Britney Spears ‘on cloud nine’ as judge sets hearing to end conservatorship and suspends father
Britney Spears. (Getty/Angela Weiss/AFP)
Britney Spears could be freed from her conservatorship within weeks after a judge suspended her father from the “toxic” arrangement.
Judge Brenda Penny suspended Jamie Spears as conservator, effective immediately, on Wednesday (29 September).
She said the “current situation is untenable” and reflects a “toxic environment” which required Jamie to step down, the Guardian reported.
The suspension doesn’t immediately end Britney’s long-standing conservatorship, but it does mean that her father will no longer have control over his daughter’s financial affairs.
The move comes weeks after Jamie filed to end the conservatorship completely, a move Britney’s lawyers have said would allow him to evade accountability.
A hearing has been scheduled for 12 November to discuss the complete termination of the conservatorship, which both Britney and her father have said they now support.
The star’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart told Rolling Stone his “hope and expectation” is that the conservatorship will be fully terminated at that hearing without the need for any further evaluation.
Following the ruling, Britney shared a video of her behind the controls of a propellor plane. She told her followers that she was “on cloud nine right now”.
“First time flying a plane and first time in a prop plane,” Britney wrote. “Geez I was scared!!!”
View this post on Instagram
Britney’s fiancé, Sam Asghari, shared a short message to his Instagram followers: “Free Britney! Congratulations!!!!!!!!”
He added a photo of himself giving a pink rose to the singer, followed by a black and white lion.
“She did this,” he wrote on the photo. “Her fan base is called the army for a reason.”
Britney Spears’ fiance, Sam Ashgari, celebrates the news that the singer is one step closer to freedom. (Instagram/@samashgari)
Spears’ conservatorship is split into two roles – one for her estate and financial affairs, the other for her personal affairs.
Jamie served as both conservator of Britney’s person and of her estate, but he stepped down as a personal conservator in 2019 for health reasons. He retained sweeping control over his daughter’s finances.
Jodi Montgomery, Britney’s longtime care manager, remains her personal conservator, a role that she assumed temporarily in 2019.
Britney’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, called on the court to suspend Jamie from the conservatorship in a court document filed ahead of the hearing on Wednesday.
In the filing, he said there was “overwhelming evidence” demonstrating why Jamie should be suspended from the conservatorship.
He highlighted a New York Times article published Monday (27 September) that alleged Jamie bugged his daughter’s bedroom. Rosengart also pointed out Britney’s own “powerful and poignant testimony” in June where she “testified to the abuses inflicted by her father as well as his cruelty and how he stripped her of her dignity”.
Judge Penny ruled on Wednesday that Jamie step down from the role and that John Zabel, an accountant, oversee the singer’s fortune “forthwith”, adding that it is “in the best interest of the conservatee”.
According to People, Zabel will hold the role of temporary conservator until 31 December.
