Wills and Estates

Subterms

    More stories

    • 113 Shares199 Views

      in Music

      Britney Spears: End Conservatorship, but Remove My Father First

      by

      The singer’s lawyer requested the installation of a temporary conservator, citing her need to negotiate a prenuptial agreement and ongoing “anguish and harm.”Britney Spears supports the prompt and complete termination this fall of the conservatorship that has overseen her finances and personal life since 2008, a lawyer for the singer said in a court filing on Wednesday, but she wants her father removed from the legal arrangement first.In a supplemental petition filed a week before the next scheduled hearing in the case, Mathew S. Rosengart, a lawyer for Ms. Spears, reiterated his previous calls for the immediate resignation or suspension of James P. Spears as the conservator of her estate, even as Ms. Spears pursues the dissolution of the guardianship and an investigation into her father’s conduct while in charge.“While the entire conservatorship is promptly wound down and formally terminated, it is clear that Mr. Spears cannot be permitted to hold a position of control over his daughter for another day,” Mr. Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor who took over as Ms. Spears’s representative in July, wrote. “Every day Mr. Spears clings to his post is another day of anguish and harm to his daughter.”The filing follows a surprise turnaround by Mr. Spears earlier this month, when he asked the Los Angeles probate court to “seriously consider whether this conservatorship is no longer required” after more than a decade of asserting that the unique arrangement was in his daughter’s best interest. Previously, in August, lawyers for Mr. Spears said he planned to step down as conservator “when the time is right,” arguing that there were “no urgent circumstances justifying Mr. Spears’ immediate suspension.”In June, in her first detailed public comments on the conservatorship, Ms. Spears, 39, called it abusive and said she wanted to end the arrangement without having to undergo additional psychiatric evaluations.But Mr. Rosengart said on Wednesday that while Ms. Spears “fully consents” to terminating the conservatorship, the singer “rejects her father’s recounting of history and maintains that the Termination Petition was motivated by Mr. Spears’s apparent self-interest” — namely, rehabilitating his reputation, avoiding suspension and impeding Ms. Spears’s ability “to further investigate and examine his conduct since 2008.”Mr. Rosengart called for “a temporary, short-term conservator to replace Mr. Spears’s until the conservatorship is completely and inevitably terminated this fall.”Mr. Rosengart had previously requested that a certified public accountant in California, Jason Rubin, be named conservator of Ms. Spears’s estate. But on Wednesday, the lawyer withdrew that nomination and suggested another individual, John Zabel, take over from Mr. Spears on a temporary basis instead.He said Ms. Spears’s current personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, backed both the eventual termination of the conservatorship — “subject to proper transition and asset protection” — and “the immediate and necessary suspension of Mr. Spears, by no later than September 29,” the date of the next status hearing.The lawyer also cited the singer’s recent engagement to be married, noting that Mr. Spears’s current role as conservator of the estate “would impede the ability to negotiate and consummate” a prenuptial agreement.Lawyers for Mr. Spears did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Additionally, Mr. Rosengart called for a future hearing on outstanding accounting and financial issues regarding the conservatorship, arguing that mismanagement of Ms. Spears’s estate by her father was “evident and ongoing.” The lawyer said that Mr. Spears had been served a request for discovery and a sworn deposition in August, before he filed to end the conservatorship.Mr. Rosengart cited Mr. Spears’s potential “unwarranted commissions from his daughter’s work, totaling millions of dollars”; a salary larger than Ms. Spears’s, “including for apparently-unused ‘office’ space”; his failure to negotiate or to obtain a contract with the singer’s previous business manager; and “potential self-dealing” in connection with the estate’s assets.Liz Day contributed reporting. More

