At last, Jamie Spears, father of the world-renowned pop star Britney Spears, has agreed to step down as the singer’s conservator. He has pledged to participate in an “orderly transition” to a new legal arrangement.
Mr Spears stepped down as his daughter’s personal conservator in 2019 due to health issues but has continued to oversee her business arrangements. Regarding the Mr Spears decision the pop star’s lawyer said it was “a major victory for Britney Spears and another step toward justice”. However, Jamie Spears’ lawyer insisted there were “no actual grounds” for him to step back, and gave no timetable for when he would relinquish his role.
Britney’s father enters the scene
In 2008, Britney Spears got into a mental breakdown due to split of her family from ex-husband. The following year she showed rather an insane behavior shaving her head and attacking a paparazzo’s car with an umbrella. She even tried to commit suicide. Thereafter, the singer was put under a “5150 hold” in a psychiatric hospital for a mental health evaluation. It was during this time that her father, Jamie Spears, petitioned courts for an emergency “temporary” conservatorship, alluding to the fact that his daughter was unable to properly care and manage herself amid her mental health struggles. Then a conservatorship arrangement was imposed in 2008.
What is a conservatorship?
According to the California Courts official website, a conservatorship is where a judge appoints an individual or organization to care for another adult who is deemed unfit to care for themselves or to manage their own finances. For Britney’s case, she is considered the “conservatee” and her father, Jamie, the “conservator.” However, owing to the Jamie Spears’ petition he was given the legal right to control over his daughter’s estate and make decisions regarding Britney’s finances, health, business deals, and personal life through a court-ordered agreement. Thus, for the last 12 years, the details of Britney’s conservatorship have been private, and even she couldn’t know the amount of money she earned.
#FreeBritney movement
Despite Spears’s mental health battles since 2007, her career never faltered. Marking an official comeback with her 2008 album, Circus, she continued to release albums, tour, star in a years-long Las Vegas residency, and launch business ventures including her lucrative perfume and namesake lingerie lines. In this backdrop, Britney’s longtime fans have vocalized their dissatisfaction in seeing the pop star continue to be under a conservatorship at 39 years old. Wholeheartedly convinced that the singer herself also wants to be free from the legal binding, fans launched the #FreeBritney movement in 2009, utilizing social media to bring awareness to the discrepancies surrounding the conservatorship. FreeBritney.net also penned an overarching statement on why they believe Britney does not need a conservatorship this far into her life and career.
“During the twelve years of Spears’ conservatorship she has repeatedly toured the world, released multiple albums, and worked on a variety of television shows,” the site pointed out. “Her conservators decide whether or not she works, as she cannot enter into contracts for herself because she is legally not her own person. Britney Spears needs permission from her conservators to leave her house or spend any of her own money.”
Fans have also gone out to the streets and protested on Britney’s behalf, demanding an end to her conservatorship. This resulted in filing a petition by Britney to stop her father controlling her estate in July and has said she would not perform again while he remains in the role.
Is Britney’s father’s response genuine?
In court papers filed on Thursday (12) in response to the star’s petition, Mr Jamie Spears’ lawyer said he would be “in a position to step aside” when certain matters were resolved, and “when the time is right”. Mr Spears, the 15-page filing states, “intends to work with the court and his daughter’s new attorney to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator”. Furthermore, Mr Spears’ lawyer said Jamie Spears did not believe “a public battle with his daughter... would be in her best interests” and that he had been “the unremitting target of unjustified attacks”. Nevertheless, he called for his daughter’s “flawed” petition to be denied, saying it was “unjustified” and that there were “no urgent circumstances justifying Mr Spears’ immediate suspension”.
Regarding this matter, Mathew Rosengart, Britney Spears’ lawyer welcomed the Jamie Spears’ decision to step aside and called it a “vindication” for his client. “We are pleased that Mr Spears and his lawyer have today conceded in a filing that he must be removed,” he said in a statement.
Yet he accused Jamie Spears of his own “shameful and reprehensible attacks” and said he should stop “making false accusations and taking cheap shots”.
He said the singer’s father should instead “remain silent and step aside immediately”. Mr Rosengart added that an investigation into the actions of those involved in managing her estate throughout the conservatorship would continue.
Celebrities’ and supporters’ response
The news was welcomed by her fellow celebrities too. For instance, the model and heiress Paris Hilton who is Britney Spears’ longtime friend wrote about on Twitter:
“I’m so happy to hear this news….. It’s been so long overdue but I’m so glad that Britney is on her way to finally being free.”
But some of the singer’s supporters, who have campaigned for her to regain autonomy over her affairs using the #FreeBritney hashtag, expressed scepticism. Campaigner Leanne Simmons dismissed the move as “another manipulation tactic”, while another fan said there was “still plenty of work to do”. Lisa MacCarley, a US conservatorship lawyer and #FreeBritney advocate, said it was a “significant” development in the ongoing dispute. “I’m sure Britney is feeling a lot of relief,” she told BBC Breakfast on Friday. “The only question is how soon this is going to take place.”
“It really depends on what conditions Jamie’s attorneys put on his resignation,” She said.
In the meantime, Britney’s siblings also began to speak out on her behalf. Britney’s brother, Bryan Spears, said to the media: “She’s been in this thing for quite some time now. Obviously, there was a need for it in the beginning. Now they’ve made some changes, and all we can do is hope for the best.”
He further said, “She’s always wanted to get out of it. It’s very frustrating to have—whether someone’s coming in peace to help or coming in with an attitude, having someone constantly tell you to do something has got to be frustrating. She’s wanted to get out of it for quite some time.”
But one thing is sure: with a materialistic consumer society such as America in which no space for human relationships, it is very rare these kinds of property cases are solved without harming anybody.