The legal battle over Britney Spears’ 13-year-old conservatorship continues, as efforts to remove the singer’s father, Jamie Spears, are ramping up.
According to new legal docs, the pop star’s doctors are in favor of booting her father. The claim made in the filing would be a major development — should Spears’ medical team believe that her father is causing harm to her case, the court would likely take that very seriously.
The new filing comes the same week that Spears’ new attorney, Mathew Rosengart, officially petitioned to suspend and remove Spears’ father from the conservatorship.
The doc was filed on July 28 in Los Angeles Superior Court by the attorney Laurieann Wright, who represents Spears’ temporary conservator Jodi Montgomery. In the filing, Montgomery — who has the pop star’s support to remain on her case — says that she wants Spears’ father removed from the conservatorship, putting her in agreement with Rosengart, who represents the international superstar.
The doc notes that Montgomery has “concluded that Jamie Spears should not continue to act as … Conservator of the Estate, because his doing so is not in the best interest of” Britney Spears. The filing further notes that Montgomery claims that Spears’ “medical team agrees that it is not in the best interest of the Conservatee for Mr. Spears to remain Conservator.”
In addition, Montgomery gives her backing to the appointment of CPA Jason Rubin to manage Spears’ finances while under conservatorship, instead of her father. (Earlier this week, Rosengart filed that he and Spears have selected Rubin to replace the elder Spears, should the court remove or suspend him.)
Spears’ father has been atop the conservatorship since 2008 when he asked the court to place his famous daughter under the legal guardianship, following a highly-documented time of public turmoil in 2007 in the public eye of the paparazzi. He is currently the conservator of his daughter’s estate, meaning he controls all financial decisions, while Montgomery is the conservator of her person, meaning she manages her day-to-day well being and consults with her doctors on medical decisions.
Montgomery’s legal doc is another step towards a potential major victory for Spears, who is adamantly against her father being involved with her conservatorship. Spears has previously told a judge that she wants to “press charges” against her father for “conservatorship abuse.”
Within two weeks of Spears testifying that she wants to press charges against her father, Rosengart and his firm filed to petition to remove her father from the conservatorship — the biggest legal move in the course of her 13-year saga.
Prior to Rosengart representing Spears, she had been represented by court-appointed attorney, Samuel D. Ingham, who resigned earlier this month, after working on Spears’ case for the entirely of her conservatorship. Ingham had previously filed a document in November 2020 stating that the star was “afraid” of her father and would refuse to perform, as long as he was controlling her conservatorship. Montgomery has been working on Spears case since September 2019.
The new legal docs signal a positive working relationship between Montgomery and Rosengart, indicating that the two are working favorably towards the singer’s best interest — which is to work with the court to eventually get her out of her conservatorship in a safe and productive manner.
In Rosengart’s motion, filed this past Monday, the 127-page legal document detailed reasons as to why the elder Spears should not be involved with his daughter’s conservatorship, suggesting that he has “dissipated” the singer’s multi-million dollar fortune.
Rosengart argued that Jamie Spears has “profited handsomely” from the conservatorship, noting his $16,000-per-month compensation from his daughter’s estate. And in a footnote, Rosengart cited a report in Forbes magazine indicating that Britney Spears’ net worth is “shockingly low,” given a string of four albums and concert tours since the conservatorship began in 2008.
“Indeed, serious questions abound concerning Mr. Spears’s potential misconduct, including conflicts of interest, conservatorship abuse and the evident dissipation of Ms. Spears’s fortune, which Mr. Spears has effectively controlled since 2008,” Rosengart wrote in the legal doc.
Jamie Spears’ lawyers have denied all allegations of wrongdoing in the past.
On June 23, the pop star gave a blistering testimony, marking the first time she publicly addressed the court in her 13-year conservatorship. During her 24-minute statement, Spears told the judge her conservatorship is “abusive” and asked for it to be terminated without further evaluation. On July 14, she testified again, which is when she told the judge she wants to “press charges” against her father.
After Spears’ explosive court hearing, public interest in the case exploded around the world with Hollywood, fans and #FreeBritney supporters rallying behind the singer.