Latest News on Britney Spears’ Conservatorship Fight, Legal Battle

• Britney Spears was forced into a conservatorship in 2008.
• Spears sought to have the court terminate the legal arrangement so she could regain control over her estate and life.
• On Wednesday, a judge will decide if her dad should be retained as overseer of her estate.
• More stories can be found at Insider’s homepage.

Britney Sporrs was forced into a conservatorship by the court in 2008, after two involuntary stays within psychiatric institutions.

Spears requested the court to terminate the court-enforced legal arrangement. This is usually enacted for people who are unable to make their own decisions.

“It’s my wish and my dream for all of this to end,” She spoke of the conservatorship she received on June 23, 2021. “I just want my life back. The conservatorship should end. I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive.”

Los Angeles Superior Court approved her conservatorship. This placed her financial assets and estate under the control her father and a lawyer. It was extended four more times last summer.

Spears’s fans created the #FreeBritney movement to advocate for her legal control over her assets and personal life. Several activists told Insider that after Spears’ June statement, they’re “hopeful” the conservatorship will end.

Here’s what we know so far about the legal battle.

What the court decided during the last hearing in July

At a court hearing in July, the judge overseeing Spears’ case granted her permission to handpick her own lawyer, allowing her court-appointed lawyer, Samuel Ingham, to resign. Mathew S. Rosegart is currently representing Spears.

Mathew S. Rosengart is now representing Spears. Jodi Montgomery remains the coconservator for Spears’ personal affairs.

Spears also addressed the court herself once again, and said she wants her father charged with “conservatorship abuse.”

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The first thing Britney’s lawyer did was petition for Jamie Spears’ removal from the conservatorship

The first order of business for Spears’ new lawyer was filing a formal request for the removal of Jamie Spears as the conservator of his daughter’s financial estate.

Britney achieved a major legal victory by allowing Jamie to step down as her conservator in August. But he denied the petition for his immediate “suspension and removal.” Instead her dad agreed to “cooperate in the transition to a new conservator.”

Rosengart found this to be an insufficient response. He continued to make court filings, requesting the immediate suspension Jamie. The lawyer also submitted a petition saying Jamie wanted “to barter suspension and removal in exchange for approximately $2 million.”

In a surprising move, Jamie then filed a petition to end Britney’s conservatorship altogether. Rosengart said that it may be an attempt from Jamie to “avoid accountability and justice.”

Rosengart also said that he and Britney welcomed the proposition to end the conservatorship, but that because the next hearing was scheduled to discuss Jamie’s removal that issue remained their priority.

“Ms. Spears will seek appointment of a temporary, short-term conservator to replace Mr. Spears’s until the conservatorship is completely and inevitably terminated this fall,” The filing stated.

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Spears in her own words

During her June 23 testimony, Spears detailed her troubling experiences under the conservatorship.

“I’ve lied and told the whole world: ‘I’m OK and I’m happy,'” Spears said. “It’s a lie. I thought I just maybe if I said that enough. 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. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry it’s insane. And I’m depressed. I cry every day.”

She said at one point, after being told she had to go to a Beverly Hills facility, she cried on the phone with her dad for an hour “and he loved every minute of it.”

“The control he had over someone as powerful as me — he loved the control to hurt his own daughter, 100,000%,” she said. “He loved it.”

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The #FreeBritney movement has gained popularity since 2009

In 2009, following the enactment of Spears’ conservatorship, fans began expressing concern for her wellbeing under the guardianship.

A fan site launched #FreeBritney. The movement grew steadily while Spears continued to work in the spotlight. However, she never spoke publicly to the public.

When the New York Times and

Hulu
premiered a documentary, “Framing Britney Spears,” in early 2019, charting the #FreeBritney campaign and investigating the conservatorship, even more public attention was brought to the concerns fans had about Spears’ wellbeing.

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How Spears’ parents, Jamie and Lynne, have responded

Jamie, Spears’ father, is the primary orchestrator behind her conservatorship and the current sole conservator of her financial estate. Bryan, 69, is the father of Jamie Lynn and Jamie Lynn.

Lynne, Jamie’s ex, stated in her autobiography she had divorced in 2002 that Jamie was struggling with alcoholism. Although reports surfaced that they had reconciled, it is not clear if they are still together.

Britney Spears, now represented by Rosengart, filed a formal petition to have Jamie removed. Lynne signed the petition along with her own sworn statement, which was filed the same day.

In Lynne’s statement, filed to the Los Angeles court, she said she had become more formally involved with the conservatorship during a “time of crisis” in 2018.

According to that sworn statement from Lynne, Jamie has had “complete control” over Spears for the last 13 years. Lynne’s statement also confirmed reports from 2019 about a“physical altercation” that happened between Jamie and one of Spears’ teenaged sons.

Rosengart filed a second petition to the Los Angeles court on August 5. This time he requested that the judge “immediately remove” Jamie from the conservatorship.

Rosengart said waiting until the planned September 29 hearing would “force” Spears “to continue to feel traumatized, lose sleep, and suffer further.”

On August 12, Jamie spears filed a response to Rosengart’s petition. He denied the request for his immediate “suspension and removal,” but instead agreed to “cooperate in the transition to a new conservator.” Jamie also refuted many of Lynne’s descriptions of his behavior and role in the conservatorship, and highlighted the amount of money ($150,000 per year) being paid towards Lynne’s home expenses by Spears’ estate.

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Several major celebrities have been making statements in support of #FreeBritney

Many notable people from Spears’ past, including her ’90s and ’00s pop peers, began making public statements about her situation this year.

Spears’ ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake publicly apologized to Janet Jackson after the New York Times/Hulu documentary. He decried the music industry, which he said “sets men, especially white men, up for success.” Timberlake also blamed his “ignorance” for allowing him to “benefit from others being pulled down.”

Then, following her June testimony, even more celebrities expressed support for the dissolution of her conservatorship.

Fellow pop star Christina Aguilera saidit was “unacceptable that any woman, or human, wanting to be in control of their own destiny might not be allowed to live life as they wish.”

“I definitely believe in the #FreeBritney movement,” former *NSYNC bandmate Lance Bass said.

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