having initially lost custody rights after being arrested in 2016. But according to the Chrisley duo and their lawyer, this is a misrepresentation of what’s actually possible in a legal sense. Here’s the statement that Todd and Julie shared with People:
Todd and Julie are saddened by the unfortunate and misleading narrative currently being portrayed in the media regarding Chloe.
As fans may be aware, daughter and reality star Savannah Chrisley is currently planning to take custody of Chloe whenever Todd and Julie begin their respective 12-year and 7-year sentences. And while the couple are reportedly feeling betrayed by the court system for a perceived bias against them being TV stars, they and past legal representative Jessica Doyle are fully confident that Angela Johnson’s custody requests will go unfulfilled as a matter of the law.
Doyle, who is the family law attorney that teamed with Todd and Julie Chrisley during Chloe’s adoption process told People that Johnson’s claims are invalid and “not legally correct.” In her words:
I handled the formal adoption of Chloe by Todd and Julie Chrisley. Angela Johnson's parental rights were terminated when she voluntarily surrendered her parental rights to Todd and Julie Chrisley on March 24, 2017. She has had no contact with the minor child since 2015. . . . Todd and Julie Chrisley don't just have custody of Chloe. They are her legal parents through adoption.
That last factoid would seemingly be the end of the argument, since this likely wouldn't readily be classified as a traditional custody arguments. But until such declarations are made in a courtroom, it's impossible to truly know how anything will shake out.
In telling TMZ that she has been in contact with attorneys throughout the time that Chloe has been out of her life, Angela Johnson said that the family moving from Atlanta to Tennessee complicated the legal process. As well, she claimed that things stalled out on her side while everyone waited to see how Todd and Julie Chrisley trial and sentencing would go. Now that those details have been ironed out, Johnson intends to regain full custody of Chloe.
Chrisley Knows Best was officially canceled at USA following the sentencing, though Season 9 did air in its entirety surrounding their trial and the eventual guilty verdict. It’s unclear if the family will continue their TV legacy, giving Chloe more on-screen time in the future. But for now, here’s hoping for the best in regards to everyone’s personal lives, especially where the 10-year-old is concerned.
