Part of Britney Spears’s battle to free herself from a 13-year conservatorship is over: her father, Jamie Spears, has agreed to step down, per legal documents obtained by TMZ.
After claiming “there are, in fact, no actual grounds for suspending or removing Mr. Spears as the Conservator of the Estate,” Jamie’s lawyer wrote, “Nevertheless, even as Mr. Spears is the unremitting target of unjustified attacks, he does not believe that a public battle with his daughter over his continuing service as her conservator would be in her best interests. So, even though he must contest this unjustified Petition for his removal, Mr. Spears intends to work with the Court and his daughter’s new attorney to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator.”
The documents paint Jamie as a savior maligned and they go to great lengths to shore up his reputation. Referring back to 13 years ago, in 2008, at the height of his daughter’s struggle with her family and the media, his lawyer wrote, “Not only was she suffering mentally and emotionally, she was also being manipulated by predators and in financial distress. Mr. Spears came to his daughter’s rescue to protect her.”
Britney herself asked that her father be removed from the designation, which allowed him to control her finances and, as the public learned by her impassioned plea to a judge this summer, her body. She complained of being medicated against her wishes and forced to get an IUD despite wanting more children, a claim that Jamie’s attorney has denied.
In a statement, Britney’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, said, “We are pleased but not necessarily surprised that Mr. Spears and his lawyer finally recognize that he must be removed. We are disappointed, however, by their ongoing shameful and reprehensible attacks on Ms. Spears and others.”
Rosengart also noted that Jamie’s role in the trial is not over. “We look forward to continuing our vigorous investigation into the conduct of Mr. Spears, and others, over the past 13 years, while he reaped millions of dollars from his daughter’s estate, and I look forward to taking Mr. Spears’s sworn deposition in the near future. In the interim, rather than making false accusations and taking cheap shots at his own daughter, Mr. Spears should step aside immediately.”
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