US court defers Britney Spears’s father from conservatorship

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny on Wednesday agreed with a petition from Spears and her lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, that James Spears needs to give up his role as conservator.

 “The current situation is not tenable. It reflects a toxic environment which requires the suspension of Jamie Spears effective today,” Penny said during a court hearing.

The move is a crucial victory for the pop star, who pleaded in dramatic hearings in June and July that her father needed to be cut out.

James Spears sought the conservatorship in 2008 and had been its primary controller and biggest champion. However, he reversed course in recent weeks, asking the judge to end the conservatorship.

Britney Spears and Rosengart agreed that the conservatorship should end and said in court documents that James Spears’s removal was a necessary first step.

The conservatorship has been increasingly scrutinised as Britney Spears, 39, has sought for months to have her father removed as the overseer of her $60m estate.

She told the court in June the arrangement was “abusive, embarrassing and humiliating”, and included her being prohibited from removing an intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD) to become pregnant.

“If Ms Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr Spears believes she should get that chance,” said the petition to terminate the legal arrangement.

Britney Spears, who shot to international fame as a teenager in the early 2000s, was placed under the conservatorship after suffering a public mental health breakdown. The nature of her mental health issues has never been revealed.

In late 2009, she returned to performing, recording several more albums, and going on sell-out world tours until her last performance in late 2018.

Source: Al Jazeera