Britney Spears wants hearing to oust her father as conservator moved up, filing says
Britney Spears not only wants dad Jamie Spears removed as the conservator of her estate but she also wants him removed ASAP.
The pop star’s attorney is asking that a hearing about ousting Jamie as conservator be moved up from its scheduled Sept. 29 date, at minimum, or that Jamie simply be removed and replaced by Jason Rubin, who has been suggested by Team Britney as an acceptable temporary conservator.
A court document filed Thursday asks that the hearing be moved to the earliest date allowed by state law, which is Aug. 23. The original petition asking for Jamie’s removal was filed July 26.
Having gotten the ball rolling on changes to her situation with her explosive June 23 testimony in open court, Britney faces continued “avoidable harm and prejudice,” per the filing, as long as the situation remains static.
In June, Britney called her conservatorship “abusive” and cited a number of extreme restrictions of her rights.
Experts in probate law say the singer’s account is well within the realm of how conservatorship works. “You’re taking away a person’s right to make any decisions over themselves,” one said.
In a document filed in late July, she called her father’s broad control over her life “traumatizing, insane and depressing.” Jamie was conservator of his daughter’s estate and her person until September 2019, when Jodi Montgomery was named temporary conservator of her person.
“[T]ime has come for Mr. Spears’s reign to end,” states the document filed Thursday with the Los Angeles County Superior Court, which has handled the singer’s conservatorship since its 2008 inception. The document characterizes the alleged harm against the singer to be emotional, psychological and financial.
“[I]f Mr. Spears chooses to put his daughter’s well-being first and accept an outcome that does not even ask him to admit to fault, Ms. Spears can begin to have a semblance of her ‘life back,’” the document says later, “or ... if Mr. Spears chooses to put his own self-interest first by opposing his ultimate removal (thereby putting himself at risk for attorneys’ fees), this Court can take that fact into account in determining whether to suspend Mr. Spears pending the outcome of that litigation.
After years of complaints, Britney Spears’ new attorney has petitioned the Los Angeles Superior Court to replace her father as the conservator of her estate.
“Indeed, there already is substantial record evidence warranting Mr. Spears’s suspension now,” it continues, “and should he seek to promote delay by opposing this Application, any such opposition would speak volumes.”
Since the singer’s testimony in June, numerous people and entities associated with the conservatorship have tendered their resignations, and the court allowed the singer to hire her own counsel, Mathew Rosengart of Greenberg Traurig, in mid-July. Since then, he has been aggressive — as promised — in asking the court for changes to the arrangement, specifically regarding Jamie Spears.
Madonna, Iggy Azalea and now mental health and disability rights advocates are watching Britney Spears’ conservatorship battle as a civil rights issue.
Montgomery and Britney Spears’ medical team are cited in the document as supporting Jamie’s removal.
Previously, Britney had been represented by court-appointed attorney Samuel Ingham III, whom she alleged never told her she could petition to get out of the conservatorship. Ingham has denied that allegation.
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