Britney Spears spoke for the first time in open court on June 23rd. That was when Britney made her heartbreaking statement about how much control her father had exerted over her for years, how he used forced hospitalizations and heavy medication and endless psychiatric evaluations to punish her for not working, not making more money, for questioning his authority and on and on. Things moved quickly from there, because it also became clear from Britney’s own words that her then-lawyer Samuel D. Ingham, was completely incompetent, and clearly not working in Britney’s best interest. In the past six weeks, Britney has gotten a new lawyer, she has a clear plan of action, she’s working well with her personal conservator Jodi Montgomery, and she even got to take a vacation in Hawaii.
Jamie Spears didn’t like any of that. A week ago, Jamie Spears made yet another attempt to wrest control of Britney away from her new team. Jamie complained to the court and said outright that Britney needed a psych hold. Jodi Montgomery slapped him down, as did Britney’s new lawyer Mathew Rosengart. They both emphasized that the “thing” that was doing the most damage to Britney’s mental health right now is Jamie Spears and his control over her. Guess what? Britney won, y’all. Jamie Spears is stepping down as conservator.
Britney Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, has agreed to step down from his daughter’s conservatorship. On Thursday, Spears’ father filed his response the singer’s petition for his suspension with the Los Angeles Superior Court, announcing his decision to step down, though his attorney states that there are “no actual grounds for suspending or removing” him. His attorney cites the “public battle with his daughter” as his reasoning for stepping down.
“There are, in fact, no actual grounds for suspending or removing Mr. Spears as the Conservator of the Estate under Probate Code section 2650. And it is highly debatable whether a change in conservator at this time would be in Ms. Spears’ best interests,” the court doc states.
“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,” the filing continues. “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. As the Court has likely surmised, before Ms. Spears’ new attorney arrived, Mr. Spears had already been working on such a transition with Ms. Spears’ former court-appointed counsel, Sam Ingham.”
Jamie is now saying that he’s going to do what’s best for Britney unlike everyone else, when really everyone in Britney’s orbit has been telling him to go for weeks/months/years. Make no mistake: Jamie would not “choose” to do this unless he knew he was in a losing position. Which is what Britney’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart pointed out in his statement:
“I announced in Court on July 14 that, after 13 years of the status quo, it was time for Mr. Spears to be suspended or removed as conservator and that my firm and I would move aggressively and expeditiously for that outcome,” Rosengart states. “Twelve days later, my firm filed a Petition for Mr. Spears’s suspension and removal based on strong, insurmountable legal grounds, which were unequivocally supported by the law and all parties involved, including Jodi Montgomery, Britney Spears, and her medical team.”
“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. 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 adds: “In the interim, rather than making false accusations and taking cheap shots at his own daughter, Mr. Spears should remain silent and step aside immediately.”
May we all have a Mathew Rosengart in our corner when we’re up against it. Yes to all of this! Again, this was Jamie seeing the writing on the wall that his position was untenable. The thing is, now that he’s “voluntarily” relinquished his position as conservator, I bet he’s in even more legal danger from Rosengart. Rosengart isn’t playing about the financial aspect of the conservatorship, and he wants a full and comprehensive audit. What do you want to bet that Jamie has embezzled tens of millions of dollars?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Britney’s IG.
Happy for Britney. Hopefully she will also get back the money her family took from her these last 13 years.
The money is long gone and her family members have zero chance of ever earning enough to pay it back.
the assets they bought with the illegally obtained funds can be seized. such as her sister’s condo in florida she bought with Britney’s money, and the house Jamie is living in. grifter cons the lot of them.
@bros, Britney bought that condo before she was put under the conservatorship.
@bros: The Florida condo is NOT in Jamie Lyn Spears’ name — it’s owned by Britney and always has been. But Britney’s entire family has been using it and treating it like their own.
I’m so glad for Britney that there is finally a light at the end of this 13 year long, dark tunnel!
Would they be able to sue them if they found out they have purchased real estate with her money, and then she could get those back?
There should be a Conservatorship Bond that is paid every year as part of the agreement. It is typically around .5% of the total assets. If Britney’s father has mismanaged money or acted improperly, it should be covered under the bond.
‘and I look forward to taking Mr. Spears’s sworn deposition in the near future’ – this part makes me giddy and hopeful. Sounds like that new lawyer is a shark. Hope they investigate every effin cent that Jamie ever got and spend from her money. Bet he has nest eggs stashed away, off shore or wherever.
Yes! Rosengart is just getting started. If Jamie thinks his troubles are going to end by stepping down, he’s got another thing coming. I wonder if rather than stepping down, the “orderly transition of the conservatorship” is a blackmail ploy to negotiate a deal whereby he is not investigated if he steps down without a fuss. Rosengart would never go for that though.
