Britney Spears is close to free: How the court’s decision affects her father

Framing Britney, the doc that focuses Britney Spears’ rise to stardom & pressure that led to her very public 2007 breakdown, renewed the fight people feel for the #FreeBritney movement. The movement, if you don’t know, focuses on getting conservatorship away from Britney Spears’ father, James Spears, and to someone of the singer’s own choosing.

The court battles have been ongoing with Britney Spears and her father fighting to get their own way. In 2020, Britney Spears filed a petition with the court in order to remove her father as conservator of her estate. Instead, she asked the conservatorship be turned over to a financial institution, Bessemer Trust. James Spears fought to stay sole conservator of his daughter’s estate. 

Eventually, Judge Brenda Penny went the King Solomon route. She divided the conservatorship for Britney Spears’ estate fifty-fifty between her father & Bessemer Trust. But a ruling made yesterday may harken a new change in the singer’s conservatorship in the end, let’s look into it.

Really?

So, James Spears didn’t really like the fifty-fifty split in the conservatorship of Britney Spears. Her father’s attorney, Vivian Thoreen, raised objections over the delegation of the co-conservatorship. The focus of which was that her client have “the power to delegate investment powers”, according to NBC News. Britney Spears’ lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, challenged the objection.

According to Ingham, the whole deal with the co-conservatorship was that his client’s father’s power of conservator would be reduced. Otherwise, what was even the point of appointing Bessemer Trust as co-conservator of Britney Spears’ estate? Thoreen, however, said that her client should have consistency in the powers he had as sole conservator, saying,

“There’s no intent or desire to create unequal power or decision-making as between the two, your honor. This is a way to make it consistent and to not take away powers that Mr. Spears as a conservator had.” 

Who controls the money? 

Ingham, however, thinks James Spears wants that power in order to appoint a third party with the investment powers. Thoreen said that her client wanted to “ be able to delegate the investment decision making authority to Bessemer.” That…doesn’t make sense, right? Not just us here? Either way, Judge Penny denied the objections raised by Britney Spears’ father.

Moving forward, James Spears & Bessemer Trust are expected to work together on a budget & investment proposal for Britney Spears’ estate. That probably won’t be awkward at all. In a statement after the hearing, Thoreen wrote the following:

“My client looks forward to working with Bessemer to continue an investment strategy in the best interests of his daughter. My client Jamie Spears has diligently and professionally carried out his duties as one of Britney’s conservators, and his love for his daughter & dedication to protecting her is clearly apparent to the court.”

So what does this mean moving forward?

For all we write about true crime, we can say stuff on conservatorships & estate management is pretty much limited to what we learned from John Oliver on a segment he did on Last Week Tonight. That being said? The maintenance of the fifty-fifty split could be a good thing in the long run for Britney Spears. Our best guess is over time, we’ll see the conservatorship go to Bessemer Trust fully.

Like a sort of passing of the baton? Except it’s a conservatorship. Of course, that makes logical sense to us, which means it may not always make logical sense in the legal world. A hearing, however, will be held next month on the conservatorship. So, we’ll see what’s brought and done about it then moving forward.