Britney Spears’ Conservatorship Extended Until at Least February
Despite a request earlier this week by Britney Spears’ attorney that the singer’s father be removed from her conservatorship, it will be extended until at least February of next year, a judge determined in a Los Angeles court on Wednesday, according to documents obtained by Variety.
The matter was discussed at the hearing, which was closed to the media and attended virtually by both of the singer’s parents and four attorneys. Britney’s attorney, Samuel Ingham, was authorized to file a petition no later than September 18 and have it set for hearing on October 14; the temporary letters of conservatorship were extended until February 1, 2021.
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In a document filed to the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles county on Aug. 17 by Ingham, the singer states that she is “strongly opposed” to having her father, Jamie (referred to as James in the filing) Spears “return as conservator of her person.”
Spears is petitioning that her temporary conservator, Jodi Montgomery, take on the role permanently.
Furthermore, the document states that Britney Spears opposes her father’s continued control over her estate and would like to regain oversight of her finances. As the filing reads: “Britney … strongly prefers to have a qualified corporate fiduciary appointed to serve in this role.”
Spears’ father Jamie Spears has been her co-conservator since 2008 when she suffered a very public breakdown. He became sole conservator in 2019 after attorney Andrew Wallet resigned from his co-conservatorship. Jamie Spears is recovering from treatment of a ruptured colon, after which Spears postponed her lucrative Las Vegas residency and later checked herself into a health facility for a month-long stay.
The court has granted Jamie Spears to be paid around $130,000 annually by his daughter’s estate for his role as conservator, and according to court documents obtained by ET, the largest expense of Britney’s estate in 2018 was her legal and conservator fees, which, in total, equaled over $1.1 million for that year.
Lawyers for Spears believe the motion will be “aggressively contested by James Spears” but state, “We are now at a point where the conservatorship must be changed substantially in order to reflect the major changes in her current lifestyle and her stated wishes.”
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