“Any time Britney wants to end her conservatorship, she can ask her lawyer to file a petition to terminate it,” Jamie Spears’ lawyer says in a statement.
Britney Spears’ father Jamie Spears is speaking out against Congressmen Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) after they asked for federal hearings about conservatorships and noted the singer as the “most striking example.”
Citing the #FreeBritney movement that has grown tremendously following the February release of the Framing Britney Spears documentary, Gaetz and Jordan urged House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) to hold a hearing “to examine whether Americans are trapped unjustly in conservatorships” in a formal letter on Tuesday. The congressmen want to examine not just Spears’ conservatorship, but the system in general.
“If the conservatorship process can rip the agency from a woman who was in the prime of her life and one of the most powerful pop stars in the world, imagine what it can do to people who are less powerful and have less of a voice,” Rep. Gaetz said in a press statement.
#NEWS: @Jim_Jordan and @RepMattGaetz demand @RepJerryNadler hold a hearing on court ordered conservatorships.
“The most striking example is perhaps the case of multi-platinum performing artist Britney Spears.” pic.twitter.com/tfE8KJAZ4s
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) March 9, 2021
Jamie Spears’ lawyer Vivian L. Thoreen issued a statement in response to Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday (March 10). “From the beginning, the court has closely monitored Britney’s situation, including through annual accountings and in-depth reviews and recommendations from a highly experienced and dedicated court investigator who annually meets at length with Britney and all involved in her conservatorship,” the statement reads. “Britney’s Conservatorship of the Estate was co-managed by a private professional fiduciary and her father until early 2019. At that time, Britney requested in court papers that her father be the sole conservator of her estate. Her Conservatorship of the Person is not managed by her father but by a private professional fiduciary, and is similarly subject to the scrutiny of interviews, audits and detailed reports to the judge by the court investigator.”
The multi-platinum singer has been in a conservatorship overseen predominantly by her father since 2008 when she was just 28. Now, 12 years later, many supporters of the #FreeBritney movement have come forward questioning whether a conservatorship over the singer’s personal and financial life still needs to be in place. Spears herself addressed her fans and requested in an unprecedented filing regarding her sealed hearings to appoint a new conservator of her estate in a manner that’s “open and transparent.”
“Jamie Spears has diligently and professionally carried out his duties as one of Britney’s conservators, and his love for his daughter and dedication to protecting her is clearly apparent to the court,” the statement continues. “Any time Britney wants to end her conservatorship, she can ask her lawyer to file a petition to terminate it; she has always had this right but in 13 years has never exercised it. Britney knows that her Daddy loves her, and that he will be there for her whenever and if she needs him, just as he always has been — conservatorship or not.”
