It was only a matter of time…
If you’ve been following the #FreeBritney movement and Britney Spears’ battle over her conservatorship, you know she’s had enough of dad Jamie Spears being in control of her life. She already tried to get rid of him as conservator of her estate (and while he’s not out for good, she did successfully bring in the co-conservator of Bessemer Trust Company). Her lawyer has expressed that she’s “afraid” of her father and won’t perform again as long as he’s involved in the conservatorship.
Related: Britney ‘Would Like To Tell Her Story,’ But Will She Do A Tell-All?
Now that Brit’s made some headway on lessening his control over her finances, she’s turned her attention to the conservatorship of her person. For those who may not remember, the 68-year-old stepped back as conservator in 2019 for “personal health reasons” (coincidentally, it also came on the heels of an alleged physical altercation with Brit’s son Sean Preston that resulted in a restraining order against him from his grandsons). Since then, the pop star’s care manager Jodi Montgomery has been serving as temporary conservator — and Britney wants the position to become permanent.
As reported by Variety, the Lucky singer’s lawyer Samuel Ingham III filed a request on Tuesday to officially remove Jamie and replace him with Jodi. The new petition read:
“Petitioner has requested the resignation of the current conservator of her person, James P. Spears, who temporarily relinquished his powers effective as of September 9, 2019. The within petition requests his replacement by Jodi Pais Montgomery, who has acted as temporary conservator of her person since that date.”
(It also notes that she “expressly reserves the right to petition for termination of this conservatorship.”)
CNN noted that the filing cites an order from October 2014 that determined the Crossroads actress had an “incapacity to consent to any form of medical treatment” as the reason why Montgomery should take over full conservatorship. However, when asked by the outlet why Britney can’t currently make medical decisions, neither Ingham nor Jamie’s lawyer Vivian Lee Thoreen commented on the issue. (Does Brit think Jodi will give her more power to make her own medical decisions, or does she just trust her more than Jamie to make those decisions for her? Hard to say.)
Related: Jamie Claims He ‘Would Love Nothing More’ Than End Of Conservatorship
If Montgomery becomes the mother of two’s permanent conservator, she’ll be able to oversee Brit’s medical decisions, “restrict and limit visitors by any means,” “retain caretakers” and “security guards,” and prosecute restraining orders if necessary, according to the news outlet.
Seems like a no-brainer for approving this change, especially since Jodi has already been fulfilling the role for a while now. But Jamie has been fighting tooth and nail to retain control, so we doubt he’ll back down on this decision. The songstress first had her attorney file a request for his removal in August, and we all saw how that went…
As always, we just want whatever’s best for Britney — and in this case, it seems like fulfilling her wishes is the best way to go.
[Image via Britney Spears/Instagram & WENN]