The Superior Court in Los Angeles (USA) on Thursday rejected a request from Britney Spears’ father, Jamie, who wanted to fully control the legal guardianship of the singer, which will be further divided with an investment fund of her choice.
Today’s decision was a new chapter in the legal battle that Spears’ lawyers fought with her father to relax the guardianship by which she oversaw all aspects of her daughter’s public life since 2008. March 17 and April 27 will be the next hearings.
The case gained media relevance after The New York Times released the documentary “Framing Britney Spears” last week, which reviews the artist’s rise and fall with a disturbing view of her fame and constant public scrutiny of her subjects. .
Although Jamie will continue as a legal guardian, he will have to continue to share all his decisions with the private fund Bessemer Trust, including on finance, an extreme that his father’s lawyers opposed and which was rejected by Judge Brenda Penny.
This decision is closer to the will of Spears, who this summer expressed his “strong opposition” to the fact that her father continues to exercise total control over his life.
“It’s no secret that my client doesn’t want his father to be a co-tutor, but we admit it’s a separate issue,” said the singer’s lawyer, Samuel Ingham.
Ingham reiterated that he would try to withdraw his father’s powers in future sessions, but on Thursday, which lasted only an hour, it was summed up to decide who has control over the successful artist’s finances.
REQUESTS FOR FREEDOM FOR BRITNEY LAUNCHES
At present, the significance of this legal protection has not been debated in the courts, which have existed for 12 years, with conditions usually reserved for people with Alzheimer’s or severe cognitive impairment.
Spears, now 39, agreed to have her father become her legal guardian in 2008, a period marked by irregular behavior in which she was admitted to a mental hospital and lost custody of her children.
Subsequently, the artist was rehabilitated, released new albums and starred in one of the most watched shows in Las Vegas, but the tutelage was never revoked.
The “Toxic” singer said that “she will not act” until her father abandons that legal figure, challenged by thousands of Spears fans who regularly demonstrate with the slogan “#FreeBritney” (Freedom for Britney).