Jamie Spears to step down as Britney’s conservator

Spears
(Lynne and Jamie Spears, CREDIT: Shutterstock)

The father of Britney Spears has agreed to step down as the pop star’s conservator, according to TMZ.

In new legal documents acquired by the outlet, Jamie Spears reportedly intends to work with the court to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator.

The documents state:

“There are, in fact, no actual grounds for suspending or removing Mr. Spears as the Conservator of the Estate and it is highly debatable whether a change in conservator at this time would be in Ms. Spears’ best interests. 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. So, even though he must contest this unjustified Petition for his removal, Mr. Spears intends to work with the Court and his daughter’s new attorney to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator.”

Three weeks ago, Spears was permitted to hire a new attorney to represent her in the very public battle. Her current attorney has done more for the princess of pop in the last 3 weeks than her previous attorney did in the past 13 years. Britney Spears even told the court in May 2021 that she was previously unaware she could request to have the conservatorship end.

In July her attorney Mathew Rosengart requested that Spears’ father, Jamie, step down as her conservator saying, “ I don’t know why Jamie Spears doesn’t resign today. He purports to love his daughter and his daughter has repeatedly asked him to step down. So I’m going to give him the opportunity right now to voluntarily resign.”

That was rejected by Jamie Spears and his lawyer who said, “in no uncertain terms that they had no intentions of resigning.”

Spears spoke for the second hearing in a row, at one point calling the acts of the conservatorship that has governed her personal and financial affairs since early 2008 “cruelty.”

The hearing came three weeks after Spears dramatically addressed the court for the first time in open session, telling Penny she was being forced to take medication and use an intrauterine device for birth control, said she was not allowed to marry her boyfriend, and said she wanted to own her own money.

“I just want my life back,” Spears said on June 23.

Spears called the conservatorship “abusive” and condemned her father and the others who have controlled it.

In the docs filed today, Spears’ lawyer claims Jamie had been working on a plan to leave the conservatorship with her then-attorney Sam Ingham, the very same attorney who arguably helped facilitate Britney Spears’ lack of control of all aspects of her life and neglected to inform her of her actual rights for more than a decade. 

Jamie claims he has never forced her to do anything, including performing, however witnesses claim otherwise. One of Britney’s dancers from the Circus tour, Valerie Moise, recalls a time Britney’s team dragged her on stage despite Britney not wanting to go out because of the amount of cannabis smoke in the air. She was terrified that a drug test may turn up positive and result in losing time with her sons.

Moise wrote: “I remember crying backstage when Miss B did not want to perform because there was a lot of weed smoke in the audience. They dragged her by her arms back to the stage anyway. She didn’t want to perform because if the conservatorship caught drugs in her system they would take away her kids.”


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TMZ reached out to Britney’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, who was unmoved by Jamie’s decision to step down, telling TMZ,  “We are pleased but not necessarily surprised that Mr. Spears and his lawyer finally recognize that he must be removed. We are disappointed, however, by their ongoing shameful and reprehensible attacks on Ms. Spears and others.”

Rosengart goes on,”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. In the interim, rather than making false accusations and taking cheap shots at his own daughter, Mr. Spears should step aside immediately.”

The news of Jamie Spears stepping down as conservator breaks just three days after L.A. Superior Court judge Brenda Penny denied Spears’ lawyer Mathew Rosengart’s request to expedite the conservatorship’s next court hearing where it will be decided whether Jamie Spears is removed from his post as conservator of Spears’ estate. 

Rosengart requested that the court hearing be moved up from Sept. 29 and asked that Jason Rubin be set in his place.

“Although a two-month wait for a hearing on the Petition may not seem significant in the context of 13 years, Ms. Spears should not be forced to continue to feel traumatized, lose sleep, and suffer further,” Rosengart stated in the document. “Every day matters.”

Jamie has been in total control of every aspect of Britney’s life including her “allowance”, how she spends her “allowance” and whether or not she can take a well-earned vacation paid for with her own money. Britney Spears’ father disapproved of her wanting to travel to Hawaii last month, her attorney said in court papers, arguing that even though he changed his mind, the objection emphasized why removing him from her conservatorship is an urgent matter and Spears’ attorney Mathew Rosengart cited the dispute in that application filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court when he requested to move the court date. 

