While her conservatorship is officially over, Jamie Spears and Britney’s lawyers continue to battle it out over her future—and if it were up to her father, she would still be paying for his legal fees in the process.
In court documents obtained by Variety on December 20, 2021, Britney’s dad petitioned to have his daughter’s estate continue to pay for his lawyers despite being suspended as her conservator. According to the filing, he is seeking the court’s “confirmation, authorization and direction” to force Britney’s estate to pay for lawyers “participating in proceedings concerning Jamie’s ongoing fiduciary duties relating to winding up” the conservatorship. Britney’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, is calling the request an “abomination.”
“Mr. Spears reaped many millions of dollars from Britney as a conservator, while paying his lawyers millions more, all from Britney’s work and hard-earned money,” Rosengart told Page Six in a statement on December 20. “The conservatorship has been terminated and Mr. Spears was suspended ignominiously.” The pop star’s lawyer added, “Under the circumstances, his petition is not only legally meritless, it is an abomination. Britney poignantly testified about the pain her father caused her and this only adds to it. This is not what a father who loves his daughter does.”
Jamie’s request comes just weeks after his failed attempt to gain “access to Britney’s estate plan” at a recent court hearing. According to Variety, Jamie—who was the conservator over Britney’s estate from 2008 to 2021—was denied the request. An attorney for Britney’s certified public account, John Zabel, suggested that Jamie’s request was out of the ordinary. “In a normal situation, a normal person would never have to show their estate plan,” Zabel’s lawyer told the court, according to Variety. Meanwhile, Jamie’s attorney told the court: “I propose that we behave like grown-ups.”
To date, Jamie has made at least $5 million from Britney’s conservatorship prior to its termination in November 2021, according to Forbes. Per court documents reviewed by the publication, Britney has had to pay her father $16,000 per month since February 2009 as her conservator. In 12 years, that amount has equaled to $2.4 million. As far as his legal fees are concerned, Britney’s lawyer claimed in court documents filed in August 2021 that Jamie spent over $1.3 million in attorney fees from October 2020 to June 2021 alone. He also alleged that Jamie asked for $541,000 in the past year for “media matters” as Britney’s conservator. “There has been an evident dissipation of assets of Ms. Spears Estate, and that dissipation is ongoing,” he said at the time.
During her bombshell court hearing in June 2021, Britney accused Jamie and other family members of living off of her for years. “Considering my family has lived off my conservatorship for 13 years, I won’t be surprised if one of them has something to say [against ending my conservatorship],” she said at the time. “I just don’t like feeling like I work for the people who I pay.” Now, she won’t have to.
A Mother’s Gift by Britney & Lynne Spears
Image: Courtesy of Delacorte Books.
Buy: 'A Mother's Gift' by Britney & Lynne Spears $5.21
For more about Britney Spears, read her 2001 book, A Mother’s Gift. The semi-autobiographical fiction novel, which was co-written with Britney’s mother Lynne Spears, follows Holly Faye Lovell, a 14-year-old girl from the small town of Biscay, Mississippi, who has dreams of becoming a singer. When Holly becomes the youngest student ever to win a scholarship to the prestigious Haverty School of Music, she must make a choice of whether to leave her mother, Wanda, behind or pursue her dreams. As Holly starts her new life and makes posh new friends, she finds herself embarrassed by her mom and their humble background, as Wanda struggles with a long-hidden secret that could destroy her bond with her daughter forever.
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