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in Music

      Britney Spears Announces Engagement to Longtime Boyfriend Sam Asghari

      by

      In the wake of recent developments in the battle over her conservatorship, the singer announced plans to wed for the third time.Britney Spears announced on Sunday that she was engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Sam Asghari, three months after she told a Los Angeles judge that the conservatorship that has governed her life since 2008 was robbing her of the ability to make personal decisions.Brandon Cohen, a talent manager for Mr. Asghari, confirmed the engagement on Sunday night.“The couple made their longstanding relationship official today and are deeply touched by the support, dedication and love expressed to them,” Mr. Cohen said.Ms. Spears and Mr. Asghari each shared posts on Instagram to announce the engagement and to show off Ms. Spears’s ring.Mr. Cohen said a New York City jeweler, Roman Malayev, designed the ring.The engagement came just days after lawyers for Ms. Spears’s father, James P. Spears, wrote in a filing, “If Ms. Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance.”Ms. Spears gave a statement in her case in June, sharing that she had been drugged, forced to work and prevented from removing her birth control device.“I just want my life back,” Ms. Spears said. “I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive. I don’t feel like I can live a full life.”In her statement, Ms. Spears said that under the conservatorship she was not able to marry or have a child.“I want to be able to get married and have a baby,” the singer said. “I was told right now in the conservatorship I am not able to get married or have a baby.”In a highly contested legal battle, Ms. Spears in July filed to have her father removed from his role as conservator of her estate. Mr. Spears initially pushed back on the request, but announced last month that he would step aside and work with the court to assure “an orderly transition to a new conservator.”The next hearing in the case is set for Sept. 29.Mr. Asghari is an actor who has worked on a number of movies and TV shows, including the Showtime series “Black Monday.” He also works as a fitness trainer.Mr. Asghari told Men’s Health in 2018 that he met Ms. Spears in 2016 while working on a music video for her song “Slumber Party.”Ms. Spears has been married twice before. In 2004 she married Jason Alexander, a childhood friend, for 55 hours.Later that year, Ms. Spears married Kevin Federline, a backup dancer, actor and rapper; they have two sons. Ms. Spears filed for divorce from Mr. Federline in 2006. More

    • 100 Shares189 Views

      in Music

      Britney Spears’s Father Files to End Her Conservatorship

      by

      In a new petition, lawyers for James P. Spears wrote that if the singer “believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance.”Britney Spears’s father, James P. Spears, who agreed earlier this summer to eventually step down from his own role in the conservatorship that has overseen her finances and controlled much of her life since 2008, filed a petition on Tuesday asking the court to “now seriously consider whether this conservatorship is no longer required.”The filing marked a turnaround for Mr. Spears, who long insisted that the guardianship — which was imposed 13 years ago amid concerns over the singer’s mental health and possible drug use — was in his daughter’s best interest. Last month, he said he would eventually step aside from his role overseeing the singer’s finances once there could be “an orderly transition to a new conservator,” but argued that he should not be immediately removed. Until now, he has not said that the conservatorship should end, something that Ms. Spears announced she wanted publicly for the first time in a June court hearing, when she called the arrangement “abusive.”“As Mr. Spears has said again and again, all he wants is what is best for his daughter,” Mr. Spears’s lawyer, Vivian Lee Thoreen, wrote in the new filing. “If Ms. Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance.”Ms. Spears, 39, has not yet filed her own formal petition to end the conservatorship; she has, however, asked the judge to remove her father as conservator of her estate. He has not served as her personal conservator since September 2019, when Jodi Montgomery, a licensed professional conservator, took over on an ongoing temporary basis.Mr. Spears’s lawyer wrote that Ms. Spears had recently “demonstrated a level of independence that calls into question whether a conservatorship of the person is required.” Ms. Thoreen cited news reports that the singer had been driving — something she had previously been unable to do under the strictures of the conservatorship — and that she had recently chosen her own counsel, Mathew S. Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor and Hollywood lawyer who took over as Ms. Spears’s representative in July. When the conservatorship began, Ms. Spears was found to be incapable of hiring her own counsel.“If Ms. Spears has the capacity and capability to engage counsel on her own, she presumably has capacity and capability to handle other contractual and business matters,” Ms. Thoreen wrote.In a statement, Mr. Rosengart called the filing “vindication” for Ms. Spears. “To the extent Mr. Spears believes he can try to avoid accountability and justice, including sitting for a sworn deposition and answering other discovery under oath, he is incorrect and our investigation into financial mismanagement and other issues will continue,” he said.As a movement among the singer’s fans known as #FreeBritney grew online, arguing that the conservatorship should end, Mr. Spears consistently defended his management of his daughter’s life. In the court filing, his lawyer again maintained that the arrangement “helped Ms. Spears get through a major life crisis, rehabilitate and advance her career, and put her finances and her affairs in order.”But, his lawyer wrote, the situation had changed when Ms. Spears spoke out fervently against the conservatorship. In June, Ms. Spears told the court that her father “loved” his control over her life and should be in jail for his actions as conservator. She has vowed not to perform as long as her father is in charge.As recently as last month, Mr. Spears had fought Ms. Spears’s efforts to remove him from the arrangement and sought to deflect blame for Ms. Spears’s complaints on other people with responsibilities, including Ms. Montgomery, who has opposed Mr. Spears’s continued involvement in the conservatorship.But in the new filing, Mr. Spears’s lawyer wrote that the singer should be able to choose her own doctor and manage her therapy. He also supported Ms. Spears’s request that the conservatorship end without a medical evaluation, which experts have said is unlikely.Over the years, Ms. Spears has raised questions about the fitness of her father to serve as her conservator, citing his struggles with alcoholism. Confidential court records obtained by The New York Times indicated that as early as 2014, she said that she wanted to explore removing her father as conservator; in 2016 the singer told an investigator that she wanted the arrangement terminated as soon as possible. She started publicly calling for its end in her rare public appearance in court in June, where she told the judge overseeing her case, “I just want my life back.”The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 29.Liz Day contributed reporting. More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      ‘Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed’ Review: No Gloss

