Britney Spears’ attorney pushes ahead with request to remove her father as conservator

Britney Spears’ attorney is pushing forward with the request to remove her father as conservator immediately, even though a petition to terminate the conservatorship altogether was filed earlier this month.

A new filing Wednesday requested the court remove James “Jamie” Spears from the conservatorship immediately while the singer’s team creates a plan to end the conservatorship entirely. Her attorney, Mathew Rosengart, said that Jamie Spears has conceded that a public battle was not in his daughter’s best interest and that he would eventually step down as conservator.

Rosengart’s filing is in anticipation that the court will likely ask to see a termination plan in place, which would take time. The filing asks that the court name a temporary conservator to replace Jamie Spears as that happens.

Jamie Spears filed a petition to the court earlier this month asking to terminate his daughter’s conservatorship, which has been in place since 2008, just weeks after telling the court that he opposes his removal but that he intends to step down eventually.

Both petitions are expected to be heard by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny next week.

Rosengart said in a statement Wednesday that he was pleased to see Jamie Spears’ “recent forced concessions” in the past few weeks and that Britney Spears looks forward to her freedom. Rosengart has accused Jamie Spears of mishandling his daughter’s finances through his position as her conservator.

“In the interim, we are moving forward with our July 26, 2021 Petition for the Suspension of James P. Spears, which is a prerequisite to the immediate restoration of my client’s dignity and fundamental rights,” Rosengart said. “Our investigation into the financial and other abusive conduct at issue is ongoing.”

Jamie Spears and his legal team have repeatedly denied any misconduct in his role as his daughter’s conservator. His representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Rosengart has previously accused Jamie Spears of asserting terms for his resignation as a form of extortion, specifically referring to unresolved accounting that was filed with the court last year. Objections were raised regarding some of the expenses, including $540,000 for “media matters.”

Removing Jamie Spears does not require proof of financial misconduct, Rosengart said Wednesday, requesting that the court immediately replace him and set an evidentiary hearing to go over financial concerns.

The erosion of trust between Britney Spears and her father has made it difficult to handle certain matters with her estate, according to Rosengart, who used her recent engagement and need for a prenuptial agreement as an example.

Jamie Spears’ continued involvement “would impede the ability to negotiate and consummate a contract that all can agree is in Ms. Spears’s best interests,” the filing said.

The filing Wednesday adds support from Britney Spears for the petition to end the conservatorship without further mental evaluation, something she verbally asked the court to do in June.

But in the event Penny does not rule to terminate, it also asks her to “set a hearing date at its soonest convenience at which time the termination plan will be in place and the Conservatorship will be terminated, in its entirety.”

July 9, 202104:15

It’s unlikely that Penny would choose to end the conservatorship so quickly without having an established support system for Britney Spears in place already, Tamar Arminak, a conservatorship lawyer who worked with the actor Amanda Bynes’ parents, told NBC News on Wednesday.

Jodi Montgomery, the singer’s conservator of the person, already told the court that she intends on creating a plan to terminate the conservatorship with Britney Spears’ medical team. As a professional conservator, Montgomery is aware of what the court will need to see before a ruling is made, Arminak said.

“She needs to show the court that she’s able to follow the routine, without having to be forced to follow the routine,” Arminak said of the singer. “That is what Jodi and Brittany need to do together to get her off this conservatorship.”