Brianna Price is a Florida woman who filed a paternity case against Charlie Adelson in Broward County in March 2019, seeking to establish him as the father of her child and to obtain child support and related relief. The case settled and closed in 2021 with a final judgment of paternity entered after a Zoom hearing. The terms of that settlement, along with the child’s name and date of birth, are not part of the public docket.
What Price Filed in Broward County
On March 22, 2019, Price filed a “Petition to Determine Paternity, Child Support and for Related Relief” in Florida’s Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court.1UniCourt. Brianna Price Petitioner vs Charles Adelson Respondent The same day, she filed a verified emergency motion asking the court for temporary child support, health insurance coverage for the minor child, forensic accountant fees, and temporary attorney’s fees and costs.
A summons was issued on March 26, 2019, and returned served two days later. The respondent named in the case is Charles Adelson, the South Florida periodontist better known by the name Charlie.
The filing came at a specific moment in the wider Markel investigation. Two co-conspirators had already been convicted by early 2019, and although Charlie Adelson himself had not yet been arrested or charged, the investigation was publicly understood to be moving toward the Adelson family.
How the Case Resolved
The paternity matter moved slowly. Nearly two years after filing, the parties reached an agreement. A notice of filing a paternity settlement agreement was entered on March 8, 2021, followed by a final judgment of paternity issued after a hearing conducted via Zoom.1UniCourt. Brianna Price Petitioner vs Charles Adelson Respondent The case was then closed.
The settlement’s contents are not available through the public docket. The child support figure, custody arrangements, and any provisions concerning insurance or future modification are not disclosed. The child’s identity and date of birth are likewise not part of the public record.
Why Price Asked for a Forensic Accountant
The emergency motion’s request for forensic accountant fees pointed to a real problem. Charlie Adelson’s finances were substantial and difficult to trace, as later became clear during his criminal trial.
Forensic accountant Mary Hull testified that Adelson’s annual income ranged from $3 million to $3.5 million between 2013 and 2016, and that the Adelson Institute for Implants and Aesthetic Surgery grossed about $2 million per year.2Tallahassee Democrat. Donna Adelson, Harvey, Charlie, Wendi Net Worth Adelson had bought the dental practice from his father in 2012 and sold it back in 2015, and he also worked as a traveling periodontist at several dozen dental offices across South Florida.
The broader Adelson family held roughly $8.1 million across 32 checking, savings, business, and investment accounts as of July 2014.2Tallahassee Democrat. Donna Adelson, Harvey, Charlie, Wendi Net Worth Trial testimony also described large cash amounts kept in a home safe and routine transfers between family members and office accounts. For a mother seeking child support, tracing that kind of picture without a forensic professional would be nearly impossible.
Who Charlie Adelson Is
Charlie Adelson is the periodontist convicted on November 6, 2023, of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation in the 2014 murder-for-hire of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel.3WCTV. Charlie Adelson Found Guilty Murder-for-Hire Dan Markel He was sentenced on December 12, 2023, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.4CNN. Charlie Adelson Life Sentence Murder Plot
Prosecutors alleged the killing grew out of a custody dispute between Markel and Adelson’s sister, Wendi Adelson. Markel was shot in the head on July 18, 2014, while parking at his Tallahassee home. Adelson’s mother, Donna Adelson, was convicted in September 2025 and sentenced in October 2025 to life without parole plus 30 additional years.5CNN. Donna Adelson Sentencing
At the time Price filed her paternity petition in March 2019, none of this criminal exposure had reached Charlie Adelson personally in the form of charges. The paternity case is a separate civil family court matter, and it closed in 2021, before Adelson’s arrest and conviction.
What the 2021 Judgment Means Now
Adelson has since been moved out of Florida. After his sentencing, he was held at Wakulla Correctional Institution Annex and later Columbia Correctional Institution Annex in Lake City. In early 2024 he was placed in administrative confinement and barred from visitors, and by May 2024 he had been transferred to an undisclosed facility in South Dakota.6Tallahassee Democrat. State Records Show Charlie Adelson Now Incarcerated in South Dakota
His incarceration thousands of miles from South Florida adds a practical complication to any ongoing obligations flowing from the 2021 paternity judgment. What those obligations are, however, cannot be answered from the public record, because the settlement’s terms were not made public when the case closed.