      by

      This documentary on “The Joy of Painting” star focuses on the controversy over who controls his brand and legacy.Bob Ross’s hair was a thing of beauty. When he appeared on “Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee,” Regis Philbin teased him about his Afro, which Ross sweetly admitted might be more nurtured than nature. And photos of Ross as a teenager and then as a young airman rocking a pompadour make clear he always liked a good ’do. This is among the cheerier scenes in the director Joshua Rofé’s “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed,” a documentary less about Ross’s life than about what happened to his brand in the later years and after his death. Annette and Walt Kowalski, who were Ross’s business partners, are not painted in a flattering light. (The couple declined to participate in the film.)Ross’s television show, “The Joy of Painting,” ran from 1983 to 1994. And the title nods to the way Ross coached students and then an exponentially growing audience to treat a mistake as a “happy accident.” Yet, as much as happy was Ross’s touchstone word, grief permeates the film. Ross died of lymphoma in 1995. He was 52. His only child, Steven, and friends and fellow artists John Thamm and Dana Jester carry the heft of the storytelling here.If we are to trust the film — and this is not an unreasonable concern given that it treads on disputes over the estate — then heartache laid the foundation of Ross’s relationship with the Kowalskis. Annette Kowalski had recently lost her son when she took a course with Ross in 1982. A still deeper sorrow infuses the film. “I’ve wanted to get this story out for all these years,” Steven Ross says early on. Later he states, “What they did was shameful, and people should know that.”From the outset, the documentary nudges us toward the shadows with a twinkling then foreboding score. Illustrations with the texture of a paint-by-numbers kit underline the darker themes of Steven Ross’s recollections. The film’s depiction of what the Kowalskis did to own Ross’s name when he became ill is ugly, yet unsurprising given that the parties were in the midst of a legal dispute after Ross’s death.Toward the end, the director pulls out of the moral tailspin by introducing folks touched by Ross. These testimonials are welcome but they underscore that the other side of this saga is sorely missing. The melancholy result is that the painter with the spectacularly lulling voice, the hallmark ’fro and the liberating kindness remains a mystery; not the brand that’s made millions but the guy who touched millions.Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & GreedNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