In that same filing, Rosengart paints Spears’ father in a hypocritical light when it comes to decisions about how to spend his daughter’s money. According to the document, counsel for Jamie Spears has cost the estate $1,356,293 in attorney’s fees from October 2020 through June 2021. The conservator also pays himself $16,000 a month from the estate, plus $2,000 a month for office expenses, which is reportedly $4,000 more a month than Britney receives as her “allowance”. He pays himself $4,000 more a month than the person who earned that money. 

“These spendthrift ways are particularly problematic when contrasted with the stringent, ‘absolutely microscopic control’ Mr. Spears has exerted over his daughter, evidently since her childhood and continuing through today,” Rosengart wrote, referencing language the singer’s mother Lynne Spears used in a recent declaration in support of the petition to remove Jamie Spears from the legal arrangement.

A week ago fans were alarmed when they discovered the princess of pop was not previously permitted to own an ipad and she had taken it upon herself to purchase one for herself. 

“Okay guys, great news. I got my first iPad today,” Spears said in an ecstatic Instagram video posted Friday. “So, I’ve got my hair up, I’m in my yard, and I’ve been working. But, I came into the kitchen and saw something I ordered, and it is a freaking new iPad.”

She added that her sons Sean and Jayden, who are 15 and 14 years old, have iPads of their own but this is her first.

“This is just a groundbreaking day. I’ve always had a little phone, but now this iPad is in my hands and I feel like my life is changing as we speak and I am so excited,” Spears gushed. “Upward bound! Yes!”

The first iPad was released in 2010. Spears, however, has been under legal guardianship under her conservatorship since 2008.

Spears’ father Jamie became sole conservator in 2019 after attorney Andrew Wallet resigned from the co-conservatorship. In September 2019, he temporarily relinquished his powers and Jodi Montgomery became the conservator of her person, meaning she is responsible for Spears’ medical and personal well-being.

Spears’ father has remained the sole conservator of her estate, managing all of her finances and making a hefty sum off of her annual multi-million-dollar earnings, given that Spears has continued to record music and perform regularly, while under conservatorship.

Spears
(Lynne and Jamie Spears, CREDIT: Shutterstock)

The father of Britney Spears has agreed to step down as the pop star’s conservator, according to TMZ.

In new legal documents acquired by the outlet, Jamie Spears reportedly intends to work with the court to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator.

The documents state:

“There are, in fact, no actual grounds for suspending or removing Mr. Spears as the Conservator of the Estate and it is highly debatable whether a change in conservator at this time would be in Ms. Spears’ best interests. 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. So, even though he must contest this unjustified Petition for his removal, Mr. Spears intends to work with the Court and his daughter’s new attorney to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator.”

Three weeks ago, Spears was permitted to hire a new attorney to represent her in the very public battle. Her current attorney has done more for the princess of pop in the last 3 weeks than her previous attorney did in the past 13 years. Britney Spears even told the court in May 2021 that she was previously unaware she could request to have the conservatorship end.

In July her attorney Mathew Rosengart requested that Spears’ father, Jamie, step down as her conservator saying, “ I don’t know why Jamie Spears doesn’t resign today. He purports to love his daughter and his daughter has repeatedly asked him to step down. So I’m going to give him the opportunity right now to voluntarily resign.”

That was rejected by Jamie Spears and his lawyer who said, “in no uncertain terms that they had no intentions of resigning.”

Spears spoke for the second hearing in a row, at one point calling the acts of the conservatorship that has governed her personal and financial affairs since early 2008 “cruelty.”

The hearing came three weeks after Spears dramatically addressed the court for the first time in open session, telling Penny she was being forced to take medication and use an intrauterine device for birth control, said she was not allowed to marry her boyfriend, and said she wanted to own her own money.

“I just want my life back,” Spears said on June 23.

Spears called the conservatorship “abusive” and condemned her father and the others who have controlled it.

In the docs filed today, Spears’ lawyer claims Jamie had been working on a plan to leave the conservatorship with her then-attorney Sam Ingham, the very same attorney who arguably helped facilitate Britney Spears’ lack of control of all aspects of her life and neglected to inform her of her actual rights for more than a decade. 

