Britney Spears’s Father, Jamie, Has Been Suspended From Her Conservatorship

Effective immediately.

Britney Spears’s Father, Jamie, Has Been Suspended From Her Conservatorship

Britney Spears’s private life has been on display ever since she burst on the scene back in the late ’90s with “…Baby One More Time.” It seems that every few months, new questions arise about the conservatorship the pop icon has been under since 2008 (initially with her father, Jamie Spears, in charge), with some fans even starting a #FreeBritney campaign. 

But what, exactly, does a conservatorship mean, and what does the Spears family have to say about it? Let’s break it all down. 

Per Variety, Judge Brenda Penny ruled on September 29, 2021, to suspend Jamie as conservator of Britney’s estate. This is the most significant development to come from the case so far. 

Variety reports accountant John Zabel will temporarily step in a conservator of Britney’s estate. He’ll now oversee her finances until the court figures out next steps. Rosengart says the conservatorship should be terminated altogether by end of the year and suggested a termination hearing within 45 days. 

“[Britney] is entitled to have this Court now seriously consider whether this conservatorship is no longer required,” the petition reads, according to NBC News on September 7. “The conservatorship has helped Ms. Spears get through a major life crisis, rehabilitate and advance her career, and put her finances and her affairs in order. But recently, things have changed…Ms. Spears is now outspoken in her frustration with the level of control imposed by a conservatorship, and has pleaded with this Court to ‘let her have her life back.’”

It’s worth noting this filing, while a victory for Britney overall, paints the conservatorship in a positive light. In June, however, Britney said very plainly she feels the conservatorship is “abusive” and has done her “way more harm than good.” 

On September 22, TMZ reported that Britney’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, had filed documents essentially agreeing with her father’s assessment that the conservatorship no longer serves Britney and that she should be released without medical evaluation, something she mentioned during her emotional testimony months prior. 

Per TMZ on August 12, Jamie’s lawyer said in official documents, “Even as Mr. Spears is the unremitting target of unjustified attacks, he does not believe that a public battle with his daughter over his continuing service as her conservator would be in her best interests. So, even though he must contest this unjustified Petition for his removal, Mr. Spears intends to work with the Court and his daughter’s new attorney to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator.” Click here for more details. 

Per The New York Times, Britney’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, filed the petition on Monday, July 26. He cited that if “Ms. Spears has sufficient capacity to choose her own legal counsel, she likewise has sufficient capacity to make this nomination.” 

“I’m here to get rid of my dad and charge him for conservatorship abuse,” she told a court on July 14, according to Variety. “I want to press charges for abuse on this conservatorship today…all of it.”

She continued, “I’m here now today, your honor, to remove my dad altogether.”

According to Variety, the pop icon told Judge Brenda Penny, who oversees her case, that she was made to take psych tests “against her will” during her Circus concert tour, which ran in 2009. She says she was told if she complied, her life would go back to normal. “I did it all and they lied…they did nothing,” Spears said. “They didn’t end it, and I kept working.” The singer added she doesn’t want people to “question my intelligence for the millionth time.”

Per Variety, Spears told the judge she’s not “perfect” but that her “episodes” stemmed from “what they did to me,” presumably referring to her conservators. “It was their goal to make me feel crazy, which I’m not.”

In her testimony, Spears also claimed her father got her driver’s license taken away, made sure she couldn’t drink coffee, controlled her diet, and took away her “pink hair vitamins.” “That’s not abuse. That’s just fucking cruelty,” she said. 

She also opened up a bit about her history with her father, saying, “I was always extremely scared of my dad and scared he was going to show up drunk somewhere.

“Instead of trying to investigate my behavior or my capacity, I want my dad investigated,” Spears said. “This conservatorship is literally allowing my dad to rule my life…. That is abuse, and we all know it.”

She also said, “I’m angry, and I will go there,” referring to her desire to sue her father for conservatorship abuse. 

For the time being, Spears has requested the conservator of her person, Jodi Montgomery, remain on her case. 

