Britney Spears’ conservator tells her dad ‘stop the attacks’ after ‘mentally sick’ claim
Britney Spears with her father, Jamie, in Hollywood, California in 2008. (Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage)
Britney Spears’ father has fought back against efforts to oust him from her conservatorship by claiming that his daughter is “mentally sick”.
Jamie Spears said there are “no grounds whatsoever” for his removal from Britney’s conservatorship just one day after her attorney filed a petition to accelerate a hearing on whether to suspend him from the legal arrangement that governs her affairs.
Britney has made clear that she wants her father removed from his role as conservator of her estate, which gives him power over her business and financial interests.
In filings written by Jamie’s lawyer and obtained by Variety, Jamie argued that he has taken good care of his daughter and claimed that her personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, wanted to place Britney under a 5150 psychiatric hold.
Montgomery strenuously denied these claims. “Stop the attacks,” she said through her attorney Lauriann Wright, “it does no good – it only does harm.”
Wright said that Jamie has “misrepresented and manipulated” her client’s concerns for Britney’s wellbeing to his own advantage.
Britney Spears conservator called singer ‘mentally sick’, claims father
Court documents filed 6 August by Jamie Spears’ attorney, Vivian Lee Thoreen, argue that he “has dutifully and faithfully served as the conservator of his daughter’s estate without any blemishes on his record”.
“Mr Spears’s sole motivation has been his unconditional love for his daughter and a fierce desire to protect her from those trying to take advantage of her,” she said.
Shifting the blame to other’s involved in the conservatorship, Jamie claimed that Montgomery and Britney’s former lawyer Samuel Ingham had discussed the possibility of hospitalising the 39-year-old singer in an emergency psychiatric ward.
Shortly after Britney delivered a bombshell testimony to the courts against the “abusive” conservatorship, a “very worried” Montgomery rung Jamie up, the paperwork alleged.
Britney Spears’ father, Jamie Spears leaves the Los Angeles County Superior courthouse on March 10, 2008. (VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
“On July 9, 2021, I received a phone call from Ms Montgomery,” Jamie said in the filings.
“During our call, Ms Montgomery sounded very distraught and expressed how concerned she was about my daughter’s recent behaviour and overall mental health.
“Ms Montgomery explained that my daughter was not timely or properly taking her medications, was not listening to the recommendations of her medical team and refused to even see some of her doctors.”
It was Montgomery and Ingham, he alleged, that admitted Britney into a medical facility in 2019, one she told the court she felt forced into.
Referring to Britney’s testimony that her conservatorship is “abusive” and that her father should be jailed for his actions, Jamie added: “Many of my daughter’s statements at the last hearing were not true and attributed her statements to the fact that my daughter is ‘mentally sick’.”
In response, Montgomery denied the claims she suggested Britney be placed under a psychiatric hold, or that she had the ability to force Britney into any medical treatment in 2019, noting that the incident took place before she replaced Jamie as conservator of the person. At the time, Montgomery was Britney’s care manager.
“At no time did Ms Montgomery express to Mr Spears that Ms Spears would currently qualify for such ahold,” she said in the statement to the press.
“Ms Montgomery does have concerns about Ms Spears’ ‘recent behaviour and overall mental health,’ as set forth in Jamie Spears’ Declaration dated August 6, 2021.
“Due to medical privacy, Ms Montgomery cannot go into those concerns with any further detail except to say that having her father Jamie Spears continuing to serve as her Conservator instead of a neutral professional fiduciary is having a serious impact on Ms Spears’ mental health.
Jamie (L) and Britney Spears. (Chris Farina/Corbis via Getty Images)
“Notably, Jamie Spears has yet to resign as Ms Spears’ Conservator of the Person, which is why Ms Montgomery continues to serve as Temporary Conservator of the Person.
“It is in Ms Spears’ best interests that her father step down as her Conservator, so he can go back to just being Ms Spears’ father, and working on a healthy, supportive father-daughter relationship.”
Jamie Spears’ paperwork proved to be a pointed counterattack to court documents filed the day before by Britney’s new attorney, Matthew Rosengart.
Rosengart has called for Jamie to be suspended or removed from the arrangement altogether. If he isn’t, he wrote, the singer will suffer psychologically and financially while her father remains in control of her estate.
Thoreen said that her client has agreed to speed up the hearing timeline – but opposes Rosengart’s claims that Jamie should be removed.
