Britney Spears Suffers Legal Loss in Conservatorship Case

Britney Spears’ fight to have father Jamie Spears removed as the conservator of her estate has hit a setback as the judge denied a request from the pop star’s attorney to move up a landmark hearing, NBC News reports. Los Angeles Superior Judge Brenda Penny rejected Monday the petition to advance the hearing filed last week by Spears’ new attorney, Mathew Rosengart.

Raising questions about Jamie’s financial dealings when it comes to his daughter’s estate, Rosengart asked the court to schedule the conservatorship hearing as soon as possible or suspend his client’s father’s conservator powers until the hearing was held. The next hearing will be held on Sept. 29 in Los Angeles as previously scheduled.

Britney “continues to suffer ongoing harm each day that Mr. Spears remains in place as the Conservator of the Estate — emotionally, psychologically, and financially,” the petition claimed. Jamie, meanwhile, hit back with his own filing Friday, claiming he had received a phone call on July 9 from Britney’s temporary personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, claiming she was concerned about the singer’s mental health and had considered an involuntary psychiatric hospitalization.

Montgomery’s attorney denied the nature of the conversation in a statement via her own lawyer, saying that while she had concerns about Britney’s “overall mental health,” Jamie “misrepresents” what she said about a psychiatric hold. “At no time did Ms. Montgomery express to Mr. Spears that Ms. Spears would currently qualify for such a hold,” her attorney clarified.

Rosengart also addressed Britney’s mental health in his recent filing, saying that it was all the more reason to push the conservatorship hearing to as soon as possible. “Although a two-month wait for a hearing on the Petition may not seem significant in the context of 13 years, Ms. Spears should not be forced to continue to feel traumatized, lose sleep, and suffer further,” he stated in the filing. “Every day matters.”

Britney has also spoken publicly in court about her desire to have her father removed from her conservatorship, saying he should be in “jail” for how he had taken advantage of her over the years. Thursday, she took to Instagram to address her fans, saying, “I’m sure a lot of you guys are wondering how I’m doing, and since the cat is out of the bag — literally out of the bag — and you guys know my situation … things are way better than I ever imagined.”