Britney Spears’ father files to end her conservatorship

The guardianship was imposed 13 years ago amid concerns over the singer’s mental health and possible drug use

Britney Spears’ father, James P. Spears, who agreed earlier this summer to eventually step down from his own role in the conservatorship that has overseen her finances and controlled much of her life since 2008, filed a petition Tuesday asking the court to “now seriously consider whether this conservatorship is no longer required.”

The filing marked a turnaround for Spears, also known as Jamie, who long insisted that the guardianship — which was imposed 13 years ago amid concerns over the singer’s mental health and possible drug use — was in his daughter’s best interest. Last month, he said he would eventually step aside from his role overseeing the singer’s finances once there could be “an orderly transition to a new conservator,” but argued that he should not be immediately removed. Until now, he has not said that the conservatorship should end, something that Britney Spears announced she wanted publicly for the first time in a June court hearing, when she called the arrangement “abusive.”

Also read: How conservatorships like Britney Spears' work

“As Mr. Spears has said again and again, all he wants is what is best for his daughter,” Jamie Spears’ lawyer, Vivian Lee Thoreen, wrote in the new filing. “If Ms. Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance.”

Britney Spears, 39, has not yet filed her own formal petition to end the conservatorship; she has, however, asked the judge to remove her father as conservator of her estate. He has not served as her personal conservator since September 2019, when Jodi Montgomery, a licensed professional conservator, took over on an ongoing temporary basis.

Jamie Spears’ lawyer wrote that Britney Spears had recently “demonstrated a level of independence that calls into question whether a conservatorship of the person is required.” Thoreen cited news reports that the singer had been driving — something she had previously been unable to do under the strictures of the conservatorship — and that she had recently chosen her own counsel, Mathew Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor and Hollywood lawyer who took over as Spears’ representative in July. When the conservatorship began, Spears was found to be incapable of hiring her own counsel.