Britney Spears Conservatorship Update: Why Getting Her Freedom May Be Harder Than People Think!

The #FreeBritney movement has really picked up steam recently — but it may be facing another roadblock.

The conservatorship of Britney Spears has been the topic of much concern and speculation recently, especially after news broke that the popstar was seeking to permanently oust her father Jamie Spears from control of her life and estate. Fans may have hoped for a positive development to come out of a scheduled hearing regarding the case on Wednesday, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any major change on that front.

That’s not to say Brit’s petition has been shut down, necessarily. Though the hearing was sealed from the public, TMZ reported the conservatorship status remains as-is for now. Allegedly, in order for the changes the singer wants to be enacted, there are other steps that need to be followed and documents to be filed.

In other words, Wednesday’s hearing was just a check in, and the real battle will come later. According to the Associated Press, Britney’s lawyer expects her dad to “aggressively contest” any threat to his power over the conservatorship, so maybe “war” is a better word for what’s coming.

However, if and when the 38-year-old’s legal team does move forward with their proposed changes, TMZ’s sources suggested that the conservatorship itself might stand in the way of the Piece of Me artist’s wishes. After all, if she was declared unfit to make important life decisions in the first place, why should she be allowed to exercise choice over her own guardian?

Sounds like a real catch-22 — can anyone ever get out of a conservatorship?

On top of that, the outlet’s sources had more bad news for supporters. They said despite seeming happy-go-lucky on Instagram, Britney’s mental health has been on the rocks for over a year.

That’s bad news for the #FreeBritney movement. Fans are passionate about helping Britney regain some basic freedoms in her life — and even the ACLU has pledged its support! The organization tweeted ahead of the hearing:

People with disabilities have a right to lead self-directed lives and retain their civil rights.

If Britney Spears wants to regain her civil liberties and get out of her conservatorship, we are here to help her. https://t.co/uLRakw7c4C

— ACLU (@ACLU) August 19, 2020

Also appearing in the performer’s corner was her ex-husband Jason Alexander, who showed up to the #FreeBritney demonstration on Wednesday. He told Us Weekly:

“I’m here to show support for the #FreeBritney movement and Britney. This is an unfortunate situation that’s been in her life for a long time. It’s affected me and her, and that makes me part of it. I’ve been quiet for 10 years, and I feel [like] what a good time to come forward now with the movement making noise and the conservatorship hearings going on. … I wanna see Britney get what she rightly deserves, and from personal conversations, she doesn’t want to be under the conservatorship obviously and it’s affecting her life still to this day in a negative way. And it’s time for it to be over.”

Alexander, who was married to Spears for an infamously brief 55 hours back in 2004, said that he’d been in contact with the Lucky singer the night before the hearing, but the conservatorship had kept him from being more present in her life. He added:

“She is hopeful, but she’s been going through this for a while, so I don’t know if she feels like there might be some changes made, but we’ll see what happens. I don’t personally have any high hopes for the conservatorship to be over with, obviously, but maybe they’ll get rid of Jamie and replace him with somebody and maybe they’ll give her some more freedoms to [do] daily activities and things. I don’t know. It’s kind of interesting to see how controlled the situation is.”

Hopefully, it’ll be good for Britney’s case that she’s only asking for her current temporary conservator, Jodi Montgomery, to move into the role permanently (although she specifically did not waive her right to contest the conservatorship in the future). Her request to have a “qualified corporate fiduciary” placed in charge of her finances also makes a lot of sense to us, rather than someone who might financially benefit from the position, like Jamie…

Whatever happens next, we hope it leads to a free and happy life for Britney — just like she, and everybody else, deserves!

[Image via WENN & Britney Spears/Instagram]