Britney Spears’ attorney Samuel D. Ingham III has filed a petition for the judge overseeing her conservatorship court case to remove her father, Jamie Spears, from any control of her “person” and her estate, and replace her permanently with her temporary care manager Jodi Montgomery, according to new court documents obtained by HollywoodLife.com.
When Jamie Spears, the star's sole conservator, suffered from health problems in September 2019, Ms Montgomery took over the role, assessing Spears’ needs, communicating with healthcare professionals for the pop icon to get proper treatment, medication and other aspects of daily life.
Montgomery, who has vast expertise in conservatorship, according to her website, has since been keeping track of the Baby One More Time singer’s medical records, managing payments and property issues, despite the fact that her temporary conservatorship ended on 31 January 2020. Jamie didn’t formally return to his duties at the time, because of his health and ongoing legal issues with Britney’s ex-husband Kevin Federline.
The latter filed a restraining order against Jamie after he allegedly engaged in a “physical altercation” with their son, 13-year-old Sean, on 24 August 2019, just in front of their second son Jayden Federline, who reportedly witnessed the incident unfurl. In early September 2019, Kevin was granted the restraining order he had asked for, which stipulates that Jamie is blocked from seeing his grandsons for the next three years.
The incident reportedly added fuel to the fire, with Britney demanding that her father step down as her conservator without delay, insisting that she is “afraid” of him. Also, earlier reports had it that Britney expressed determination not to appear on stage again so long as her father stayed in the role.
However, he was formally kept as co-conservator - along with the bank Bessemer Trust - over Britney’s finances and estate in the latest February 2021 court hearing, months after Britney’s attorney first filed to have Jamie Spears officially removed.
As the issue is yet unresolved, Britney’s fans have long launched an online movement titled “Free Britney”, alleging long-standing intimidation of the pop star. They have been demanding that she be allowed to take care of her personal and financial life herself, citing multiple solo concerts she performed brilliantly despite alleged mental issues, which they said served as nothing but a pretext of her conservatorship order.
Interest in the singer's conservatorship has spiked tremendously after the New York Times documentary, "Framing Britney Spears," which premiered in February. Celebrities and supporters have advocated en masse for Spears on social media using the hashtag #FreeBritney.
Most recently, quite a few of Spears’ fans have shown concerns about the latest updates on her Instagram, as the 39-year-old singer posted captions which reference the colour red. On Wednesday, she shared a picture of a red fridge, with the capitalised caption RED alongside a series of emojis, but providing no explanation and thus rendering the message cryptic for many. The day before, a picture of her wearing a green bra under a black sheer lace top with the caption: "Twisted Elegance … introducing RED !!!!", raising concerns about what she could possibly mean, as the picture didn’t feature any red item whatever.
