Britney Spears Can Choose Her Own Lawyer In Conservatorship Case, A Judge Has Ruled

[pnwmom]

Source: NPR

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has allowed Britney Spears to hire her own lawyer. Matthew S. Rosengart, a prominent Hollywood lawyer and former federal prosecutor, has been approved as Spears' choice to take up the case.

Spears, who joined the hearing by phone, also told the Los Angeles court that she wants her father charged with conservatorship abuse.

After Spears' blistering public comments about the conservatorship last month, various parties in Britney Spears' orbit started making some legal moves: Bessemer Trust, the wealth management company that had signed on to be co-conservator of Spears' estate, asked to resign. Her longtime court-appointed lawyer Samuel D. Ingham III also requested to resign, asking the court to appoint someone else in his place. Spears' mother, Lynne Spears, as well as Jodi Montgomery, the conservator of her personal life, have also initiated different routes for Britney Spears to choose her own legal representation.

There are a lot of moving parts to the case. If you want to know more, here's a quick rundown on who's involved.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/07/14/1015949197/britney-spears-conservatorship-case-live-updates?fbclid=IwAR0RXjkypfDk3WYjB99YekY3uVVd_LuyB2pgVhKd9eA1fz5sJcr_H3vs7h4

---

Why do I care about Britney Spears? Because she's a human being who's had her civil rights removed because a bunch of people think they can make more money from her this way.

And because she's not the only case like this -- though most of them are elderly, single people who have managed to keep some assets. A few years ago there was a major scandal in NV about conservators who, with the connivance of a crooked judge, were able to wrest guardianships away from the adult children of people with much smaller estates than Britney has.

[Hekate]

1. Thanks

[jimfields33]

8. I think it's fine she has her own lawyer

I just think that it’s a danged if you do danged if you don’t situation. I have seem many celebrities die over the years due to some sort of substance abuse and what do twitter (mostly) say? Where was the family? Where were the people who should have intervened. I’m not saying Britney has a substance abuse but her behavior was definitely a little concerning. Remember she shaved her head during a troubled time. If it was that she wanted it that’s fine but it was a cry for help. Now she has the help and is not interested. I just hope she does ok on her own.

[questionseverything]

13. Her father has been using her for money

She probably shaved her head to beat a drug test

People were still being jailed for pot back then

I would not be surprised to learn her father, lawyer and the judge conspired against her

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. Heard she has annual income ? Of $18mm. Why not just

Give the father half and move on. Frankly surprised she hasn't been able to act in all these years??

[FarPoint]

2. I have to agree with you regarding her civil rights...

She essentially is a slave to her Court Orders and Parents...She is treated like a house or private property but with a pulse.

[pnwmom]

5. She's competent enough to earn them multimillions every year, but not competent

enough to hire her own attorneys.

And her dad clearly didn't want her to get married or pregnant because that would loosen his grip on her -- and a pregnancy would slow down her career.

[tblue37]

7. Another child would be another heir, and Daddy wouldn't want that.

[FarPoint]

9. He is all about the control and money....

Such gross abuse....I'm deeply offended by this going on...sure, she might fail in some areas...don't we all?

[pnwmom]

27. Exactly. We all fail and we all goof up. But if you're rich, then you have to be prevented

from losing your money -- so others can make a lot "taking care" of you.

[spooky3]

24. Exactly. This is so sexist and exploitative. I

hope she gets justice.

[BrightKnight]

34. 'My Maserati does 185... Life's been good to me" - Joe Walsh

Her image is largely controlled by the paparazzi industry and the image is not reality. Lots of pop stars have exploited their bad boy image.

I guess if you try that as a woman a judge could turn you into chattel and force you to be a good little girl.

She can’t be that constantly successful in her career and totally incapable of managing ANYTHING in her personal or financial life. She earns millions every year.

[ColinC]

3. "I Care A Lot." n/t

[pnwmom]

6. A good and scary movie. n/t

[ColinC]

17. I love horror movies, but that one was by far the scariest I've seen so far

[alphafemale]

30. I was just thinking of that movie.

It made me angrier than anything in awhile.

[hlthe2b]

4. I care because hers is a much bigger issue. Conservatorships & laws around them were never

meant to be temporary... Obviously, because most who need them aren't going to get "better." Hers is a case study on all the limitations of the law and courts. It needs to be used as a case study for legal and societal change.

[LisaL]

12. Elderly person with a dementia isn't going to get better.

But a young woman in her twenties? Very surprising if laws don't address that.

[hlthe2b]

14. Her case has illustrated the fallibility in these laws as they do NOT contemplate

a need for a temporary (only permanent) conservatorship. Yes, of course, most who need such intervention are not going to get better (dementia) or are terminal. That is largely why the judges have ruled in often inexplicable ways because there is not a standard mechanism for a reassessment of the need for such intervention. This judge allowing for an independently chosen lawyer of Speers' choice is a good start.

One can only hope that her case is taken up in Congress for future clarifying legislation.

[pnwmom]

22. But the cases in NV involved elderly people without dementia, and also elderly people

with disabilities whose adult children were ready, willing, and able to take care of them.

[Joinfortmill]

10. I've been following this story. So happy for her.

Her new attorney is a power house. Heads are going to roll.

[Mike Nelson]

11. I think...

... she's well enough, now. Years ago, she was very "close to the edge"... but it's time for Britney to try taking charge of her life. It's her life and she needs to succeed or fail on her own, now... with a support system that can help her become independent.

[pnwmom]

21. And how many MALE musicians have done drugs and been close to the edge?

And how many of them have been held in conservatorships for years and prevented from marrying or fathering children?

The only reason she needed to be prevented from failing was because she had tons of money and other people wanted it.

[Mike Nelson]

23. A lot...

... some are dead. You'll get no argument from me on sexism in this case. I see it plainly. You are also correct about money attracting greedy thieves.

[spooky3]

25. Agree. And if she's so fragile, why is she forced to work? Nt

[obamanut2012]

31. Because her father is in charge of her entire life

And is legally allowed to be.

[spooky3]

32. That's my point, and it must change. Nt

[dlk]

15. Women as chattel...

[niyad]

19. You are quite correct.

[Layzeebeaver]

33. THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT!

If she were male, it's likely that a conservatorship situation would either not have occurred or it would have been temporary.

[ripcord]

16. It sounds fair

Especially since her father is using her money to pay for lawyers to fight her on this.

[oldtime dfl_er]

18. Where's Gloria Allred?

You'd think she'd be all over this one.

[H2O Man]

26. Recommended.

This is a good thing.

[BrightKnight]

28. The closer I look at it the more outrageous her situation appears.

She makes $60million and she is not permitted to access any of it and has no control over any of her personal affairs either.

It is frightening that this could happen to someone.

[pnwmom]

29. Yup. Some people have no sympathy for her because she's rich.

But she has almost no control over her wealth, or her working conditions, or her personal life. So what good is that wealth to her?

She's the bird in her father's gilded cage.