A judge has denied a request from Britney Spears’ attorney to expedite her next hearing, regarding the suspension and removal of the singer’s father, Jamie Spears, from her conservatorship. The hearing is still set for Sept. 29.
On Monday morning, the court ordered that the petition from Spears’ new attorney, Mathew Rosengart, had been denied without prejudice. The document, obtained by Variety, was signed by judge Brenda Penny of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Rosengart was asking to move up the date of the hearing, arguing that “every day matters,” in his effort to remove or immediately suspend Spears’ father as conservator of her estate. The attorney had suggested advancing the hearing by a month, to late August.
(As conservator of her estate, Spears’ father controls all financial decisions relating to his daughter’s life; the other portion of her conservatorship is overseen by temporary conservator Jodi Montgomery, the conservator of her person, who manages day-to-day personal and medical decisions.)
In his petition last week, Rosengart said moving up the hearing would be in the best interest of the pop star. The attorney has said her father is “dissipating” her multi-million fortune and has exerted “absolutely microscopic control” over her life.
“A conservatorship should be a last resort, designed to benefit the conservatee rather than a mechanism designed to serve as a tool for the enrichment of third parties,” Rosengart’s filing stated last week.
The document also laid out the alleged funds that Spears’ father has spent in his role as conservator of the estate. “Mr. Spears has also enriched himself at the expense of his daughter, reaping millions of dollars from her services as a performer,” Rosengart’s filing said. “In addition to paying himself $16,000 per month from Ms. Spears’ estate, $2,000 more than he has allotted to Ms. Spears, plus $2,000 per month for office expenses.”
Rosengart also said in his filing that Spears’ father had opposed his daughter going on vacation to Hawaii with her “own, hard-earned money,” which the elder Spears denied, describing Rosengart’s claims as “false” and “unsubstantiated, vague accusations.”
“The mere objection to his adult daughter taking a brief, well-earned vacation at this point in her life, while other funds are lavishly expended, underscores why suspension, and ultimately removal, should not wait,” Rosengart wrote.
The judge’s denial of Rosengart’s request comes as tensions continue to brew on both sides of the pop star’s conservatorship.
While it would be in the singer’s best interest for her conservators to operate on the same page, Spears’ father and Montgomery have been going head to head, with the elder Spears continuously pointing the finger at Montgomery, accusing her of being responsible for many of his daughter’s personal and medical decisions. Montgomery has firmly denied Spears’ father’s claims, and last week, implored Spears to “stop the attacks” against her.
“It does no good; it only does harm,” Montgomery’s lawyer said. “We all need to focus on one thing, and one thing only — the health, well-being and best interests of Britney Spears.”
The statement from Montgomery’s lawyer came in response to Spears’ father’s claim that the temporary conservator had called him, extremely worried about the singer’s behavior and mental health, suggesting to place her under a 5150 psychiatric hold. Montgomery denied Spears’ categorization of their call, stating that while she does have concerns over the star’s mental health and recent behavior, due to “medical privacy,” she would not divulge any further details — but she continues to say Spears’ father should step away from the conservatorship.
“Having her father Jamie Spears continuing to serve as her Conservator instead of a neutral professional fiduciary is having a serious impact on Ms. Spears’ mental health,” Montgomery’s attorney said. “Notably, Jamie Spears has yet to resign as Ms. Spears’ Conservator of the Person, which is why Ms. Montgomery continues to serve as Temporary Conservator of the Person. … It is in Ms. Spears’ best interests that her father step down as her Conservator, so he can go back to just being Ms. Spears’ father, and working on a healthy, supportive father-daughter relationship.”
In a previous filing, earlier this summer, Montgomery claimed that Spears’ own doctors agree that her father should be removed from the conservatorship.
Spears’ dad said last week that his “sole motivation has been his unconditional love for his daughter and a fierce desire to protect her from those trying to take advantage of her.”
Meanwhile, the singer testified last month that she wants Montgomery to stay on her case and help her adjust back into the real world. The star has told Judge Penny repeatedly that she wants her father removed from her conservatorship, wants to be released from her conservatorship without evaluation and wants to “press charges” against him for “conservatorship abuse.”