Entertainment

Actions

Reports: Spears' lawyer files new petition asking her father be removed as conservator immediately

Britney Spears #FreeBritney
Posted at 12:53 PM, Aug 06, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-06 12:53:55-04

Britney Spears' lawyer on Thursday filed a new petition asking a court to immediately remove her father as co-conservator of her finances, according to NBC News and Buzzfeed News.

The petition filed by Spears' lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, alleges that her father, Jamie Spears, continues to cause his daughter "ongoing harm each day... emotionally, psychologically, and financially."

The filing alleges that as the co-conservator of his daughter's estate, Jamie Spears pays himself $16,000 a month — $2,000 more than he has allotted to Britney.

The filing also alleges that Jamie Spears has taken steps to limit his daughter's travel — one allegation made in the petition notes that he "objected to his daughter's wish in late July to take a short vacation, disapproving of the expenditure that would have come from his daughter's own, hard-earned money."

The petition notes that Britney was later allowed to go on the vacation to Maui, but not after the dispute caused her "understandable anguish."

The petition also alleges that in 2019, Jamie Spears paid his daughter's management company more than $300,000 — "more than twice Ms. Spears's annual allowance out of her Estate" — even though he requested no services from the company. The payment was made after the singer announced a hiatus from performing, and the petition alleges that her father failed to re-negotiate the contract.

Britney Spears' lawyer had already petitioned the court to remove her father as the conservator of her estate. However, the petition filed Thursday asks the court to take action ahead of a hearing scheduled for Sept. 29 and suspend his conservator powers in the meantime.

Jamie Spears has been in charge of his daughter's estate since 2008, when a Los Angeles Court granted him conservatorship powers after the singer suffered a series of mental health breakdowns.

During a court appearance in June, Britney Spears spoke publicly for the first time about the arrangement in a stunning court appearance.

"...I've lied and told the whole world, 'I'm okay. And I'm happy,'" Spears said. "It's a lie. I thought, maybe if I said that enough, maybe I might become happy because I've been in denial. I've been in shock. I am traumatized, you know, fake it till you make it, but now I'm telling you the truth, okay, I'm not happy."

The singer alleged that the conservator group has not just controlled her finances but intimate details of her life. She described being forced to take medication and birth control against her will.