Britney Spears formally asks judge to end conservatorship

Britney Spears has formally asked a judge to end her legal conservatorship.

In a filing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday (22 September) Spears’ lawyers have formally requested the conservatorship that has controlled her life since 2008 should end.

Spears’ lawyer Mathew Rosen says Spears “fully consents” to ending the conservatorship “expeditiously”.

It comes after her father, James Spears, who has controlled his daughter’s life and finances for the last 13 years, asked for it to be terminated in a petition dated 7 September.

On 23 June, the musician, whose hits include “Toxic” and “Gimme More”, made an impassioned appeal in a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing, asking Judge Brenda Penny to end the “abusive” arrangement that she argues has controlled her life for 13 years, without “having to be evaluated”.

This is the first time Spears has formally called for an end to the arrangement in court documents separate from such hearings.

The court documents also stress how Spears wants her father to be formally removed, calling it “a necessary first – and substantial – step towards Ms Spears’s freedom and ending the Kafkaesque nightmare imposed upon her by her father, so that her dignity and basic liberties can be restored.”

The document goes on to say that “Mr Spears cannot be permitted to hold a position of control over his daughter for another day”, with lawyers then asking for a date of 29 September to formally end the conservatorship.

On 12 August, Jamie Spears agreed to step down as the overseer of the singer’s estate and finances, subject to the resolution of certain accounting-related issues.

Spears claimed he was owed payments for legal work addressing “public, media, and social media attention” and for “continuing to do my best to keep current regarding the music, advertising and entertainment business”.

He also sought $1.3m in attorneys’ fees for his counsel and a $500,000 payment to third parties, including Tri-Star Sports & Entertainment Group, from his daughter’s estate.

“The only honourable, decent, and humane course of action is for Mr Spears to resign now, provide all necessary information to evaluate his accounting, and, if matters cannot be resolved consensually, to try to defend his accounting,” lawyer Mathew Rosengart said in the filing.

He later alleged in a further 12-page court filing that “Mr Spears’s blatant attempt to barter suspension and removal in exchange for approximately $2m in payments, on top of the millions already reaped from Ms Spears’s estate by Mr Spears and his associates, is a non-starter,’ in response to Jamie Spears seeking more funds.

“Regardless of the past, Mr Spears and his counsel are now on notice: the status quo is no longer tolerable, and Britney Spears will not be extorted,” he added.

The next court appearance takes place on 29 September.

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