Jamie claims he has never forced her to do anything, including performing, however witnesses claim otherwise. One of Britney’s dancers from the Circus tour, Valerie Moise, recalls a time Britney’s team dragged her on stage despite Britney not wanting to go out because of the amount of cannabis smoke in the air. She was terrified that a drug test may turn up positive and result in losing time with her sons.

Moise wrote: “I remember crying backstage when Miss B did not want to perform because there was a lot of weed smoke in the audience. They dragged her by her arms back to the stage anyway. She didn’t want to perform because if the conservatorship caught drugs in her system they would take away her kids.”


REELated: Bob Odenkirk is in stable condition after “heart-related incident”


TMZ reached out to Britney’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, who was unmoved by Jamie’s decision to step down, telling TMZ,  “We are pleased but not necessarily surprised that Mr. Spears and his lawyer finally recognize that he must be removed. We are disappointed, however, by their ongoing shameful and reprehensible attacks on Ms. Spears and others.”

Rosengart goes on,”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. In the interim, rather than making false accusations and taking cheap shots at his own daughter, Mr. Spears should step aside immediately.”

The news of Jamie Spears stepping down as conservator breaks just three days after L.A. Superior Court judge Brenda Penny denied Spears’ lawyer Mathew Rosengart’s request to expedite the conservatorship’s next court hearing where it will be decided whether Jamie Spears is removed from his post as conservator of Spears’ estate. 

Rosengart requested that the court hearing be moved up from Sept. 29 and asked that Jason Rubin be set in his place.

“Although a two-month wait for a hearing on the Petition may not seem significant in the context of 13 years, Ms. Spears should not be forced to continue to feel traumatized, lose sleep, and suffer further,” Rosengart stated in the document. “Every day matters.”

Jamie has been in total control of every aspect of Britney’s life including her “allowance”, how she spends her “allowance” and whether or not she can take a well-earned vacation paid for with her own money. Britney Spears’ father disapproved of her wanting to travel to Hawaii last month, her attorney said in court papers, arguing that even though he changed his mind, the objection emphasized why removing him from her conservatorship is an urgent matter and Spears’ attorney Mathew Rosengart cited the dispute in that application filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court when he requested to move the court date. 

In that same filing, Rosengart paints Spears’ father in a hypocritical light when it comes to decisions about how to spend his daughter’s money. According to the document, counsel for Jamie Spears has cost the estate $1,356,293 in attorney’s fees from October 2020 through June 2021. The conservator also pays himself $16,000 a month from the estate, plus $2,000 a month for office expenses, which is reportedly $4,000 more a month than Britney receives as her “allowance”. He pays himself $4,000 more a month than the person who earned that money. 

“These spendthrift ways are particularly problematic when contrasted with the stringent, ‘absolutely microscopic control’ Mr. Spears has exerted over his daughter, evidently since her childhood and continuing through today,” Rosengart wrote, referencing language the singer’s mother Lynne Spears used in a recent declaration in support of the petition to remove Jamie Spears from the legal arrangement.

A week ago fans were alarmed when they discovered the princess of pop was not previously permitted to own an ipad and she had taken it upon herself to purchase one for herself. 

“Okay guys, great news. I got my first iPad today,” Spears said in an ecstatic Instagram video posted Friday. “So, I’ve got my hair up, I’m in my yard, and I’ve been working. But, I came into the kitchen and saw something I ordered, and it is a freaking new iPad.”

She added that her sons Sean and Jayden, who are 15 and 14 years old, have iPads of their own but this is her first.

“This is just a groundbreaking day. I’ve always had a little phone, but now this iPad is in my hands and I feel like my life is changing as we speak and I am so excited,” Spears gushed. “Upward bound! Yes!”

The first iPad was released in 2010. Spears, however, has been under legal guardianship under her conservatorship since 2008.

Spears’ father Jamie became sole conservator in 2019 after attorney Andrew Wallet resigned from the co-conservatorship. In September 2019, he temporarily relinquished his powers and Jodi Montgomery became the conservator of her person, meaning she is responsible for Spears’ medical and personal well-being.

Spears’ father has remained the sole conservator of her estate, managing all of her finances and making a hefty sum off of her annual multi-million-dollar earnings, given that Spears has continued to record music and perform regularly, while under conservatorship.