Britney Spears’ Father Files To End His 13 Year Conservatorship Over Her $60 Million Estate

Britney’s father, James Spear, has made a court filing to end his 13-year conservatorship he’s maintained over the pop-star, that has allowed him to control virtually every aspect of her life.

According to the Wall Street Journal: Spears said in a filing with a Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday that he requests the court allow Ms. Spears to be unleashed from control over her life and her finances without a psychological evaluation. In the filing, Mr. Spears argues the conservatorship has fulfilled its purpose in getting her through a difficult time for her health and financial security. But, he also argued that her situation has changed and she has demonstrated both independence and capacity to handle both business and personal matters. “As Mr. Spears has said again and again, all he wants is what is best for his daughter,” the petition, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, says. “If Ms. Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance.”

The follows Mr. Spears’s filing last month, in which he stated—after much urging from Ms. Spears’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart — that he would step down at some point from the helm of the controversial conservatorship.

Mr. Rosengart calls it a major victory.

“Having exposed his misconduct and plan to hold his daughter hostage by trying to extract a multimillion-dollar settlement, Mr. Spears has now effectively surrendered,” he said, adding that the investigation into financial mismanagement and other issues involving Mr. Spears would continue.

The move will need approval from Judge Brenda Penny, who oversees the case. The next hearing is scheduled for later this month. “Ms. Spears has told this Court that she wants control of her life back without the safety rails of a conservatorship,” the filing says. “She wants to be able to make decisions regarding her own medical care, deciding when, where and how often to get therapy. She wants to control the money she has made from her career and spend it without supervision or oversight. She wants to be able to get married and have a baby, if she so chooses. In short, she wants to live her life as she chooses without the constraints of a conservator or court proceeding.”

The arrangement was enacted in 2008 after a probate judge deemed her “unfit” to oversee her own affairs following a series of incidents following which Ms. Spears admitting mental illness struggles and publicly admitting that she needed the oversight.

She spoke publicly about her desire to end the relationship in June for the first time which elicited fans to begin a public Free Britney campaign.