Maybe this new lawyer should take on that Girardi mess. Sounds like he knows how to get things done.
Yay! Free Britney!
Yes! So happy for her.
I’m worried Jamie is saying he’s stepping down publicly but is angling to get Britney’s team not to investigate him (OR THE MONEY) to ensure a smooth transition.
He’s gotta go and that right soon.
Yes there seems to be something shady going on and he definitely wants people to *think* he’s stepping down. Remains to be seen if thats actually whats happening.
He has proven himself to be completely untrustworthy. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this is some kind of ploy to screw over Britney. Thank heaven she has her own attorneys now.
Apparently he hasn’t actually filed to step down, he’s given some conditions to be fulfilled first, including the approval of payment of his lawyers fees and compensation for himself. I was also thinking he would try to negotiate for no investigation but I guess we will see. that’s why britneys lawyers response wasn’t victory and he asked jamie to step down immediately. this isn’t over. my gossip side is hoping they don’t settle with him so we get to hear what the spears family is hiding.
Exactly! On the last page of the court filing, Jamie asks that the court dismiss/deny the petition to remove him. He is not stepping down, he is angling, manipulating, and buying time for himself and his co-conspirators. All against Britney’s wishes and on her dime.
I agree, I hope this isn’t a “go away and we’ll sweep the stealing under the carpet situation” but her lawyer sounds pretty tough and no-nonsense.
Plus I’d imagine gets paid a chunk of it if they recover her lost millions.
I hoe she is feeling happy and vindicated. There’s still a ways to go, but this has to be such a relief. I hope she surrounds herself with competent, caring people who help her live a fabulous life.
I just commented on this up thread. I should’ve read on first. I also think he wants to make a deal where he exchanges I know for stepping down for not being investigated.
In the court filing he doesn’t say anything about actually stepping down right away so there is no timeline for this to happen.
I hope this brings about legislation that ensures that kids and adults will never be in a conservatorship their parents control. This is Idiot’s Guide to raising kids, 101, to me. I am an accountant, I would never ask my brother, who is a lawyer, to do my taxes. Nor would I undertake a legal action with only my brother (who I really, really trust, but that is not the point of this, as I am a 46 year old adult who has always been in control of my life) in control of the outcome.
When a conservatorship is put in place, there should only be people who get paid based on a contract, and they should never be able to profit from said conservatorship. Who knows how Britney would have turned out, if she had dispassionate, adult professionals as her conservative, from day one.
if she had she would not have been under conservatorship for 13 years.
I remember i was in my first year of Uni when Britney was acting erratic,clearly on drugs and driving around LA with a couple of dirtbags. I believe it was some form of cry for help,probably from being controled all her life she definitely needed rehab and counseling. The likes of Charlie Sheen,Robert Downey have done much worse,the reaction and punishment for a few unhinged months were shockingly unfair and unjust. I hope she regains as much as she can.
I hope Rosengart does not let go of this bone until all the marrowed truth comes out.
Yep I want her father fully investigated for everything, all of it made public, and all fully prosecuted. Free Britney, Justice for Britney, and how about the Britney Law, reform bills for conservatorships.
I hope he cleans house and take every last one of them down — not just Jamie, but all those who went along with him (her sister, mother, brother, managers, lawyers, doctors, bodyguards) knowing full well, they were manipulating, exploiting, isolating, and emotionally abusing a vulnerable woman, who complied to their every wish just so she can see her kids. The sad part is she’ll probably never recover any of the millions that was stolen from her. Hopefully, should she choose to continue her career after all of this, she’ll gain it all back through future earnings.
Let the stomach ulcers commence!!!!
They one and all deserve it
There’s probably not a lot of cash laying around, but didn’t they buy a bunch of properties and stuff with her money? Hopefully all of that goes back to her, and she can charge them “appropriate” rent or kick them out.
Good. It’s about damn time.
Also:
“ And it is highly debatable whether a change in conservator at this time would be in Ms. Spears’ best interests”
OK JAN
Do they even hear themselves? Britney has said it and others around her, he’s the biggest threat to her mental health right now and has been for years. Her sons have a restraining order against him. What more evidence do they need.
“Her sons have a restraining order against him.”
THIS RIGHT HERE should be all the courts/judge needs to get rid of that thieving MFer.
Interestingly, Jamie skates right over this in his legal filing:
“ Lynne makes false allegations against Mr. Spears with reference to Ms. Spears’ minor children. It has been the practice of the parties in this case not to discuss or refer to the minor children except in sealed documents and proceedings before the Court – this is to protect the privacy and safety of the minor children. Accordingly, Mr. Spears will refrain from responding to Lynne’s false allegations until such time as it is necessary and appropriate in sealed proceedings.”
Nothing to see here folks!
