Britney Spears’ legal team on Monday filed a petition to remove her father, Jamie Spears, as the conservator of her estate, marking another step in the legal battle over control of her life and finances. In the filings, which ask the court to appoint a neutral professional as the new conservator, Britney Spears’ team argues that the current situation is “traumatizing, insane, and depressing” for the pop star.
Jamie Spears has controlled his daughter’s finances since 2008, and licensed care manager Jodi Montgomery currently controls her personal affairs. The legal filing only asks that Jamie be replaced with a professional fiduciary, and does not aim to end the conservatorship as a whole — though the documents note that Britney Spears may ask to end the conservatorship at a later date.
Britney Spears’ legal team alleges in the filing that Jamie Spears has improperly used the singer’s money to enrich himself, including by taking a percentage of her performance revenue that amounts to more than $2 million. The filing also repeats allegations from Britney Spears’ explosive June 23 testimony that she was drugged after refusing to perform.
“Ms. Spears has perceived and described the status quo as traumatizing, insane, and depressing,” the filing states. “Regardless of whether Mr. Spears contests his daughter’s testimony and perception of the status quo, Ms. Spears’s testimony is genuine and makes clear that Mr. Spears’s continued presence as conservator is not in her best interests.”
“Mr. Spears’s attorney has publicly stated that Mr. Spears loves his daughter and wants the best for her,” the filing added. “Taking that at face value, and given all the foregoing, this Petition should not even be necessary, because Mr. Spears should resign voluntarily.”
This filing is the first to come from Britney Spears’ new attorney, who was hired after a judge allowed her to choose her own lawyer in mid-July. Her previous court-appointed lawyer resigned.
Jamie Spears did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment. In a prior legal filing, his lawyers argued that he has always acted in his daughter’s best interests and that his “sole motivation has been his unconditional love for his daughter and a fierce desire to protect her from those trying to take advantage of her.”
The filing also includes statements from Montgomery and Britney Spears’ mother, Lynne Spears, both of whom support the singer’s request to remove her father as conservator.
Montgomery wrote that she and the medical team “all agree that it would be best for Ms. Spears’ well-being and mental health that her father stop acting as her Conservator.” Lynne alleged that Jamie “is incapable of putting my daughter’s interests ahead of his own […] and that his being and remaining a conservator of my daughter’s estate is not in the best interests of my daughter.”
The filing requests that Jason Rubin, a licensed professional fiduciary, be appointed as the new conservator of Britney Spears’ estate.
At a Monday hearing over security expenses for Montgomery, the judge said she would rule on the new filing in late September, according to CBS Los Angeles.
The petition comes a month after Britney Spears appeared publicly in court to denounce the conservatorship, claiming she was forced to take drugs, was forbidden to remove a birth control device and had no privacy or control over her life.
“I think this conservatorship is abusive. I don’t think I can live a full life,” Spears said at the June hearing. “I feel ganged up on, I feel bullied and I feel alone.”
Zoe Christen Jones and Justin Bey contributed reporting.
Victoria Albert
Victoria Albert is a News Editor at CBS News. Reach her at victoria.albert@viacomcbs.com