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Britney Spears' Attorney Files Petition To Remove Jamie Spears As Her Personal Conversator
Jamie Spears temporarily stepped down as the conservator of her person in September 2019 because of health concerns and was replaced by Jodi Montgomery. The pop star now hopes to make the change permanent.
Britney Spears’ attorney has filed a formal request to remove her father, Jamie Spears, as the pop star’s personal conservator and permanently replace him with Jodi Montgomery.
The request—filed in court Tuesday by her attorney Samuel Ingham—asks that her father resign as conservator of her person, which gives him control of her medical decisions, Variety reports.
Jamie Spears temporarily stepped down as the conservator of her person in September 2019 because of his own health concerns and was replaced by Montgomery. Spears now hopes to make the change permanent.
“Petitioner has requested the resignation of the current conservator of her person, James P. Spears, who temporarily relinquished his powers effective as of September 9, 2019,” the filing, obtained by the media outlet, reads. “The within petition requests his replacement by Jodi Pais Montgomery, who has acted as temporary conservator of her person since that date.”
The move would give Montgomery control of Spears’ medical decisions as well as the ability to “restrict and limit visitors by any means” with the exception of her attorney, prosecute restraining orders and retain “caretakers” and “security guards” for the singer, CNN reports.
The petition cites an Oct. 2014 order that determined Spears had an “incapacity to consent to any form of medical treatment” as the reason Montgomery should be allowed to assume the role of personal conservator.
It also noted, however, that Spears “expressly reserves the right to petition for termination of this conservatorship.”
When contacted by the news outlet about why Spears had been deemed unable to make the medical treatment decisions herself, Ingham declined to elaborate saying that he "cannot comment on a pending case."
Jamie Spears continues to serve as the conservator of Spears’ $60 million estate alongside the financial firm Bessemer Trust.
He was first appointed by the court to serve as both the conservator of the estate and her person in 2008 after the singer had a mental health breakdown.
Attorney Andrew Wallet initially served alongside Jamie Spears as the court-ordered conservator of the estate until he stepped down from the role in 2019.
Ingham moved to have Jamie Spears’ removed as conservator in August, however, a judge ruled in November that he would stay in the position, according to CNN. The court also appointed Bessemer Trust to serve as a co-conservator.
Her attorney told the court in November that she did not want her father to serve in the role as conservator any longer because she was “afraid” of him, USA Today reports. She has said she will refuse to perform again while he remains in the role.
Jamie Spears’ attorney, Vivien Lee Thoreen, told CNN earlier this month the he wished the conservatorship could end.
“[Jamie] would love nothing more than to see Britney not need a conservatorship,” Thoreen said. “Whether or not there is an end to the conservatorship really depends on Britney. If she wants to end her conservatorship, she can file a petition to end it.”
Thoreen added that Jaime “believes every single decision he has made has been in her best interest.”
Concern surrounding the conservatorship and the treatment Spears has faced in the media throughout her lengthy career reached a fever pitch after the debut of the The New York Times documentary “Framing Britney Spears” last month.
The documentary chronicles Britney Spears meteoric rise to fame, public struggles in the spotlight and the controversial conservatorship.