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Britney Spears's father petitions court to end her conservatorship

Britney Spears has been living under a conservatorship for 13 years. (Photo: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
Britney Spears has been living under a conservatorship for 13 years. (Photo: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

More than two years after fans of Britney Spears established the Free Britney movement and seven months after the release of the doc Framing Britney Spears, which sparked even more support for the singer, her father, Jamie Spears, has filed a legal petition to end his daughter's conservatorship.

Multiple news outlets confirmed that the document to end a 13-year arrangement, which Britney spoke against in July during a court hearing, was submitted Tuesday in Los Angeles.

"Recent events related to this conservatorship have called into question whether circumstances have changed to such an extent that grounds for establishment of a conservatorship may no longer exist," it reads, via CNN. "Ms. Spears has told this Court that she wants control of her life back without the safety rails of a conservatorship. 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 filing read, "As Mr. Spears has said again and again, all he wants is what is best for his daughter. 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."

Britney's attorney Mathew S. Rosengart said in a statement to Yahoo Entertainment, “This filing represents a massive legal victory for Britney Spears, as well as vindication. Having exposed his misconduct and improper plan to hold his daughter hostage by trying to extract a multi-million-dollar settlement, Mr. Spears has now effectively surrendered. There is no settlement. To the extent Mr. Spears believes he can try to avoid accountability and justice, including sitting for a sworn deposition and answering other discovery under oath, he is incorrect and our investigation into financial mismanagement and other issues will continue."

Rosengart also called out Jamie's legal team for "inappropriately" leaking the petition "to the media before it was served on counsel."

Britney, 39, has said repeatedly that she did not want to have anyone, especially her father, in control of her life or her estimated $60 million fortune. He had taken control under a legal conservatorship in 2008, after her public breakdown. The conservatorship was repeatedly extended, and over the summer she was finally able to formally explain to a judge how she feels about it during court hearings about her case.

The younger Spears did not mince words.

She referred to the conservatorship as "f***ing cruelty" and said she was afraid of her father. She described being forced to stay on birth control, despite wanting to have another baby, and to take lithium. Britney also formally accused her father of conservatorship abuse. "If this is not abuse, I don't know what is," she said.

In July, a judge gave her permission to choose her own lawyer for the first time since 2008, and it was expected that the person she chose, Rosengart, would first and foremost seek to remove Jamie from his position. Just last week, Rosengart alleged in legal documents that Jamie had attempted to extort $2 million from his daughter in response to her legal request to have him removed.

Although Jamie, who's said that he's always acted in Britney's best interest, said last month that he planned to step down from his position controlling her finances, he didn't say when that would be. He gave up his position as the person overseeing decisions in her personal life back in 2019.

The next hearing in the case had been scheduled for Sept. 29.