    • 125 Shares119 Views

      in Music

      Britney Spears's Father Says He Will Step Aside as Conservator

      by

      Lawyers for James P. Spears said he intended to work with the court to assure “an orderly transition to a new conservator,” while arguing that he should not be immediately removed.In an abrupt reversal after more than a year of fighting in court — and a much longer battle behind the scenes — Britney Spears’s father has agreed to eventually step aside from his long-running role overseeing the singer’s finances as part of the unique conservatorship that has governed her life since 2008.Ms. Spears has called the conservatorship abusive and said she is afraid of her father, James P. Spears, vowing not to perform as long as he remained in charge. A new lawyer for the singer recently filed in court to have Mr. Spears immediately suspended or removed from his position as conservator of her estate.Initially, Mr. Spears objected to the request and defended his work on behalf of his daughter. But in a new filing in Los Angeles probate court on Thursday, lawyers for Mr. Spears said that, while there were “no actual grounds for suspending or removing” Mr. Spears, he intended to work with the court to assure “an orderly transition to a new conservator.”The lawyers did not provide a timeline for the change, and they steadfastly maintained that Mr. Spears had “saved Ms. Spears from disaster, supported her when she needed it the most, protected her and her reputation from harm, and facilitated the restoration of her career.”“It is highly debatable whether a change in conservator at this time would be in Ms. Spears’ best interests,” the lawyers wrote. “Nevertheless, even as Mr. Spears is the unremitting target of unjustified attacks, he does not believe that a public battle with his daughter over his continuing service as her conservator would be in her best interests.”Mr. Spears’s lawyers said that there was “no urgent circumstances justifying Mr. Spears’ immediate suspension,” but that he would be in position to step aside after resolving outstanding matters including financial accounting for the conservatorship in recent years.The lawyers said that Mr. Spears had previously “been working on such a transition” with the singer’s court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, who stepped down in July after representing Ms. Spears since the arrangement began.Mathew S. Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor and Hollywood lawyer who took over as Ms. Spears’s representative last month, said in a statement, “We are pleased that Mr. Spears and his lawyer have today conceded in a filing that he must be removed.”Mr. Rosengart added: “We look forward to continuing our vigorous investigation into the conduct of Mr. Spears, and others, over the past 13 years, while he reaped millions of dollars from his daughter’s estate, and I look forward to taking Mr. Spears’s sworn deposition in the near future.” The lawyer also reiterated his call for Mr. Spears to “step aside immediately.”Mr. Spears, 69, first petitioned the probate court for legal authority over his daughter’s personal life and finances in early 2008, citing concerns about her mental health and potential substance abuse. By the end of that year, the arrangement, typically reserved for people who cannot take care of themselves, was made permanent.Since then, Mr. Spears has controlled his daughter’s finances, including an estate worth around $60 million, sometimes with a professional co-conservator. Recently, a wealth-management firm that was set to join the arrangement as co-conservator with Mr. Spears requested to withdraw, citing Ms. Spears’s objections to the guardianship. Mr. Rosengart requested last month that a certified public accountant in California, Jason Rubin, be named conservator of Ms. Spears’s estate.Mr. Spears had also largely overseen Ms. Spears’s personal and medical care until a personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, took over in September 2019 on an ongoing temporary basis.For years, Ms. Spears, 39, bristled behind the scenes at the strictures of the conservatorship, calling her father and his oversight over her oppressive and unnecessary given her continued success as a musician, according to confidential court records recently obtained by The New York Times. The singer also raised questions about the fitness of her father — who has struggled with alcoholism and faced accusations of physical and verbal abuse — as conservator, and she began officially seeking substantial changes to the arrangement in court last summer.But the urgency of Ms. Spears’s requests ratcheted up in June, when the singer publicly addressed the conservatorship in detail for the first time, calling in court for it to end and singling out her father as “the one who approved all of it.” The singer said that those in charge “should be in jail.”On Thursday, Mr. Spears said he would step down “when the time is right.” But in their largely defiant filing, his lawyers also criticized Mr. Rosengart for what they called his failure to “review the history of this conservatorship in order to understand factually what has actually occurred” or to “resolve matters cooperatively” in the weeks since he took over the case, noting that he had not yet been given full access to the court files.“If the public knew all the facts of Ms. Spears’ personal life,” lawyers for her father wrote, “not only her highs but also her lows, all of the addiction and mental health issues that she has struggled with, and all of the challenges of the Conservatorship, they would praise Mr. Spears for the job he has done, not vilify him. But the public does not know all the facts, and they have no right to know, so there will be no public redemption for Mr. Spears.”Mr. Spears also dedicated more than half of the 13-page filing to targeting his ex-wife and Ms. Spears’s mother, Lynne Spears, who has recently supported the singer in court after years outside the periphery of the conservatorship. Lawyers for Mr. Spears accused her of not accepting “the full extent to which Ms. Spears has had addiction and mental health issues or the level of care and treatment she needs.”“Instead of criticizing Mr. Spears, Lynne should be thanking him for ensuring Ms. Spears’ well-being and for persevering through the years-long tenure requiring his 365/24/7 attention, long days and sometimes late nights, to deal with day-to-day and emergency issues,” the lawyers wrote.Gladstone N. Jones, a lawyer for Lynne Spears, said on Thursday that the singer’s mother was “pleased Jamie has agreed to step down,” adding, “Lynne entered into this conservatorship to protect her daughter almost three years ago. She has accomplished what she set out to do.”Mr. Spears’s lawyers said that “regardless of his formal title, Mr. Spears will always be Ms. Spears’ father, he will always love her unconditionally, and he will always look out for her best interests.”The next status hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 29. More

