Todd and Julie Chrisley’s Adoption of Chloe ‘Was Never Made Final’ Until a
Todd and Julie Chrisley only finalized their adoption of Chloe just before they went to prison.
On the first episode of their new Lifetime series, The Chrisleys: Back to Reality, released Monday, Sept. 1, the couple’s daughter Savannah Chrisley revealed that her parents had only finalized the adoption of their youngest daughter, Chloe, 13, right before they went to prison
Todd and Julie were convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion in June 2022. While Todd, 56, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and 16 months probation, Julie, 52, received seven years in prison and 16 months probation.
After the husband and wife reported to prison on Jan. 17, 2023, President Trump granted them a full pardon around 28 months later
“Chloe is the biological child of Todd’s oldest son,” Julie, who spoke from prison in the episode, said in reference to Todd’s son Kyle, 34. “Once we found out that she even existed, of course, we wanted to be a part of her life.
Todd welcomed Kyle and daughter Lindsie, 35, with his ex-wife Teresa Terry and shares son Chase, 29, daughter Savannah, 28, and son Grayson, 19, with Julie.
“Her mother let us have her every other weekend, and then every other weekend turned into every other week. And then I’ll never forget her calling my parents one day saying, ‘I need you to come get Chloe, we don’t have anywhere to stay and I can’t have her sleep in the car,’ ” Savannah recalled on the show.
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Savannah continued, ”Then she signed over custody completely.”
“Everyone goes through their own life experiences. Chloe is living a much better life than she would have ever thought about living,” she added.
Savannah went on to say that her father never terminated Kyle’s rights due to believing Chloe was his “son’s daughter.”
“The adoption was actually never made final until maybe a month or two before mom and dad left,” Savannah said.
“My dad could never bring himself to do it and to terminate their rights,” she continued. “But they had to do that to make sure that when they left, that Kyle or Angela couldn’t come back and get her.”
“Obviously, she was going to be left in my care,” Savannah added.
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The episode then captured past moments as Savannah balanced being a big sister and the caregiver of both Chloe and Grayson.
“She is making sure that Chloe’s in the best school and [Grayson’s] college is paid for,” Savannah’s friend Pamela said.
Grayson then added, “Oh, I’ve always been attached to Savannah’s hip.”
“Like I used to have this thing, I don’t know why I did it, but I called my mom ‘Mom One’ and called my sister ‘Mom Two,’ ” he continued. “And I would yell, ‘Mom,’ and they would both respond.”