Britney freed from dad: Judge ousts Jamie Spears from conservatorship
LOS ANGELES — Britney Spears won big in court on Wednesday, when a judge declared that her dad’s control over her life was “toxic” and granted the pop superstar’s request to oust him as conservator of her estate.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny agreed that it was in Britney’s “best interest” to suspend Jamie Spears from the legal arrangement that has controlled his famous daughter’s life and money for the last 13 years.
“The current situation is untenable,” she said after hearing arguments from both Jamie and Britney’s attorneys.
“It reflects a toxic environment which requires the suspension of James Spears effective today.”
Penny handed down the monumental decision before a packed room of onlookers, and as a mass of #FreeBritney supporters rallied outside, holding signs and chanting “Free Britney” so loudly, it could be heard inside the courtroom.
The ruling came after the “Toxic” singer’s attorney Mathew Rosengart petitioned the court to “immediately” suspend Jamie Spears from the role by Wednesday, arguing his continued involvement has done nothing but prolong “the Kafkaesque nightmare” that has been Britney’s life since the conservatorship was established in 2008.
Rosengart asked the court to appoint certified public accountant John Zabel as temporary conservator to Britney’s $60 million estate while he works to dissolve the conservatorship entirely. Penny on Wednesday agreed to Zabel’s appointment, even as Jamie’s attorney Vivian Thoreen tried to argue that appointing a “stranger” to take over the conservatorship wasn’t the right move.
“It is not an appealable order,” Penny shot back at Thoreen.
The 39-year-old Grammy winner, who was not at the highly-anticipated hearing, gave two days of dramatic testimony in the case over the summer, calling the legal arrangement “abusive” and saying it had been used to “ruin” her life. Now that Jamie has been suspended from the conservatorship, Rosengart said his top priority is dissolving the arrangement altogether and a termination hearing has been set for Nov. 12.
While mental health evaluations are typically done before such arrangements are dissolved, Rosengart said outside of court Wednesday it’s his “hope and expectation” that it won’t be necessary ahead of the November court date.
“Mr. Spears himself, in his last filing, said not once not twice but three times that no mental evaluation was necessary. Britney doesn’t believe a mental evaluation is necessary and I certainly don’t. So, that’s telling,” Rosengart said.
“What today was about was suspending Jamie Spears, receiving the files, receiving the communications between Jamie Spears and his representatives and we succeeded in every regard on all of those fronts,” he continued.
“This was a monumental win for Britney and for justice.”
In the days and weeks leading up to the hearing, Rosengart and Jamie’s attorneys have been trading legal blows in a flurry of petitions and motions filed before the court and those arguments continued on Wednesday.
Thoreen argued Zabel is not fit to manage Britney’s estate because he lacks experience and “was duped out” of $1 million in a fraudulent real estate deal in 2007. She complained that little information was known on Zabel and told the court suspending Jamie would be “an extreme remedy” when he’s had an “impeccable record” over the last 13 years as conservator.
Rosengart fired back that Jamie is a “cruel, toxic and abusive man” who Britney has been afraid of since she was a child and Zabel’s accolades and qualifications far exceed the star’s fathers. He countered that there is a “mountain of evidence” showing Jamie is unfit for the role and his “toxic, untenable presence” mandates an immediate suspension.
“Britney deserves to wake up tomorrow without her father as her conservator,” he said.
Shortly after Rosengart originally petitioned to have Jamie removed from the role, the dad agreed in a court filing to step down “when the time is right” and in September, he filed to dissolve the arrangement altogether, saying “circumstances have changed to such an extent” that the conservatorship is no longer necessary.
Thoreen repeatedly argued in court Wednesday that Penny should grant that petition instead of suspending Jamie because it’s what Britney has asked for numerous times and it would render other matters before the court “moot.”
But Rosengart pleaded with the judge to boot Jamie and said the only reason why the dad did a “180” and asked to dissolve the arrangement is because he wants to avoid getting deposed and having to hand over years of revealing documents in the case.
“What’s the big deal? What are they afraid of?” Rosengart said in defense of the suspension.
“What he’s afraid of is the revelation of his corruption.”
Now that Jamie has been suspended, he’ll be required to turn over 13 years worth of filings in the case, including communications he had with his attorney. It’s in those records Rosengart believes Jamie’s “corruption” will be revealed, he told the court.
Thoreen maintained Jamie is guilty of no wrongdoing and the dad has reiterated the same claims, saying he was always acting in the best interest of his daughter.
Britney had been privately fighting to remove her father from the conservatorship but didn’t speak out publicly against the arrangement until a dramatic, June 23 court hearing where she called on Jamie to be jailed and alleged he’d drugged her, forced her to take birth control and made her work against her will.
At the time, Britney was still being represented by Samuel D. Ingham III, the same attorney who was originally appointed to her case in 2008, and told the court she didn’t know that she could hire her own attorney even though she desperately wanted one.
Three weeks later, Penny granted Spears the right to hire Rosengart, who promised from the outset that he’d move “aggressively” to oust Jamie and set Britney free once and for all.
