After agreeing earlier this summer to eventually step down from his own role in the conservatorship that has overseen Britney Spears’ finances and controlled much of her life since 2008, Britney Spears’ father, James P. Spears, filed a petition on Tuesday with the court, requesting that the court “now seriously consider whether this conservatorship is no longer required.”
According to Mr. Spears, who has always maintained that the guardianship — which was instituted 13 years ago amid worries about the singer’s mental health and potential drug use — was in his daughter’s best interests, the petition represented a significant shift in his position. Last month, he said that he would ultimately stand down from his job as conservator of the singer’s money if “an orderly transition to a new conservator” could be achieved, but he argued that he should not be dismissed from his position immediately. Up until this point, he has not said that the conservatorship should be terminated, something that Ms. Spears made public for the first time at a June court hearing, during which she referred to the arrangement as “abusive.”
Despite the fact that Ms. Spears, 39, has not yet filed her own official petition to terminate the conservatorship, she has requested the court to remove her father from his position as conservator of her estate, according to court documents. Since September 2019, when Jodi Montgomery, a licenced professional conservator, took over as her personal conservator on an ongoing temporary basis, he has not acted as her personal conservator.
When Spears had a series of mental breakdowns in 2008, he was put under conservatorship, a complicated legal procedure often intended for the elderly or the infirm.
She has not performed since 2018, and she informed the court that she would not return to the stage while her father was acting as conservator of her estate.
Rosengart has just taken over as Spears’ attorney, marking the first time in her conservatorship that she has had the ability to choose her own legal representation. During a hearing on Tuesday afternoon, Jamie Spears’ attorney stated that the court had recognised that Spears possesses both the capacity and capability to identify, engage, and instruct counsel of her own choosing, without the assistance of the conservator or the court, and that she presumably possesses the capacity and capability to deal with other contracting and business matters.
