Jamie Spears agrees to step down as Britney Spears’ conservator, but not immediately
Jamie Spears says is willing to step down as conservator of daughter Britney Spears’ estate, a position he has held since 2008, and go along with an “orderly transition†to a new conservator, according to a fiery court document filed Thursday.
What he won’t do is resign immediately, as his daughter’s new attorney has requested.
“We are pleased that Mr. Spears and his lawyer have today conceded in a filing that he must be removed. It is vindication for Britney. We are disappointed, however, by their ongoing shameful and reprehensible attacks on Ms. Spears and others,†the pop musician’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, said Thursday in a statement.
The new court document, obtained by The Times, lashes out at Rosengart, whom it accuses of failing to take “the time to review the history of the Conservatorship in order to understand factually what has actually occurred†and not contacting Jamie Spears’ attorneys to reach a cooperative solution before filing a petition seeking Jamie’s immediate removal.
It accuses Rosengart of moving on his client’s behalf “precipitously, without adequate investigation, and based on unsubstantiated allegations and improper opinions†and questions whether changing conservators at this point would be in the singer’s best interests.
Britney Spears has been under a conservatorship since 2008. Before her virtual appearance at a court hearing today, here’s a deep dive into her case.
“There are, in fact, no actual grounds for suspending or removing Mr. Spears as Conservator of the Estate,†the document says.
Nevertheless, it says, “Mr. Spears will do his best to provide the factual basis that this Court needs and to cooperate in the transition to a new conservator,†and it names a couple of pending issues that need to be addressed.
“When these matters are resolved, Mr. Spears will be in a position to step aside. But there are no urgent circumstances justifying Mr. Spears’ immediate suspension,†the filing says.
Judge Brenda Penny has denied pop musician Britney Spears’ request to expedite a hearing to boot her father from her conservatorship.
Britney Spears might disagree with that last statement, having made plaintive requests to the court in recent months asking that her father be given the boot. But the document filed by her father’s team says he “does not believe that a public battle with his daughter over his continuing service as her conservator would be in her best interests.â€
Thursday’s court filing also attacks Lynne Spears, the pop star’s mother, at length, criticizing her lack of participation in the conservatorship and calling her assertions in a recent declaration “demonstrably false, speculative, [and] intentionally misleading†when it comes to descriptions of her daughter’s care, her daughter’s relationship with her father and Jamie Spears’ actions as conservator of her estate.
It also states in all-caps that Jamie Spears didn’t force the singer to do anything, whether it was rehab, performing or anything else.
‘And I’ll support her long after,’ actor Jamie Lynn Spears wrote in response to her sister Britney Spears’ remarks on her conservatorship.
The court on Monday rejected Britney Spears’ request to expedite a hearing to remove her father as conservator, which remains under consideration. The conservatorship’s next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29.
“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,†Rosengart said in his statement.
“In the interim,†he continued, “rather than making false accusations and taking cheap shots at his own daughter, Mr. Spears should remain silent and step aside immediately.â€
Addressing the court for the first time in two years, pop star Britney Spears was candid and emotional at her conservatorship hearing Wednesday.
Representatives from Jamie Spears’ legal team did not respond immediately to a request for comment Thursday.
Spears was conservator of his daughter’s estate and her person from 2008 until 2019, when Jodi Montgomery was named interim conservator of the singer’s personal decisions. The singer has expressed her desire to end her conservatorship completely.
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