“Toxic” Family Feud: Inside Britney Spears’ Legal Struggles

After a 13 year-long conservatorship under her father, Jamie Spears, Britney Spears is about to be set free. On September 29, 2021, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny suspended Jamie from serving as the conservator of her estate.¹[1]Craig Clough, Britney Spears’ Dad Suspended as Her Estate’s Conservator, LAW360.COM, (Sept. 29, 2021), https://www.law360.com/media/articles/1426680 This decision comes on the heels of the surprising petition Jamie filed on September 7 to end his daughters conservatorship.²[2]Ashley Cullins, Britney Spears’ Conservatorship: An End in Sight, But Maybe Not Soon, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER (Sept. 8, 2021), https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/britney-spears-conservatorship-an-end-is-in-sight-but-maybe-not-soon-1235009730/. The filing represented Jamie’s first tangible sign of relinquishing the legal stronghold he has maintained over his daughter’s career since February 2008,³[3]Order Extending Temporary Letters of Conservatorship of the Person, In Re the Conservatorship of Britney Jean Spears, at 2 (Filed Feb. 4, 2008), https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f6faddf8ed7155b91ae16a7/t/5f9e216c62349e59a5ed86fb/ 1604198789518/2008.02.04+Letters+of+Conservatorship.pdf. and this week’s decision represents Britney’s first opportunity to regain control of both her career and financial affairs. While this presents a positive development for Britney in this ongoing legal battle, the conservatorship still remains, as only the court has the power to terminate the conservatorship that her father created. This piece will examine the history of the Spears conservatorship, and when termination can be expected.

What is a Conservatorship?

California conservatorship law authorizes a judge to appoint a person or organization to care for another adult who is deemed to be incapable of caring for themself.⁴[4]Judicial Council of California, Handbook for Conservators: 2016 Revised Edition, (last visited Sept. 24, 2021), https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/handbook.pdf. Generally, courts establish conservatorships for elderly people who do not have the capacity to make decisions on their own.⁵[5]Id. Britney’s conservatorship began in February of 2008, when her father Jamie and the family attorney were named co-conservators of her estate.⁶[6]See Order Extending Temporary Letters of Conservatorship of the Person, supra note 3, at 2. California has two types of conservatorships: the standard probate conservatorship, which encompasses Britney’s current legal situation, and the Lanterman-Petris-Short conservatorship (“LPS”), which is granted to people in need of care with severe mental disability.⁷[7]See Handbook For Conservators, supra note 4, at 20-21. To establish a conservatorship, any interested party (usually, but not limited to, a family member) files a petition with the court specifying why a conservatorship is necessary.⁸[8]Cal. Prob. Code §1820-21 (West). Thereafter a judge reviews the pertinent facts and determines if a conservatorship is in the best interest of the person.⁹[9]Cal. Prob. Code §1826 (West).

While establishing a conservatorship in California is fairly straightforward, terminating a conservatorship is much more onerous because the statute invests total discretion in the judge’s analysis of the record. Section 1863 of the California Probate Code is silent on the burden of proof to terminate a conservatorship, stating only that the court shall determine if a conservatorship is no longer required.¹⁰[10]Id. Some California case law suggests applying a “clear and convincing” standard of proof to evaluate termination of conservatorships,¹¹[11]Conservatorship of O.B, 9 Cal. 5th 989, at 999, (2020) (holding that although the default standard of proof in civil cases is the preponderance of the evidence standard, courts have applied the clear and convincing evidence standard when necessary to protect important rights). yet other courts have held that that the termination standard varies on a case-by-case basis, and remains fully at the discretion of the presiding judge.¹²[12]Conservatorship of Sanderson, 106 Cal. App. 3d 611, at 619, (1980) (holding that since the Probate Code conservatorship provisions do not specify a standard of proof, it is for the court to determine which standard of proof should be applied in view of the consequences of the conservatorship proceeding). This lack of clarity as to the applicable standard exacerbates the difficulty of terminating a conservatorship.

