Britney Spears is taking steps to hammer out a prenuptial agreement with her fiancé Sam Asghari — and having her estranged dad Jamie Spears still at the helm of her estate is a problem, her lawyer claims in a new court filing.
The new paperwork, filed Wednesday and obtained by Rolling Stone, is calling for Jamie’s ouster as conservator of the pop star’s estate on a much faster timetable than Jamie proposed in his surprise September 7th petition to terminate his daughter’s 13-year conservatorship. While Jamie had asked for a January court hearing on his petition, Britney and her new lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor, are calling for Jamie’s “immediate and necessary suspension” by “no later than Sept. 29,” the date of the next court hearing in the case. The nine-page filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court also says Britney wants to terminate the conservatorship completely by “this fall,” with a temporary, short-term replacement for Jamie overseeing her affairs until the arrangement is dissolved.
The singer’s new engagement to Asghari is mentioned as one of the chief reasons Britney wants the conservatorship over ASAP. According to Rosengart, he and Britney are “in the process of engaging a family law attorney” to craft a prenup. “The prenuptial agreement process will require communications with and cooperation from the conservator of her estate,” Rosengart states in the filing, also signed by Britney. “Given that Ms. Spears’s relationship with that conservator (her father) is broken, Mr. Spears’s continued involvement would impede the ability to negotiate and consummate a contract that all can agree is in Ms. Spears’s best interests.”
Britney, 39, formally petitioned the court to remove or suspend her dad after making harrowing public statements to the court in June and July. The Toxic singer told Judge Brenda Penny she considered the conservatorship “abusive” and “demoralizing,” claiming her dad “should be in jail.”
“I am traumatized,” she said in her blockbuster June 23rd address. “I’m not happy. I can’t sleep. I’m so angry it’s insane. And I’m depressed. I cry every day.” She alleged Jamie and those he enlisted in her care left her feeling “scared,” overworked, isolated, and voiceless. She said she was forced to take lithium, which left her feeling “drunk,” and that she had no agency in her personal life — including the ability to have an IUD removed. “I want to have the real deal. I want to be able to get married and have a baby,” she said.
After initially resisting Britney’s calls for his resignation, Jamie agreed to step down as conservator of her estate in August. In his September 7th petition, his lawyer said Jamie recognizes Britney “wants control of her life back without the safety rails of a conservatorship.”
“Ms. Spears has recently demonstrated a level of independence that calls into question whether a conservator of the person is required,” his lawyer Vivian Lee Thoreen wrote. “It appears from public media reports that Ms. Spears has been driving in the community on her own.” Thoreen also cited the fact that Judge Penny decided over the summer that Britney had the wherewithal to hire Rosengart. “This court has recognized that Ms. Spears has both the capacity and the capability to identify, engage and instruct counsel of her own choice, on her own, without the assistance of the conservator or the court,” Thoreen wrote. “If Ms. Spears has the capacity and capability to engage counsel on her own, she presumably has capacity and capability to handle other contractual and business matters.”
Less than a week after that filing, Britney announced her engagement to Asghari in a gleeful Instagram post September 12th. “I can’t f—ing believe it 💍💍💍💍💍💍❣️!!!!!!” she wrote in the caption to video clips showing off her diamond engagement ring and giving Asghari a kiss.
While Jamie is the sole conservator of Britney’s estate, a professional care manager named Jodi Montgomery is the temporary conservator of the singer’s person, meaning she oversees Britney’s medical care and day-to-day security.
“We are pleased by Mr. Spears’s recent forced concessions, and my client looks forward to the prompt termination of the conservatorship, and to her freedom,” Rosengart said Wednesday in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Britney Spears will no longer be bullied. We are moving forward with our July 26, 2021, petition for the suspension of James P. Spears, which is a prerequisite to the immediate restoration of my client’s dignity and fundamental rights.”
Rosengart said an investigation of Jamie’s alleged “financial and other abusive conduct at issue is ongoing.”
From Rolling Stone US
