Britney Spears allowed to hire own lawyer to challenge father's conservatorship: LA Court

In a significant development, a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge has now allowed pop star Britney spears to hire her lawyer in the fight against father Jamie Spears to end her conservatorship. The decision came on Wednesday after Britney once again pleaded before the court to remove her father from his legal role and also requested the court to charge him with "conservatorship abuse".

On Wednesday Britney reiterated before the court in a virtual meet about her ongoing conservatorship battle. The 39-year-old revealed to the court that she is undergoing "extreme abandonment issues" because of her father. The singer said to the court that " You're allowing my dad to ruin my life. I have to get rid of my dad and charge him with conservatorship abuse".  According to BBC, the singer also revealed that under the conservatorship, "her hair vitamins and coffee had been confiscated". During the hearing, she revealed that she wanted to marry her boyfriend and wanted to have a third child but her father wouldn't allow her. She said her conservator would even make sure that she didn't get pregnant. 

Meanwhile, the fans of the singer gathered in large numbers outside the court and rallied in many places across Central Washington DC as the hearing was being held.

The court on Wednesday also accepted the resignation of Britney's longtime court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D Ingham, as well as the resignation of the wealth management company Bessemer Trust, which had previously signed on to be the co-conservator of Britney's finance. Currently, her father is the sole person in charge of Britney's $60m (£43m) estate.

What is a conservatorship?

According to the California Court conservatorship is a legal arrangement that places differently-abled adults or a person undergoing mental evaluation under the supervision of another person, a “conservator.” Legally the conservator is the in-charge of the other person’s mental, financial, and personal activities and whereabouts. However, conservatorships mostly happen under a situation involving a change in the mental capacity or decision-making ability, of a person who possesses a significant amount of wealth. 

What is Britney Spears's conservatorship case?

The 39-year-old was put under conservatorship in wake of her mental breakdown in 2008. She had undergone a year of seemingly erratic behaviour - such as shaving her head and attacking a paparazzo's car with an umbrella. She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for mental health treatment. It was during that time the singer's father Jamie Spears was given the legal charge to oversee and make decisions regarding Britney's mental, financial and business, and personal deals. Notably, for the last 12 years, the details of Britney's conservatorship have been private, but the singer recently filed documents via her lawyer that request parts of her conservatorship be open to the public.