Formation of Britney Spears Conservatorship

In 2008, Jamie filed an emergency petition with the Court to establish a temporary conservatorship over the pop star’s affairs after Britney was involuntarily admitted into UCLA Medical Center twice within a 30-day period for mental health evaluations.¹³[13]Liz Day et al., Britney Spears Has Quietly Pushed for Years to End Her Conservatorship, THE NEW YORK TIMES, (June 22, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/arts/music/britney-spears-conservatorship.html. After Britney’s second hospital admission, a court named Jamie and the family attorney as temporary co-conservators of the estate.¹⁴[14]See Order Extending Conservatorship, supra note 3, at 2. The conservatorship was supposed to end after one year; however, in October 2008, presiding Judge Reva Goetz, extended the conservatorship indefinitely, reasoning at the time that “the conservatorship is necessary and appropriate for the complexity of financial and business entities and her being susceptible to undue influence.”¹⁵[15]Reuters Staff, THOMAS & REUTERS, (Oct. 28, 2008) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spears/britney-spears-dad-retains-control-of-her-affairs-idUSTRE49R8R420081028. The indefinite extension of the conservatorship continues today, with Britney undertaking extensive efforts to get out from under the stronghold her father has placed on her career and financial affairs.

If the Conservatorship started in 2008, why is this all recently coming to a head?

At the conservatorships commencement, the prevailing sentiment surrounding its implementation was that it was warranted as a mechanism to protect a generational icon from many of the perils that plagued some of her musical predecessors.¹⁶[16]The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears, Samantha Stark, (The New York Times, Feb. 5, 2021) https://www.nytimes.com/article/framing-britney-spears.html. Unfortunately, at that point the media depicted Britney as an irresponsible mother and a promiscuous pop-diva.¹⁷[17]Associated Press, Spears Granted Visits With Her Sons, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, (Oct. 31, 2007) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/spears-granted-visits-her-sons-153770/. Presently, the public sentiment surrounding personal struggles and mental illness has evolved with heightened support and understanding. Acceptance and sympathy for people with mental illness has fed a #FreeBritney social movement to reinstate the pop star’s autonomy.¹⁸[18]Lauren Herstik, At Britney Spears’s Hearing, This Twitter Feed Scooped the World, THE NEW YORK TIMES, (October 1, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/arts/music/britney-law-army-twitter-conservatorship.html

A key function of conservatorships is to protect conservatees from predators who might fraudulently induce them into giving away their money.¹⁹[19]Kenneth Heisz, Beware of the Con of Conservatorships: A Perfect Storm For Elder Abuse in California, NAELANEWS+JOURNAL, (March 2021), https://www.naela.org/NewsJournalOnline/OnlineJournalArticles/ OnlineMarch2021/Conservatorships.aspx?subid=1191. The irony here is that for much of the past year Jamie has been depicted as an embezzler, a man who is more concerned with collecting his daughter’s royalty checks than he is protecting her.²⁰[20]See Framing Britney Spears, supra note 16. Jamie has spent lavishly on attorneys to maintain his stronghold over who Britney can see, what she can put into her body, and the business contracts she is permitted to enter into.²¹[21]Lauren Berg, ‘I Want My Life Back’: Britney Spears Slams Conservatorship, LAW360.COM, (June 23, 2021), https://www.law360.com/articles/1397024. The pervasiveness of Jamie’s control over Britney has transformed her into a sympathetic figure with the public.

Moreover, according to court documents Britney has objected to the conservatorship since as early as 2014 and has publicly supported the #FreeBritney movement for over a year.²²[22]Julia Jacobs, Britney Spears’s Conservatorship: What to Know, THE NEW YORK TIMES, (Sept. 22, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/article/britney-spears-conservatorship.html. While, the #FreeBritney movement began merely as online speculation over what was happening in Britney’s personal life, Britney’s acknowledgement and endorsement of the movement further mobilized her fans.²³[23]See Framing Britney Spears, supra note 16. Swarms of fans now appear outside the courthouse when Britney’s hearings are scheduled to voice their support.²⁴[24]Britney Spears Fans Gather Outside Courthouse, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND REUTERS, (June 23, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007831980/britney-spears-fans-courthouse.html Demonstrating outside Britney’s hearing this past June, one fan stated: “Britney Spears is speaking today, and this is the biggest deal to me. I feel like Britney Spears is someone who hasn’t been able to speak for 13-years and we are finally getting to hear what she has to say. She has tried to speak for 13-years, this is her chance, this is her magnum opus, and we are ready to hear what she has to say.”²⁵[25]Id. Britney certainly did not disappoint, with her impassioned courtroom plea stating: “I just want my life back.”²⁶[26]Joe Coscarelli, Britney Spears: ‘I Just Want My Life Back’, THE NEW YORK TIMES, (June 23, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/arts/music/britney-spears-conservatorship-hearing.html That plea whipped up the movement to its present-day fervor.²⁷[27]See Framing Britney Spears, supra note 16.

