Britney Spears wants some face time with the judge overseeing her conservatorship, and she wants it stat, her lawyer revealed Tuesday.
The court-appointed lawyer representing the pop star in the conservatorship that’s controlled her life and fortune for 13 years requested the meeting during an hourlong hearing.
“The conservatee has requested that I seek from the court a status hearing at which she can address the court directly,” lawyer Samuel Ingham told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny.
“And my client has asked that it be done on an expedited basis,” he said.
Spears’ upcoming date with the judge was set for June 23, Penny said Tuesday.
A follow-up date to argue accounting issues and legal fees was set for July.
Ingham didn’t elaborate on what Spears wants to discuss, but he said the request “does not relate to any of the matters that are on calendar now,” including several accounting and legal fee matters.
The last-known time Spears, 39, appeared in person for one her status hearings was in 2019.
Since then, she’s informed the court through Ingham that she won’t return to the stage until her dad is no longer involved in her estate.
“My client has informed me that she is afraid of her father,” Ingham said at a hearing in November. “She will not perform again if her father is in charge of her career.”
Spears also was the subject of the “Framing Britney Spears” documentary that premiered in February. The harsh look at the conservatorship reenergized the #FreeBritney movement, with fans and fellow celebrities including Miley Cyrus and Sarah Jessica Parker publicly questioning the treatment of the “Toxic” singer.
Spears has since posted messages online to refute rumors she’s helpless and sending coded messages through her Instagram feed.
In a video uploaded April 16, she said the photo of the red refrigerator she shared with her followers last month was just that, a vintage red refrigerator she thought was “cool.”
“Am I OK? Yes. I’m totally fine. I’m extremely happy. I have a beautiful home, beautiful children. I’m taking a break right now because I’m enjoying myself,” she told the camera.
Spears’ parents Lynne and Jamie Spears both attended Tuesday’s court hearing remotely, along with their lawyers.
Lynne’s lawyers have questioned some of the fees submitted to the court by Jamie’s lawyers, and Jamie’s camp shot back in a Monday filing.
“Lynne Spears is not acting in the best interests of the conservatee. She has not been involved in her daughter’s conservatorship until very recently, and she is now raising objections to fees related to matters that she has no knowledge of,” Jamie’s lawyer Vivian Thoreen wrote in a Monday filing obtained by the Daily News.
“Lynne Spears is the one who exploited her daughter’s pain and trauma for personal profit by publishing a book about the conservatee,” Thoreen wrote.
The parents did not speak during the Tuesday hearing other than to introduce themselves and for a few seconds when Jamie jumped in and instructed Lynne to mute her line because people were talking in the background.
Britney has been under a two-part conservatorship that controls her personal life and finances since 2008. Her dad stepped in to take control after she was the subject of highly publicized personal problems and involuntary hospitalization.
Ingham told the court last year that Spears was “strongly opposed” to having her dad return as “conservator of her person” once he took a temporary leave of absence due to his own personal issues.
Jamie remains a conservator over Spears’ estate, but he will soon share that responsibility with Bessemer Trust, a wealth manager selected by the singer.
Personal care manager Jodi Montgomery assumed control of Spears’ day-to-day personal affairs, security and medical care when Jamie stepped aside.
Spears has made it clear she wants Montgomery to remain in that role for as long as the conservatorship lasts.
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