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indy100
indy100
National
Lauren Milici

Britney Spears is free: Star released from court-ordered conservatorship after 13 years

Britney Spears wears “Free Britney” shirt ahead of hearing.

(Picture: Instagram)

After 13 long years, Britney Spears’ conservatorship is finally over.

A judge as Los Angeles County Superior Court ended the court-ordered arrangement at a hearing on Friday, bringing to an end the long battle between the singer and her father Jamie.

Jamie was suspended as her conservator last month after overseeing her estate and partially controlling her personal and professional life since 2008.

Britney has stated that her father had barred her from marrying her now-fiancé, required her to have an IUD, and put other restrictions in place that would jeopardize the singer’s relationship with her children. Jamie has controlled his daughter’s career and finances for 14 years.

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Britney has named mother Lynn and sister Jamie Lynn as family members who have profited from the conservatorship.

On Friday, Judge Brenda Penny said: “The conservatorship of the person and estate of Britney Jean Spears is no longer required.”

She found that there was “no need for a capacity declaration” of Ms. Spears, noting that it had been a voluntary conservatorship.

The current estate conservator will continue working to settle ongoing financial concerns related to the case, but to all intents and purposes she’s now free.

Ahead of the hearing, Britney donned a “Free Britney” t-shirt. Fiancé Sam Asghari posted a video of the couple wearing t-shirts that say: “#Free Britney: It’s A Human Rights Movement”. The Spears hit, “Work Bitch” plays in the video.

Her biggest fans were - naturally - overjoyed:

Spears’ lawyer Mathew Rosengart has vowed to pursue an investigation of Jamie Spears’ role in the conservatorship. He also said that law enforcement should investigate revelations in a New York Times documentary about a listening device placed in her bedroom.

Jamie Spears recently parted ways with the attorneys who helped him operate it, and he has hired Alex Weingarten, a lawyer specializing in the type of litigation that may be coming.

In court filings last week, Britney Spears’ former business managers, Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, pushed back against Rosengart’s demands for documents about the firm’s involvement in the conservatorship from 2008 to 2018. The group also denied any role in or knowledge of any surveillance of the superstar.

A turning point in her battle against the conservatorship came early in 2019, when she canceled a planned concert residency in Las Vegas.

Some fans began coalescing and demanding that the court #FreeBritney amid rumours she had been placed in a mental hospital.

At first, they were dismissed as conspiracy theorists, but the singer herself gave them validation in 2020 in a series of court filings that said they were correct to demand greater transparency and scrutiny of her legal situation.

With agencies

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