Throughout the document he has no qualms about throwing dirt at everyone who opposes him, but when there is evidence that he is an abuser, it’s all about protecting the rights of minors and keeping the information sealed —which is BS since it’s already been widely publicized.
Actually, he’s taking his sweet ol’ time to step down. He’s not stepping down immediately. There’s evidence he’s got to destroy, more Britney memorabilia he’s got to steal, hoard, and hide (he’ll be selling those off…watch for it), and 60 million dollars worth of liquid and other assets that he needs to siphon off to himself, family, or thuggish co-conspirators to bribe them into silence and not testify against him. His work is not done yet.
Also, read on a thread on Twitter last night on how KFed’s lawyer Kaplan is also not clean in any of this. A lot of controversy surrounding him too.
Kevin plays a part in all of this im sure. He has to get his pay check coming, not only for himself and their children, but his many other children as well. My guess is that he’s been banking as much as could in preparation for the boys turning 18. I hate being so negative but its not to be after watching this all play out the past 13 years.
I think so too. He seemed quite comfortable with the arrangement, despite having to know some of what was happening to her.
I’ve been seeing follow-up pieces to this headline, saying that he has not agreed to step down, but says he will do so “when the time is right”. So more of the same? This is all so nasty and confusing.
I don’t understand why your court wouldn’t rubber-stamp this “arrangement” and order a cut-off date, such as giving her dad 14 or 28 days, to get his shit together before stepping down. Like a em lot of you, I also think he’s up to something. To force your *high earning* daughter into slavery, and to wield so much power and control that not one member of her family spoke up for her, is minud-boggling. Throw the book at the whole lot of these despicable parasites.
I still can’t believe that Britney freaking Spears is only worth $60 million. That’s comparable to Lauren Conrad from our discussion from yesterday, and we can all agree that Britney should be worth a lot more. Investigate her dad all the way to prison. He and that entire family and “team” of “professionals” used and abused Britney. Her “we love our florida condo” sister can cry all she wants.
I am a little confused by this figure as well, and maybe someone can clarify. It is my understanding that Britney’s Estate, including cash, investments, and property, is worth around $60 Million, but this figure does not include her intellectual property. Her attorney wrote, “Due to the difficulties in valuing the Conservatee’s Intellectual Property, including, without limitation, trademarks, royalties, copyrights, name and likeness, these assets are not valued at this time.”
So, I don’t know if the 60mil is accurate or if she is worth more than that.
There’s a great podcast called Toxic: the Britney Spears story and it’s either episode 6 or 7, they dig into his finances and talk to an expert on intellectual property and how actually easy it is to put a figure on it. This is one of her father‘s ways of hiding how much money is coming in by keeping this figure vague. In fact, while he is very specific about reporting expenditures, the income reported is very vague and undocumented.
While this is a great thing it should be noted that he is saying he will only walk away when he feels the time is right and when pending matters are dealt with – to me this reads that he will only walk away when he has protection/immunity from future lawsuits and prosecutions from Britney. That combined with the fact that he will want a massive pay off as well.
Britney has made it very clear she wants him (and all the others) prosecuted – he’s not going to walk away willingly without impunity. He is guilty as hell of conservatorship and financial abuse of her and her estate.
The fight against Jamie is only just beginning – Rosengart, get him!!
Never really paid Spears any mind. But I’m glad this story is making the rest of you happy. 🙂
Um, yeah, a woman has been kept legally as a workhorse for over ten years by an abusive family member but things are turning around for her. It’s excellent news.
He is not stepping down. So many media outlets ran with this and didn’t bother to read the court document that was actually filed. Along with the snippets quoted here, at the end he actually requests that the judge deny the request to temporarily and permanently remove him as conservator. He’s playing games. He also took the time to add how Britney’s mom has not been involved in her care or even been a part of Britney’s life these past 13 years. But how the conservatorship estate pays for all of lynnes housing and living expenses which are about 150k a year. I’m sure he added that as a warning to anyone who dares speak out about him to remind them that their hands aren’t clean. The court docs are out there, please look them up and don’t fall for team cons games. So happy Britney has the lawyer she needs, finally.
The whole Spears family are indentured to him – he’s been using Brit’s money for years to control them. Am not surprised the estate has been supporting Lynne and yeah this is a warning to her – wonder what he will release on JL is she speaks out against her father.
After the audit comes out a few things will be interesting.
How Brits family responds to this good news.
What properties go on the market.
What family members appear to suddenly be living beyond their funds.
How starts brown nosing.
And who Britney ignores.
We will see…
I also bet Jamie doesn’t last long. His health is declining and this is a major blow.
