Ariel Winter’s Mom Returns To Court Over Finances

CORRECTION FROM THE MOTHER OF ARIEL WINTERS: In this article it is stated that Ariel Winter’s mother is claiming $160,000 in court fees. We received the following statement which clarifies that it is in fact attorney Michael Kretzmer who is claiming those fees.

Update: “… the indisputable truth is that Shanelle Gray’s attorney, Michael J. Kretzmer, is the one who is claiming $160,000 in legal fees from my daughter, Ariel Winter’s, estate because Mr. Kretzmer, represented Shanelle Gray as the guardian of the person for less than three months at the rate of seven hundred dollars ( $700.00) per hour. Mr. Kretzmer never even represented Ariel Winter’s guardian of the estate, who is my husband, Glenn Workman. ”

See the bottom of this page for a statement from Chrisoula Workman

The mother of Modern Family star Ariel Winter was back in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday morning, saying that a legal relief fee claimed by her estranged daughter, Shanelle Gray, is legally hers.

Chris Workman’s lawyers said that their client was obligated to the $160,000 legal relief fee claimed by Gray, who is currently her younger sister’s court-appointed guardian because she was Winter’s guardian at the time.

However, Gray’s lawyer Michael J. Kretzmer said that he helped secure a four-year contract with ABC for Winter to appear on Modern Family, a deal that is worth over $6 million. Kretzmer said that producers initially wanted to write Winter’s character, Alex Dunphy, off of the show until he intervened.

According to Radar Online, a judge took Kretzmer’s transaction records and delayed his decision until July 3.

The 15-year-old Modern Family star was placed under the guardianship of her older sister in November after Winter said that she suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother. Court records described the abuse as “on going physical abuse (slapping, hitting, pushing), and emotional abuse (vile name-calling, personal insults about minor and minor’s weight, attempts to ‘sexualize’ minor, deprivation of food, etc.” The court then granted temporary custody of Winter to Gray, who won’t have access to her younger sister’s earnings.

Winter’s 34-year-old sister was also removed from Workman’s home 20 years ago under similar abuse allegations. Shanelle Gray spent two years in foster care, and never returned to Workman’s custody. Workman has denied the abuse claims, saying, “It’s all untrue, it’s all untrue.” She also told PEOPLE magazine, “I have my doctor’s letter that my daughter’s never been abused. I have stylists’ letters that she’s never been abused.”

Shortly after Winter’s abuse allegations came out, Chris Workman said that she found her then-14-year-old daughter in bed with her 18-year-old boyfriend. Workman said she “put a stop to it immediately” and filed charges agains the older boy “because legally he is an adult.”

Letter from Chrisoula Workman To The Inquisitr:

….I through my lawyers, am objecting to Mr. Kretzmer’s outrageous fees and asking the court to leave the money in Ariel Winter’s estate so that Ariel Winter’s estate is not unreasonably dissipated by anyone, including Mr. Kretzmer. In other words, I am attempting to save Ariel Winter’s money; Mr. Kretzmer is seeking to get Ariel Winter’s money by having the court order payment from her estate for Mr. Kretzmer’s unreasonable fees.

Mr. Kretzmer also falsely stated, which statement appeared in your article, that “he [Mr. Kretzmer) helped to secure a contract” for Ariel Winter, who is not his client, for Ariel Winter to appear for four more years on the television show, Modern Family. The truth is that Ariel Winter has her own separate entertainment attorneys, who reported to me as Ariel Winter’s personal manager. All of the contracts were negotiated and signed by me, as Ariel Winter’s mother and personal manager, prior to the October 3, 2012, court filed Petition for Guardianship over Ariel Winter.

Shanelle Gray, my eldest daughter, through her attorney, Mr. Kretzmer made false allegations in her petition for her appointment as guardian over Ariel Winter to glorify Shanelle Gray’s request to obtain custody of her sister, Ariel Winter, who ran away from home, and for Shanelle Gray to attempt to control Ariel Winter’s money. Shanelle Gray’s petition seeks to undermine my fundamental parental rights to protect and guide my minor child, Ariel Winter.

The statement made about my oldest daughter, Shanelle Gray, being removed from my home is also not true. The truth is that Shanelle Gray ran away from home at the age of 15 with a boy that she was secretly seeing. Upon my catching Shanelle Gray trying to sneak out of the house after midnight, Shanelle Gray ran away and I called the police for assistance. Thereafter, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) became involved when Shanelle Gray did not want to come home because she would be prevented from seeing that boy. The mother of the boy, who was also a heroin addict, assisted Shanelle to make false accusations against me and her father.”

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