Five months after Britney Spears delivered an explosive testimony revealing the harrowing details of a conservatorship that has overseen her personal and financial affairs for 13 years, that court-approved arrangement has finally come to an end.
“The time has come for Ms. Spears’ freedom,” the pop singer’s lawyer, Mathew S. Rosengart, wrote in a court filing last month, The New York Times reported.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny ruled on that petition in a hearing on Friday, NBC News reported. Spears — who is a few weeks shy of turning 40 — will now have control over financial and medical decisions for the first time since 2008.
- “As of today, effective immediately, the conservatorship has been terminated as to both the person and the estate,” Rosengart said outside the courthouse, according to CNN. “This is a monumental day for Britney Spears.”
Rosengart added that he has established a “safety net” on both the personal and financial side of Spears’ affairs and that there has been “an orderly transition of power,” Variety reported.
Additional hearings are set for Dec. 8 and Jan. 19.
Britney Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, suspended from conservatorship
In late September, Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, was suspended from his role as conservator over his daughter’s financial affairs, the Deseret News reported. Certified public accountant John Zabel was then placed in charge.
At that time, Rosengart described Jamie Spears as “a cruel, toxic, abusive man,” CNN reported.
- “She wants him out of her life today rather than a lingering and toxic presence,” Rosengart said, according to CNN. “Britney deserves to wake up tomorrow without her father as her conservator.”
Rosengart had previously alleged in a petition that Jamie Spears had been mismanaging his daughter’s finances since 2009, the Deseret News reported.
- “Mr. Spears has profited handsomely from his daughter’s conservatorship. By way of illustration only, since at least 2009, Mr. Spears has been paying himself $16,000 per month from Ms. Spears’s estate — $2,000 more than he has allotted to Ms. Spears,” a petition stated, according to Insider.
Jodi Montgomery, meanwhile, oversees Spears’ personal affairs and is currently expected to be in that position until the end of the year, according to NPR.
Will Britney Spears’ conservatorship end?
No one involved in the conservatorship has filed any official objection to ending it, according to The New York Times.
Friday’s hearing could lead to a number of outcomes, including completely ending the conservatorship, terminating one part of the conservatorship but keeping the other, or establishing a timeline that would eventually end the conservatorship, NPR reported.
Katie Murdock, who has made a career out of impersonating Britney Spears, previously spoke to the Deseret News about Spears’ recent legal wins and her hope that the conservatorship will completely be terminated.
“I’m happy for her that it’s getting better now,” Murdock said. “When I saw some documentaries, I got so angry and sad for her. I just can’t believe what she’s been through. She just deserves to have a life, and I’m glad that it’s happening now, finally. She’s going to be free soon.”