Correct it’s a bait and switch set up by TMZ and Jamie Spears to keep the free Britney movement off their backs while they hide the cash trails and it did work initially until someone dug a little deeper, TMZ put up the headline first then all the worldwide media spread it as a done thing and my Facebook was full of yay Britney is free from her evil father until a Couple of fantastic investigators in the free Britney movement uncovered the sham it is but the rest of the media is still peddling the fake story
Never trust a Britney related story whose origin is TMZ because they are on Jamie Spears payroll!
TMZ – The Misogynist Zone
Yes, The court papers that he filed do say that he wants to transition to a new conservator but he’s keeping the timeline and conditions that need to be met completely vague.
From his filing:
“ 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.”
And then the following total bullsht line from the filing:
“ As the Court has likely surmised, before Ms. Spears’ new attorney arrived, Mr. Spears had already been working on such a transition with Ms. Spears’ former court-appointed counsel, Sam Ingham. ”
Actually, the next page of the court document gets pretty shady, especially this paragraph:
“ As part of the transition process, Mr. Spears hopes to work with the Court and Ms. Spears’ new attorney to resolve pending matters related to his acts as Conservator, such as the pending Twelfth Account and a final account, to facilitate a smooth transition. 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.”
What is this mysterious “ Twelfth Account”? Is that accounting speak of some kind?
May we all have a Mathew Rosengart in our corner when we’re up against it.
💯 This isn’t close to being over but this attorney is ready to take it to the mat.
Her situation is heartbreaking and knowing he’s standing up for her makes me incredibly happy for Britney.
Jaime is a POS coward.
I firmly believe she has tremendous issues; however, provided she’s not actively harming or endangering others, her life and the money she EARNED are both hers to do with as she wishes. The decisions are Britney’s to make.
I’m so glad she was allowed to choose her own lawyer finally. I couldn’t stop thinking about that part of the doc. The difference in having a lawyer working for HER vs for her father is glaring. I hope she sticks with him as she goes after every single one of the people who have abused her for years- including her former lawyer.
Yes! Everytime Rosengart reiterates the breathtakingly few number of days it has taken him to take steps to end the conservatorship, it draws a line under the 13 (!!) years her former lawyer sat around making a mint off of her.
I felt like this was another ploy to just put off that audit. I’ll believe it when I see it.
I have been listening to the “Toxic” podcast which talks about Britney’s life and the most recent episode discussed something called “intellectual property” or IP which includes money generated from licensing deals (like her perfumes), royalties from music, and appearance fees. Britney’s dad and her former co-conservator, Andrew Wallet never included revenue generated from her IP into her total estimated net worth on documents. So who knows how much money he’s actually making off of her IP because according to California law, from what I understand, he doesn’t have to disclose to the court.
oof. Some forensic accountant is probably rubbing their hands together with glee at getting to dive into this mess. I bet they are going to uncover a LOT.
That is a great podcast! And the last episode was definitely a jaw dropper. Jamie’s team never provided a figure for the income from intellectual property to the court because they said it was too difficult to calculate. But one of the people they interviewed on that podcast who actually evaluates and puts a figure on intellectual property said it’s not difficult at all!
Britney Spears’ total net worth is more than 60 million. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in the 200-300 million range. She had more than enough before she got trapped into this conservatorship to retire from performing. Those licensing deals could have supplied an annual income of millions without her ever going back into the studio or onstage again. Question is: where’s the money? Or better yet which offshore account did Jamie and company funnel it into?
I used to work for companies that dealt in branding and sponsorships. It’s not hard to calculate how much a brand is worth. In Britney’s case, her name and image is a self-sustaining brand worth millions that could easily have been leveraged by her financial managers in generating revenue for her. For example, her perfume Fantasy was developed by Elizabeth Arden. There’s some paper trail either with the conservatorship and/or EA that has the details of that deal. It could be that EA pays millions up front in exchange for using Britney’s name on the signature Fantasy perfume (literally naming the perfume “Fantasy by Britney Spears” or just imprinting her name on the bottle or container to imply her endorsement and/or involvement in the perfume’s creation). Britney also probably gets a percentage of the profits generated by the perfume sale. This one deal alone would bring in $$$.
Britney merchandising was everywhere during the height of her career and popularity. So, again, Jamie and family has a lot to answer for. Where is all of THAT money? I hope Jason Rubin is a brilliant forensic accountant that can help shine a light on all of this for Britney.
Never Going To Happen.
Thank you Mathew Rosengart. His voice and actions are single handedly pulling back this situation from the most public miscarriage of justice/abuse of an artist I have personally ever witnessed.
He’s trying to run and hide so he won’t be investigated for malfeasance and fraud. Her people should go after him harder. Sell all the properties he bought to hide Britney’ money and refund her bank account. Evict the sister from the Britney-owned property she calls home and the ones she vacations in. Evict him too from his Britney-owned mansion.