Lawyer Monthly - August 2021 Edition

32 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | AUG 2021 #FREEBRITNEY: THE BRITNEY SPEARS CONSERVATORSHIP CASE EXPLAINED unable to manage them on their own. A conservator may be responsible for their conservatee’s estate, day-to- day life, living arrangements, health decisions, and more. Many conservators are guardians for elderly people or are the parents of developmentally disabled adults. A general conservatorship, established in a probate court by a judge, forbids the guardian to force medical treatment on the conservatee and is typically not temporary unless a person is deemed to be putting themselves at risk. A conservator must regularly report to the court that appointed them to their position. Why Was Spears Put Under Conservatorship? Spears was put under conservatorship after her public breakdown in 2007. Around this time, Spears’ behaviour was seemingly erratic. She shaved her head, attacked a paparazzo’s vehicle For nearly half of her music career, Spears has not held full control over her life. Following the pop star’s public breakdown in 2007, Spears was placed under a conservatorship, navigated by her father Jamie Spears. Most recently, the #FreeBritney movement has made a resurgence due to an anonymous lawyer voicing their concerns over Spears’ well-being and a recent court hearing in which the pop star spoke out about the details of her conservatorship. Spears revealed she had been forced to take lithium, had been prevented from seeing friends, and had been kept from having her IUD removed despite her wishes to have another child. What Is a Conservatorship? Under US law, conservatorship is a legal concept allowing a judge to grant a guardian total control over a person’s finances if the individual is deemed to be physically or mentally with an umbrella, and was put under a “5150 hold” in a psychiatric hospital. This led to her father petitioning courts for an emergency “temporary” conservatorship, as he believed his daughter was no longer capable of managing herself and her finances amid the deterioration of her mental health. Why Does Spears Want Her Father Removed as Conservator? In August 2020, Spears’ court- appointed attorney stated that Spears “strongly opposed” her father’s position as her sole conservator and asked the court to limit his control. She requested that her father’s replacement, Jodi Montgomery, be named as conservator of her person. Montgomery, a professionally licensed conservator, stepped in temporarily as conservator in 2019 when Spears’ father voluntarily took a break due to health reasons. #FreeBritney: The Britney Spears Conservatorship Case Explained On 22 April 2019, a group of devoted Britney Spears fans gathered outside West Hollywood City Hall, armed with banners boldly marked with the Free Britney hashtag. Dressed in her merchandise, the group played her hits and voiced their concerns for the pop star’s welfare to reporters. At the forefront of their concerns was Spears’ long-running conservatorship.