Britney Spears and her new attorney have officially made moves to attempt the removal of her father, Jamie Spears, from her conservatorship. According to BuzzFeed, now that a judge accepted the resignation of the wealth management firm that was in charge of Spears’ finances, Jamie is the last person in control of her estate.
On July 26, Judge Brenda Penny approved Bessemer Trust’s request to be removed as co-conservators. The request was in early July after Britney Spears revealed just how controlled her life had been over the last 13 years due to the conservatorship her father was in control of.
With Bessemer Trust out of the picture, Spears’s father is now the sole conservator in charge of the singer’s assets. Now, Britney’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, will work to have Jamie removed completely from the conservatorship.
As Britney Spears explained in her original statement to the courts regarding her conservatorship, she “shouldn’t be in a conservatorship if I can work. The laws need to change. I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive. I don’t feel like I can live a full life.”
Later, Spears made it clear her intentions as she fights to regain control of her own life. “I’m here to get rid of my dad and charge him with conservatorship abuse.”
But is that even possible? Sure, her attorney is doing what he can to have Jamie removed as sole conservator, but can she take it a step further and sue her father for conservatorship abuse?
According to reports, it is rather rare that Britney Spears’s father will be held accountable.
According to Rolling Stone, that is a complicated question. Conservatorships usually end once the conserved person passes on, if the conservator passes on or resigns, or if the conservator bleeds the conservatee of all their assets.
However, as Rolling Stone continues, conservatorships can also end if “the court removes him as the conservator, or for a judge to determine that Britney Spears is ‘able to handle […] her own affairs.’” It’s reported that these two options are rare and so is the idea of a conservator who has abused his or her power being held accountable for their actions.
Because all conservatorships are vastly different, it makes it difficult to set strict guidelines. However, that’s not to say conservatorship abuse is all that rare. According to the Government Accountability Office, there are “‘hundreds’ of allegations of physical abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation by guardians. A close examination of just 20 of those cases found guardians stole $5.4 million in assets from 158 victims,” Rolling Stone reported.
And although “conservatorship abuse” isn’t a legal term, Josephine Gittler, the co-director of the Institute on Guardianship and Conservatorship at the University of Iowa, says a “conservator has a legal and ethical obligation to do their job appropriately.”
If Jamie is found to have “misappropriated or misused her assets or her funds, then he will be subject to criminal or civil liability under the laws of California.” Only time will tell.
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