Britney Spears’ father James Spears aka Jamie Spears remains a co-conservator over her estate. However, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny overruled an objection of Jamie Spears' attorney, Vivian Lee Thoreen, who argued that he should not yield previously granted rights and powers while sharing and working with his co-conservator, the financial firm, The Bessemer Trust. The ruling was celebrated by the supporters of the #FreeBritney movement who feel the singer is being manipulated and held under the conservatorship against her will.
The singer had filed a petition in the Los Angeles Superior Court last August to remove her father as the conservator, a role that he has held onto since 2008 following her mental and emotional breakdown. The court-sanctioned conservatorship gives him control over his daughter’s finances and personal decisions. However, the singer has been contesting this since last year as she wants the conservatorship to continue but taken up by a financial firm instead her father. The judge, denied Britney’s petition to remove her father from the conservatorship but agreed to add the financial company Bessemer Trust as co-conservator.
The judge did not order any substantial changes to the conservatorship but denied some objections put forth by Jamie’s lawyer as to how Britney’s conservatorship will be delegated, including the claim that the joint conservatorship with Bessemer Trust had wrongly reduced his powers over his daughter’s estate. Penny reaffirmed her earlier position that both Spears and Bessemer Trust would have power over the singer’s estate. The scrutiny over the conservatorship and interest have been renewed in recent weeks following the release of Framing Britney Spears, a documentary by The New York Times examining the legal arrangement.
In a statement to The Associated Press after the hearing, Thoreen said, "the rulings show the court's confidence in our client Jamie Spears and Bessemer Trust to manage the conservatorship of Ms. Spears estate together," and said Jamie Spears "looks forward to working with Bessemer ... in the best interests of his daughter."
On the other hand, Britney’s lawyer, Samuel Ingham said in court that the purpose of the co-conservatorship order was to give both Jamie Spears and Bessemer Trust “an equal division of responsibility, in the hopes that they would sit down and figure out together the best way to handle this complex estate for the benefit of my client.” He further said, “It is no secret that my client does not want her father as co-conservator. But we recognize that removal is a separate issue."
(Source: Associated Press/NBC News/TOI)