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in Music

      Britney Spears Judge Denies Motion to Expedite Hearing About Her Father

      by

      A judge overseeing the singer’s case ruled that a court date to address removing or suspending James P. Spears as conservator would remain scheduled for September.A judge overseeing the conservatorship of Britney Spears has denied a request to expedite a forthcoming hearing that will focus on whether to remove or suspend the singer’s father from a role in directing the legal arrangement, as a new lawyer for Ms. Spears recently petitioned.The ruling by Judge Brenda Penny on Monday in Los Angeles probate court denied the request made last week by Mathew S. Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor who was approved in July to replace the court-appointed lawyer who began representing Ms. Spears in 2008.Mr. Rosengart had called for moving up a Sept. 29 hearing in the case as he seeks to have the singer’s father, James P. Spears, removed as conservator of her estate, a position Mr. Spears has held, sometimes in collaboration with others, for 13 years. Ms. Spears has called the arrangement abusive and exploitative, singling out her father’s control over the conservatorship.“Every day that passes is another day of avoidable harm and prejudice to Ms. Spears and the Estate,” her lawyer wrote last week, in calling for Mr. Spears’s immediate suspension or a quicker hearing date.Mr. Rosengart’s request to remove Mr. Spears as conservator of the estate has been supported by Ms. Spears’s medical team, her mother and her current personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, who say it is in the singer’s best interest, according to court papers.A lawyer for Mr. Spears, Vivian Lee Thoreen, agreed in a court document filed on Friday to moving the hearing date to as early as Aug. 23. But she opposed the idea that Mr. Spears needed to be quickly removed from his position overseeing her estate, writing that Mr. Spears “dutifully and faithfully served as the conservator of his daughter’s estate without any blemishes on his record.”Judge Penny’s order on Monday denying Mr. Rosengart’s request did not provide a reason, according to the court document filed, but the application was denied without prejudice, meaning it could be filed again with additional evidence.Mr. Rosengart did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Lawyers for Mr. Spears declined to comment.Ms. Spears, 39, has lived under a court-approved conservatorship that closely supervises her life and finances since 2008, when concerns over her mental health and potential substance abuse led the singer’s father to apply for control over her decisions.But after years of chafing at the life strictures behind the scenes — while continuing to work lucratively as a headlining pop star — Ms. Spears has moved aggressively to alter or end the arrangement since she testified publicly in June, calling for an investigation into her conservators and the ability to hire her own lawyer.While the singer has said she wishes for the arrangement to be ended outright, Mr. Rosengart, while leaving that option open, has so far pursued what he called “the most pressing issue facing Ms. Spears: removing Mr. Spears as conservator of the estate.”Liz Day contributed reporting. More