Shortly after the hearing, the lawyer Spears hired, Mathew Rosengart, called for Jamie Spears to voluntarily step down from his daughter’s conservatorship. “This is not working. What is supposed to be at the heart of this has been lost,” he said. “There is a real question as to why Mr. Spears does not voluntarily step down today…. Is he here for financial reasons? Does anybody really believe that Mr. Spears’s involvement is in the best interest of his daughter?” Rosengart also confirmed his firm would be investigating the origins of Spears’s conservatorship, which was put into effect in 2008. He said, “A conservatorship was probably not necessary.”

Jamie’s lawyer, Vivian Thoreen, said the elder Spears would not resign. 

In documents filed in Los Angeles court on July 9, per People, Britney’s personal conservator accused Jamie of taking “more than $2 million of his daughter’s money” to defend himself and remain in control of Britney’s estate. 

“It is ironic that Mr. Spears now wants the conservatorship to ‘reflect her wishes,’ since it is no secret that Ms. Spears has wished her father out of her life for years,” Montgomery’s lawyer Lauriann Wright also wrote in the document. Read more, here.

Lynne Spears is advocating for Britney to be able to choose her own representation in her conservatorship case. Lynne petitioned the Los Angeles County Superior Court for Britney to pick her attorney, according to CNN. 

"Now, and for the past many years, Conservatee is able to care for her person and in fact has, within the parameters of this conservatorship, earned literally hundreds of millions of dollars as an international celebrity,” the petition states.

The filing was made one week after Britney’s testimony in which she asked for her nearly 13-year conservatorship to be terminated.

In her shocking testimony, Spears alleged she was not made aware she could petition for the end of her conservatorship—something that would be Ingham’s job; he was appointed to the role in 2008. 

On June 23, Spears addressed the court directly and said she wants her conservatorship to end. “This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good. I deserve to have a life. I’ve worked my whole life,” she said. “I deserve to have a two- to three-year break and do what I want to do…. I’m tired of feeling alone. I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does by having a child, a family, any of those things, and more so.”

Variety has the full transcript, which you can read here. 

It cited Britney’s testimony as the reason. In a legal filing, the wealth management firm said, “As a result of the conservatee’s testimony at the June 23 hearing, however, Petitioner [Bessemer Trust] has become aware that the conservatee objects to the continuance of her conservatorship and desires to terminate the conservatorship. Petitioner has heard the conservatee and respects her wishes.”

On July 2, L.A. Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny ruled that Bessemer Trust's resignation would be “immediately effective.” This officially leaves Jamie as Britney’s sole conservator, per People. 

Rudolph is no longer representing the singer, Deadline reports. “It has been over 2 1/2 years since Britney and I last communicated, at which time she informed me she wanted to take an indefinite work hiatus,” Rudolph wrote in a letter. “Earlier today, I became aware that Britney had been voicing her intention to officially retire.”

He added, “As her manager, I believe it is in Britney’s best interest for me to resign from her team as my professional services are no longer needed.”

Read the full letter here.

According to the Judicial Branch of California’s official website, a conservatorship is “a court case where a judge appoints a responsible person or organization (called the ‘conservator’) to care for another adult (called the ‘conservatee’) who cannot care for himself or herself or manage his or her own finances.”

In February 2008, Britney Spears was put under a temporary psychiatric hold in Los Angeles, where she was treated at a UCLA facility. Following those measures, her father and an attorney were granted a temporary—then permanent (in October 2008)—conservatorship over her assets, estate, and business affairs. 

The order has been in place ever since, though Jamie stepped down as a conservator in September 2019 due to “personal health reasons,” with Britney’s longtime “care manager,” Jodi Montgomery, taking his place.  

In August 2020, People obtained new court documents that show Britney is “strongly opposed” to Jamie’s returning as conservator and instead “strongly prefers” that Montgomery continue in the role. “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,” Britney’s court-appointed attorney, Samuel D. Ingham III, says in the filing, according to the outlet.

There is a certain segment of the internet that’s become convinced Britney is sending secret messages to fans asking for help. It really gained steam back in 2019 but seems to pop back up again every few months, especially when Brit is active on social media. The gist is that fans think Britney wants out of the conservatorship, and they’ve started a movement, #FreeBritney, to support her. For a really deep dive on the movement, click here.

She even responded to fans concerned about her well-being with an Instagram post in April 2019. 

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This post may be updated as new information becomes available. 

This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Condé Nast