In 2007, paparazzi swarmed around the Los Angeles salon where pop star Britney Spears shaved off her hair. This scene occupied the pop culture imagination ever since. It also kicked off a chain of events that led to a California court placing the Princess of Pop under a conservatorship that gave her father control over her finances and her lifestyle for 13 years, until another court released her from the arrangement in 2021.
In a new memoir by Spears’ ex-husband, Kevin Federline, released Tuesday, the father of their two now-adult children claims releasing her may have been the wrong move.
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“It’s become impossible to pretend everything’s OK,” the former back-up dancer wrote. “From where I sit, the clock is ticking, and we’re getting close to the 11th hour. Something bad is going to happen if things don’t change, and my biggest fear is that our sons will be left holding the pieces.”
Federline said the #FreeBritney movement that developed around the singer’s efforts to dissolve the conservatorship “should now put the same energy into the ‘Save Britney’ movement. Because this is no longer about freedom. It’s about survival.”
The opinions in his memoir raise tough questions, not only about Spears herself — who has been perennially interrogated about her mental capability to manage her own life — but also about the institution of conservatorship itself.
How to get in a conservatorship
Multiple documentaries, news stories and a social media movement all documented Spears’ efforts to win release from conservatorship. But it was an obscure legal proceeding before the Spears case, often initiated to care for people who suffer from issues such as dementia or brain damage or are otherwise incapacitated. Typically, conservatees are elderly, though in cases like Spears’ they can be younger people, too.
“The conservator effectively assumes control over the conservatee’s rights — including decisions about where they live, the medical care they receive, how their money is spent … essentially stepping into their shoes and making decisions on their behalf,” Roee Kaufman, a Los Angeles-based partner at Keystone Law Group, where he specializes in conservatorship litigation, told Straight Arrow News. “Once a conservatorship is in place, the legal and practical hurdles to ending it are difficult to overcome.”
While rules can vary state-to-state, generally, to start the process for a conservatorship, a family member, friend or public official can file a petition in probate court, with detailed evidence of why the proposed conservatee needs help with finances or life choices. The proposed conservatee has the right to hire an attorney to contest the petition. But after an investigation or medical evaluation, a hearing determines whether the person lacks the capacity to manage their affairs. A conservator — such as Britney’s father, Jamie — could then be placed in charge of the finances or other aspects of the person’s life.
A conservatorship is legally supposed to be a last resort. It tends to be irreversible or very difficult to get out of.
“In California, most probate conservatorships involve elderly and infirm individuals with progressive cognitive ailments,” Kaufman said. “Because those conditions do not get better and typically worsen as the conservatee ages, it is generally very difficult and uncommon to terminate a conservatorship once it has been established.”
Abusing conservatorships
While under conservatorship, Spears performed regularly in Las Vegas. Her gross of $154 million made hers one of the top residencies in Sin City.
This high-pressure job with long working hours made some question whether a person capable of sustaining this extraordinary workload should be under a conservatorship at all.
“Although many conservatorships are handled responsibly, abuse can and does happen,” Craig Parker, assistant general counsel at probate and estate planning company Trust & Will, told SAN. “Financial exploitation is one of the more common forms.”
While reigning over his daughter’s $50 million fortune, Jamie Spears reportedly said, “I am Britney Spears.”
The singer’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, said in a July 2021 court filing that Jamie Spears paid himself $16,000 a month from his daughter’s estate — $2,000 more than he allotted to her. He also drew an additional $2,000 a month for office expenses, Rosengart wrote.
“Conservatorships create the potential for abuse because the conservator has tremendous power and control over the conservatee,” Roee told SAN. “The conservator effectively assumes control over the conservatee’s rights — including decisions about where they live, the medical care they receive, how their money is spent, et cetera, essentially stepping into their shoes and making decisions on their behalf.”
Under the conservatorship, Britney Spears told a judge, she was not allowed to marry or remove her intrauterine contraceptive device to have another child.
“I think that Britney’s case struck a chord because she lived under a conservatorship for an extended period of time that gave her father and others sweeping control over her finances and personal life, even though she continued to perform, record and generate significant income for herself,” Kaufman said. “This is atypical in probate conservatorships, where most conservatees are elderly, infirm and have degenerative cognitive ailments — for example, dementia — that prevent them from being able to make decisions for themselves.”
Kaufman added, “It begged the question – if she can still do all of these things for herself, why does she need a conservator appointed?”
How to get out of a conservatorship
Because conservatorships are intended for those who are terminally or chronically incapacitated, or unfit to rule their own lives and affairs, conservatorships are designed to last.
“[Spears’] case did bring national attention to the challenges and potential downsides of long-term conservatorships,” Parker said. “These legal arrangements are meant to be tailored to a person’s needs and should be reassessed regularly. … Every situation is unique, and it is essential that the courts maintain a fair and objective review process when evaluating these cases.”
In order to get out of a conservatorship, the conservatee — or a representative — needs to petition the court and show that the conservatee has regained capacity or no longer needs a conservatorship. The legal standard is very high and requires clear and convincing evidence.
Spears’ case was an exception to the norm.
“Britney was not suffering from a degenerative cognitive ailment and was not elderly and infirm,” Kaufman said. “Her legal counsel was able to provide evidence to the court that the conditions giving rise to the conservatorship had improved, that she was able to make her own decisions, and that the conservatorship was no longer needed in order to protect her. “
In 2021, a California judge terminated Spears’ conservatorship. Kaufman said the speculation about the case affected courtrooms.
“Courts are, in my view, much more attuned to potential abuses and more focused on ensuring conservatees have a genuine voice,” Kaufman said. “From a litigator’s perspective, I’ve seen courts scrutinize conservatorships more carefully, require more evidence of necessity and consider less restrictive alternatives.”
Kaufman added that people seem more cautious when seeking a conservatorship.
“It’s also made families and professionals think twice before seeking one,” he said. “So while Britney’s situation was extreme, it helped bring balance back to a system that had, in some instances, become too quick to remove people’s rights.”
Kevin Federline’s memoir
With the launch of Federline’s memoir, his opinion around Britney’s conservatorship sparked ire from Spears’ fans and from Spears herself.
“The constant gaslighting from my ex-husband is extremely hurtful and exhausting,” she wrote on X on Wednesday. “I have always pleaded and screamed to have a life with my boys. Relationships with teenage boys is complex. I have felt demoralized by this situation and have always asked and almost begged for them to be a part of my life. Sadly, they have always witnessed the lack of respect shown by my own father for me.”
While there are varying opinions around Spears’ case, and other conservatorships, Kaufman said it’s important to understand that conservatorships should be about protection, not control.
“I understand why people close to a conservatee may have mixed feelings about a conservatorship ending — particularly if they’ve seen that person go through instability or mental health struggles in the past,” Kaufman said. “But legally, the conservatorship system isn’t meant to serve as a long-term form of control or protection from bad choices. Adults are entitled to make their own decisions, even imperfect ones, unless they are really incapable of doing so.”