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in Music

      Britney Spears’s Father Fights Effort to Remove Him as Conservator

      by

      A lawyer for James P. Spears said in court papers that Mr. Spears loves his daughter and that he is not to blame for some of the actions to which she has objected.One day after a lawyer for Britney Spears asked the court to expedite the hearing on whether to remove her father from the conservatorship that has long ruled her life, the singer’s father defended his actions over the past 13 years in a court filing.James P. Spears agreed to an accelerated timeline for the hearing, but objected to the effort to suspend him as conservator, arguing that he has taken good care of his daughter and is being blamed for actions undertaken by others with roles in the conservatorship.Last week, Ms. Spears’s lawyer filed a petition to remove her father as conservator of the singer’s estate, a move that was expected after Ms. Spears told the court the arrangement was “abusive” and that her father should be charged with conservatorship abuse. On Thursday, her lawyer asked the court to consider that request earlier, arguing that Ms. Spears is suffering psychologically and financially while her father is in control.In the court document, filed on Friday, Mr. Spears’s lawyer, Vivian Lee Thoreen, wrote that he would agree to moving the hearing date from Sept. 29 to as early as Aug. 23. But she fiercely opposed the assertion by Ms. Spears’s lawyer, Mathew S. Rosengart, that Mr. Spears needed to be swiftly removed from the arrangement.“Mr. Spears has dutifully and faithfully served as the conservator of his daughter’s estate without any blemishes on his record,” Ms. Thoreen wrote. “Mr. Spears’s sole motivation has been his unconditional love for his daughter and a fierce desire to protect her from those trying to take advantage of her.”The filing seeks to shift blame to others who have been involved in Ms. Spears’s conservatorship, which was requested by Mr. Spears in 2008 amid concerns over Ms. Spears’s mental health and potential substance use. It said that Ms. Spears’s former court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, and a professional conservator involved in the arrangement, Jodi Montgomery, were responsible for admitting Ms. Spears to a mental health facility in 2019 — which Ms. Spears told the court she felt forced into.Mr. Spears’s lawyer said in the filing that he had not been in charge of his daughter’s medical treatment since late 2018.In a statement on Friday, a lawyer for Ms. Montgomery — who has had a role in managing Ms. Spears’s personal and medical care since September 2019 — disputed Mr. Spears’s account. The lawyer, Lauriann Wright, said that at the time Ms. Spears entered the facility, Ms. Montgomery was a case manager of the conservatorship, hired by Mr. Spears, and did not have the authority to admit Ms. Spears to such a facility, saying “only Jamie Spears had that power in March 2019.” She added that Ms. Spears consented to being admitted to the facility.Mr. Spears’s court filing also sought to buttress his argument that he played a critical role in supporting his daughter’s mental health, saying that last month, after Ms. Spears made an impassioned plea to the court to allow her to regain control over her life, Ms. Montgomery called him to ask for help, expressing “concern about Ms. Spears’s recent behavior and her refusal to listen to or even see her doctors.”In her statement, Ms. Montgomery’s lawyer acknowledged that Ms. Montgomery does have concerns about Ms. Spears’s “recent behavior and overall mental health,” noting that Mr. Spears’s continued role as conservator was impacting Ms. Spears’s state of mind and urging him to step down. Ms. Spears’s medical team and her mother have also said that Mr. Spears’s removal is in Ms. Spears’s best interest, according to court papers.The statement from Ms. Montgomery added that her phone call to Mr. Spears was “made out of genuine concern for Ms. Spears” and was “intended to re-establish a working relationship with Mr. Spears towards Ms. Spears’s mental health and well-being.”“Ms. Montgomery implores Mr. Spears to stop the attacks,” the statement said, “it does no good; it only does harm.”As part of Mr. Rosengart’s argument against Mr. Spears continuing as conservator, he wrote that despite what he described as Mr. Spears’s willingness to spend his daughter’s money, he opposed her request in late July to take a brief vacation to Hawaii, calling it “unnecessary.” In the court filing, Mr. Spears disputed that he opposed the vacation.Mr. Spears has long asserted that his stewardship over his daughter’s life has helped to grow and maintain the singer’s $60 million fortune and prevented her from being taken advantage of by outsiders. But in June, the extent of Ms. Spears’s objections to her father’s role became clear when she told the court that he “loved” the control over her life and should be in jail for his actions as conservator. More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Music

