Britney Spears’ mother, Lynne Spears, asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to allow the pop star to select her own legal representation so she can start the process of ending the conservatorship that has restricted her rights for 13 years.
In court documents filed on Tuesday, Lynne Spears asked Judge Brenda Penny to “listen to the wishes of her daughter,” who skewered the arrangement and her family’s role in it when she addressed the court in late June.
The singer asked to be released from the conservatorship immediately without undergoing an evaluation, alleging that she had been made to perform against her will and denied health care.
The request appeared to be filed the same day the pop star’s court-appointed attorney, Samuel Ingham, asked to resign. A financial management company involved in the conservatorship, Bessemer Trust, had asked to be released from that duty last week, distancing itself from what has become an international crusade against a legal arrangement Britney labeled “abusive.”
One person sticking around for now is attorney Jodi Montgomery, who is co-conservator of the pop star’s person.
In a court filing on Wednesday, Montgomery said Britney had explicitly asked her to remain in her role and assist in her search for a new lawyer. She also requested the court’s permission to provide herself round-the-clock security after receiving a rise in death threats. Britney had said at the hearing that Montgomery was taking her power over the singer “too far.”
Under a conservatorship, which is called a guardianship in some US states, a third party is given control over someone deemed unable to care for themselves, usually a sick or elderly person. In Britney Spears’ case, her conservatorship has control over her estimated $60 million estate and her personal well-being. It has been co-helmed by her father since its creation ― a fact the singer despises.
Lynne Spears has never been a co-conservator over her daughter. After Britney Spears’s explosive remarks to Penny last month, Lynne Spears said through her lawyer that her daughter had been “very courageous” that day.
Lynne Spears’ petition said: “In the original Petition for Appointment of a Temporary Conservator of the Person, Conservatee’s given address was the UCLA Medical Center. That was over thirteen years ago.
“Now, and for the past many years, Conservatee is able to care for her person and in fact has, inside of the parameters of this conservatorship, earned literally hundreds of millions of dollars as an international celebrity.”
The star’s mother urged Penny to allow her daughter to choose her own lawyer to “advise her as to her basic rights.”
Britney said last month that she did not realise she had the power to petition to end the conservatorship, apologising for what she called her “ignorance.”
Lynne Spears listed 10 requests her daughter made on June 23. They included allowing her access to her own money and the ability to see her friends, get married and have a baby as she pleases.
Since she was placed into the conservatorship, Britney has completed several international tours and a highly lucrative residency in Las Vegas.