A request by pop singer Britney Spears to substantially change the set-up of the court-approved conservatory where she has lived for 12 years will not be decided until February, a California judge said this week at noon from a flurry of applications by Spears and her family.
Spears, 38, remains one of the most beloved and best-selling stars of modern times, but has carefully managed her life and finances through a complex and largely private legal arrangement – one typically used for the ancients. , poor as well as disabled – since 2008, after her much-publicized wrestling with issues of mental heath and substance abuse.
For more than a decade, Spears’ father, James P. Spears, known as Jamie, controlled much of the singer’s career and personal life as a conservator of her person and estate, although he resigned last year, with instructions of health problems. Spears, through her lawyer-appointed attorney, Samuel D. Ingham III, said this week that she was “strongly opposed” to returning her father to his role as her conservator, indicating that she was ready to take him to court. to fight.
Ingham said Spears preferred to keep her interim conservator, Jodi Montgomery, in the role of overseeing her mental health care and more, and asked that a bank be in charge of her estate. To justify the changes, the lawyer pointed to Spears’ desire to stop performing for the time being, leaving out the possibility that she would seek “termination of this conservatory” in the future.
At the same time, Jamie Spears, through his own lawyers, tried to bring back his former co-conservator of Spears’ estate, Andrew M. Wallet, who voluntarily resigned from his role in March 2019, after more than a decade in the job.
Following a hearing on Wednesday, Judge Brenda Penny of the Los Angeles County Superior Court in California extended the current version of the conservatory until Feb. 1. She called on Ingham to submit his September 18 petition on behalf of Spears, with any objections filed by October 2. A hearing was scheduled in the case before October 14.
The recent filings, and in particular Spears’ call for changes in the conservatory, have only served to inflate the grassroots, fan-led protests, known as the #FreeBritney movement, whose followers believe the pop star is being held against her will. or stable of. (Court documents put Spears’ total assets at $ 57.4 million as of December 2019, including about $ 2.7 million in cash.)
Although the court proceedings are typically closed to the public and most records are sealed, #FreeBritney supporters gathered outside the Los Angeles hearing on Wednesday, and were heard when Ingham told the judge he was covering the blankets and the courtroom found to be unfair at times, asking for perhaps more transparency in the future.
Jamie Spears has dismissed the #FreeBritney advocates as conspiracy theorists, and in additional filings this week sought to seal future lawsuits, citing the privacy of his daughter and her two children. “Such information would undoubtedly stimulate the widespread publicity and the ability to access her or her children, as evidenced by the publicity surrounding this conservatory since its inception and numerous cases of harassment,” his lawyer said. “That publicity would be very detrimental to the health and well-being of the conservator, as well as the health and well-being of her minor children.”
The ACLU announced this week that it would back the performer if it asked for help. “People with disabilities have the right to live a life of self-sufficiency and to preserve their civil rights,” the organization said. said in a tweet. “If Britney Spears wants to regain her civil liberties and come out of her conservatory, we’re here to help her.”