      Britney Spears Asks for Quick Hearing to Oust Her Father as Conservator

      by

      In a court filing on Thursday, a lawyer for the singer said that she would be harmed if her request to remove her father was left unheard until late September, as now scheduled.A lawyer for Britney Spears has asked the court to accelerate the hearing on her request to remove her father, or to immediately suspend him, from the conservatorship that has controlled the 39-year-old singer’s life and finances for the last 13 years.The petition filed in Los Angeles probate court on Thursday comes a week after Ms. Spears’s lawyer filed to remove Mr. Spears from the arrangement. The court is set to hear the request on Sept. 29, but the new filing seeks to have Mr. Spears removed before then, noting that “every day that passes is another day of avoidable harm and prejudice to Ms. Spears and the Estate.”The request continues an aggressive new approach since the singer’s court testimony in June, when she called the arrangement “abusive” and said her father and anyone else involved in the conservatorship should go to jail. The filing was made by Ms. Spears’s new lawyer, Mathew S. Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor who was approved last month to replace the court-appointed lawyer who began representing the singer in 2008, when the conservatorship was granted amid concerns over Ms. Spears’s mental health and potential substance use.The request to remove Mr. Spears cited a section of the probate code that gives the court broad discretion to remove a conservator if it is in “the best interests” of the conservatee and does not require there to be any finding of fault with a conservator.Ms. Spears’s medical team, her mother and her current personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, have said that Mr. Spears’s removal is in Ms. Spears’s best interest, according to court papers.Since 2008, Mr. Spears has overseen his daughter’s finances, sometimes with a co-conservator. He had also largely controlled Ms. Spears’s personal and medical care until Ms. Montgomery took over in September 2019 on an ongoing temporary basis.The petition argues that Mr. Spears’s presence as conservator is harming Ms. Spears financially, as the singer declared she would not work again until he is gone. In the filing, Ms. Spears’s lawyer also criticized Mr. Spears’s management of the singer’s nearly $60 million estate.Lawyers for Mr. Spears did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but have previously defended his care of, and concern for, his daughter.Mr. Spears is paid $16,000 a month as conservator, which the petition claimed is $2,000 more a month than he has allotted to Ms. Spears. Mr. Spears also receives $2,000 a month for office expenses.Mr. Spears’s lawyers are also paid by Ms. Spears. The filing notes that one set of his lawyers recently billed Ms. Spears’s estate more than $1.3 million for roughly eight months of work, including more than $540,000 for “media matters” spent defending the conservatorship. The filing says that if Mr. Spears chooses to fight his removal, he could be liable for attorneys’ fees.In the filing, Mr. Rosengart said Mr. Spears had overpaid Ms. Spears’s former business manager, Tri Star Sports & Entertainment, more than $300,000 in 2019. Tri Star had been making a 5 percent commission of Ms. Spears’s work, but asked for a $500,000 payment from the estate as a “floor” when Ms. Spears went on an indefinite work hiatus. The filing reports Mr. Spears agreed to the payment rather than negotiate a more favorable agreement.In court last year, a lawyer for Mr. Spears called the fees reasonable.The filing says that, even as Mr. Spears spent Ms. Spears’s money on himself and others, he opposed her request in late July to take a brief vacation to Hawaii as “unnecessary.” The filing says Ms. Spears’s law firm ultimately obtained approval for the trip.Mr. Rosengart has requested that a certified public accountant in California, Jason Rubin, be named to replace Mr. Spears.“A conservatorship should be a last resort, designed to benefit the conservatee rather than a mechanism designed to serve as a tool for the enrichment of third parties,” the filing stated. “It is apparent that this conservatorship has allowed would-be influencers to take control of the Estate and exploit Ms. Spears, often for their own benefit. The suspension and ultimate removal of Mr. Spears will be the first step towards rectifying that abuse.” More