The U.S. beloved pop star Britney Spears now speaks out against a California conservatorship that she has considered being abusive and has been an issue for debate for a long time. With claims of emotional trauma and being forced to take prescription psychiatric medication, among others, the pop star revealed in a documentary that she was under a lot of stress.

The documentary aired earlier this year and elaborated on the conflicts the pop star experienced. Her father’s role as the conservator grants him the freedom to control many aspects of her life. This is from a ruling established by the court in 2008.

Here’s what we can tell you about an adult conservatorship.

The U.S. beloved pop star Britney Spears now speaks out against a conservatorship that she has considered to be abusive and has been an issue for debate for a long time. With claims of emotional trauma and being forced to take prescription psychiatric medication, among others, the pop star revealed in a documentary that she was under a lot of stress.

The documentary aired earlier this year and elaborated on the conflicts the pop star experienced. Her father’s role as the conservator grants him the freedom to control many aspects of her life. This is from a ruling established by the court in 2008.

Here’s what we can tell you about an adult conservatorship.

What Is a Conservatorship?

An adult conservatorship is a court ruling where a judge grant’s a responsible person the role of a sole conservator. The conservator is responsible for the control of an individual’s personal affairs in terms of health and financial affairs. The court generally establishes this ruling on the actual grounds of protecting the conservatee.

For this reason, the Britney Spears case is under scrutiny in a heated legal battle. In her ongoing conservatorship battle, Spears addressed her situation in court, explaining the lack of control she had and how a proper legal representation could help her.

Her father, James P. Spears, maintained the role of one of her conservators for over 12 years and stepped down from his formal title as a conservator in 2019 for health reasons. James Spears could no longer manage the finances of his daughter pop singer and was thinking of appointing a corporate fiduciary for his daughter.

During this time, a temporary conservator took his place as a longtime manager for Spears’ affairs. It was during this temporary conservatorship that Britney experienced various forms of unjustified attacks from her conservator.

Many find it surprising as to why Lynne Spears (Britney’s mother) was not allowed to become her personal conservator. She went as far even proposing that the Bessemer trust company, a wealth management firm, should take over her financial management.

Spears’ current court dispute involves gaining back control over her finances (business affairs) and personal health and putting them under the care of a financial firm. She felt that her new representative wasn’t a good financial conservator.

In her detailed petition, she explained to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny that she was unable to make her own choices to the point of not being allowed to marry her boyfriend or having another child since she was put on birth control. She cited evidence of conservatorship abuse before the court and complete control by her conservator.

She claimed that the conservator instructed her to take lithium, a drug used to treat bipolar disorder. Spears, in her explosive testimony, explained that she was forced to take this against her wishes and it left her feeling intoxicated and disorientated (she claimed to be a victim of conservatorship abuse). The pop singer explained to the court that this conservatorship has done more harm than good to her personal life including mental illness (which her medical team had not appropriately addressed).

In her emotional court address, she claimed that mental health struggles were part and parcel of her life due to this issue. She was also exposed to reprehensible attacks by her conservator.

California Conservatorship

How Does a California Conservatorship Work?

The process of legal conservatorship is when a competent adult is appointed by the court to handle the estate of an individual who is too ill, suffers from cognitive impairment (mental health issues), or is at an advanced age. In California, there are 3 main forms of adult conservatorship:

  • Conservatorship of the Individual: This instance occurs when a conservator is appointed and takes over an individual’s health and personal wellbeing. The conservator is only authorized to make decisions relating to the individual’s basic human needs and minimize any form of an unjustified petition.
  • Conservatorship of the Estate: This occurs when a court-appointed conservator takes over an individual’s finances and assets. This arrangement allows the conservator to handle the individual’s financial responsibilities such as bills and taxes. The conservator is required to keep updated financial records and file these with the court regularly.
  • Conservatorship of the Individual and the Estate: As you can deduce, this is a combination of the other two forms of conservatorship. The conservator takes over the individual’s estate and wellbeing.

In addition to these forms, there are two variations to conservatorship in California:

  • Limited Conservatorship: A conservator is granted limited authority to assist in areas a conservatee might not be able to handle. For instance, a conservatee might not be able to manage their finances but is capable of maintaining their wellbeing. A conservator will be able to make financial decisions for the conservatee and nothing else.
  • General Conservatorship: This fits in the class of Conservatorship of the Individual and Estate. If a conservatee is unable to maintain their wellbeing and finances, then a conservator is appointed and granted authority to assist with most of these problems, normally all of them.

As provided, we can clearly see that conservative arrangements are based on varying circumstances between the conservator and conservatee. In the case of Britney Spears, her father Jamie Spears (who had served as her permanent conservator) had full control over her and her estate as the sole conservator.

As a makeup artist, she hasn’t had any control over her estate since 2008 when she was placed on a psychiatric hold. This move prevented her from practicing personal financial management.

This is due to her irregular behavior at the time of her divorce from ex-husband Kevin Federline. Spears had been the subject of many news reports for various public incidents such as being admitted to the hospital twice and shaving her head. Her professional life has been affected from time to time because of this.

Ending a Conservatorship in California

The 39-year-old singer spoke in open court explaining over 13 years’ worth of negative emotion caused by the ruling of conservatorship over her personal affairs. It hasn’t been made clear whether Britney Spears (through her lawyer, Sam Ingham) intends to completely terminate the arrangement in future proceedings.

Filing for an arrangement such as conservatorship in California can be quite a tedious process. The one who intends to file it will need to go through many steps before a formal petition can even be filed. Therefore, it would be no surprise to find out that terminating a conservatorship arrangement would be just as equally challenging.

Consider using A People’s Choice to assist with the termination of you’re conservatorship. Our team of legal document assistants will guide you through every step and help prepare the relevant form you will need for the process.