What’s Next?

The biggest challenge for Britney now is that neither she nor her father can unilaterally terminate the conservatorship. Her withdrawal of her consent to the conservatorship does not compel the court to dissolve it. Britney must prove she can care for herself and manage her financial affairs. This will pose great difficulty when a decade worth of evidence demonstrates that she depended on other people to perform these tasks. Britney’s situation illustrates why it is so difficult in California to terminate a conservatorship.²⁸[28]Kenneth Heisz, Beware of the Con of Conservatorships: A Perfect Storm For Elder Abuse in California, NAELANEWS+JOURNAL, (March 2021), https://www.naela.org/NewsJournalOnline/OnlineJournalArticles/ OnlineMarch2021/Conservatorships.aspx?subid=1191. To that point, while it is rare that a judge dissolves a conservatorship, it remains equally true that Britney’s conservatorship represents a highly unusual, and possibly unprecedented, circumstance.²⁹[29]Lauren Wamsley, Britney Spears is Under Conservatorship. Here’s How That’s Supposed to Work, NPR.COM, (June 24, 2021), https://www.npr.org/2021/06/24/1009726455/britney-spears-conservatorship-how-thats-supposed-to-work.

In favor of Britney’s challenge to the conservatorship, in the past decade she has released an album, won a Grammy, made numerous guest-star appearances on multiple TV shows, and established a residency show in Las Vegas that serves as one of its highest grossing Vegas shows of all time.³⁰[30]See Framing Britney Spears, supra note 16. Her successful career as a multi-million dollar pop star is incongruous with court documents depicting her as an unstable, highly vulnerable person who is constantly at risk.³¹[31]James P. Spears’ First Response to Conservatee’s Petition For Suspension and Removal, Etc., In Re the Conservatorship of Britney Jean Spears, at 5 (Filed Aug. 12, 2021), https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/jamie-spears-aug-12-LASC.pdf.

The most damming example of this inconsistency came in 2018, when the attorney overseeing the conservatorship petitioned the Court to increase his compensation for his work stating: “[Britney’s] business activities have greatly accelerated due to her increased well-being and her capacity to be more engaged in furthering her career activities. The next several years promise to be very lucrative for the estate and the estate should be viewed more as a hybrid business model.”³²[32]Petition of Co-Conservator Andrew M. Wallet to Confirm Fees and Approval, In Re the Conservatorship of Britney Jean Spears, at 6 (Filed Oct. 15, 2018), https://static.wixstatic.com/ugd/237b6d_e3cb4cf5d9524a9f9aaec 83c95d4b7db.pdf Seemingly, the people in charge of the conservatorship are not looking out for the conservatee’s best interests. This is exactly the kind of behavior a conservatorship is supposed to safeguard against.

In court documents filed in 2020, Britney’s lawyer announced that: “Britney is vehemently opposed to this effort by her father to keep her legal struggle hidden away in the closet as a family secret.”³³[33]See Day et al., supra note 13. The September 29th ruling strongly suggests that Britney will finally get her wish, as the Judge temporarily suspended Jamie from his position as overseer of Britney’s conservatorship.³⁴[34]See Clough, supra note 1. While the conservatorship still remains, the Court appointed a California accountant who was recommended by Britney’s attorney, to be the new temporary co-conservator.³⁵[35]Joe Coscarelli, Britney Spears Conservatorship Hearing: What’s at Stake Now?, THE NEW YORK TIMES, (Sept. 29, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/arts/music/britney-spears-conservatorship-hearing.html. Now it is largely expected that the conservatorship will be terminated entirely at the next court hearing on November 12, as even Jamie’s attorney, Vivian Lee Thoreen, went on the record advocating for its termination, in a drastic role reversal.³⁶[36]Joe Coscarelli et al., Judge Frees Spears From Father’s Control, THE NEW YORK TIMES, (Sept. 29, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/arts/music/britney-spears-court-decision-conservatorship.html. Britney Spears personified a generation with her vocal talents. It is poetic justice that it is her fans, speaking out on her behalf, that jumpstarted the movement to free her from a “Toxic” relationship.

Written by: Jake Sperber
Jake is a 2023 J.D. Candidate at Brooklyn Law School