Britney Spears’s new attorney filed petitions on Monday asking the court to remove and replace her father as one of her conservators, acting on what he said was his priority in the pop music icon’s highly publicised battle to regain control of her life.
Mathew Rosengart, the first legal counsel Britney had permission to select on her own in her conservatorship case, filed the petitions in Los Angeles Superior Court, contending that her father, James “Jamie” Spears, has been “stripping his daughter of her dignity, autonomy, and certain fundamental liberties” while his daughter bankrolled the hefty salary he took as conservator.
“For more than thirteen years, Petitioner Britney Jean Spears (“Ms. Spears”) has endured a conservatorship that, certainly as it concerns James P. Spears (“Mr. Spears”), has grown increasingly toxic and is simply no longer tenable,” the petition says, alluding to the accusations the singer made in court last month about the lengths her father has gone to control her decisions, relationships and career.
“Mr. Spears’s service as conservator has become and now is extremely detrimental to the central issue: the well-being and best interests of Britney Spears, which this Court, quite correctly, has recognized must be the controlling factor,” it continues. “And given the uncontroversial basis for this petition, any father who genuinely loves his daughter and has her best interests at heart should willingly step aside in favour of the highly-respected professional fiduciary nominated here.”
The replacement Rosengart put forward on Monday is Jason Rubin, a professional fiduciary and forensic accountant with significant experience as a conservator. Given the court’s decision earlier this month that Britney had the capacity to select her own legal counsel, “she likewise has sufficient capacity to make this nomination,” Rosengart said.
Britney’s attorney emphasised in his petition that this is merely an “initial narrow step” in addressing his client’s concerns about her situation and that there “might well come a time” when her legal team seeks to terminate the entire conservatorship or seek charges against her father.
Judge Brenda Penny, who is overseeing Britney’s case, will consider the petitions at a hearing on 13 December.
Rosengart’s request concerns only Britney’s father, who serves as her conservator. Since 2019, licensed fiduciary Jodi Montgomery has served as a co-conservator for all of the singer’s personal matters.