A judge suspended Britney Spears’s father from the conservatorship of her estate, releasing her from his financial control on Wednesday.
According to Media sources, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny granted Spears’s request to suspend Jamie Spears, her father, as conservator of her $60 million estate. The decision speeds up Jamie Spears’s separation from control over Britney in August, Jamie Spearsagreed he would step down as her conservator, but didn’t specify a timeline.
While the conservatorship, created in 2008, still exists, many view this development as crucial in Spears regaining agency over her life. In June, Spears pleaded in court to be released from the conservatorship that she called “abusive” in the rare public hearing. Britney said,
“I want to be heard… I want changes and I want changes going forward. I deserve changes … I just want my life back, it’s been 13 years and it’s enough,”
In July, the same judge who approved her request had denied a similar one. The #FreeBritney movement picked up over the summer, fueled by various documentaries on her conservatorship, and Britney’s new statements on her situation.
In Wednesday’s court hearing, reports that Spears’s lawyer called her father “a cruel, toxic, abusive man. She wants him out of her life today rather than a lingering and toxic presence,” attorney Mathew Rosengart said, according to media outlets. Spears did not call into the hearing herself. “Britney deserves to wake up tomorrow without her father as her conservator.”
Judge Penny appointed John Zabel as the conservator of Britney’s estate, while Jodi Montgomery remains in control of the conservatorship over her person. Another hearing is likely to be set to consider ending the conservatorship altogether, though there is no set date.