Britney Spears was granted a request to hire her own attorney Wednesday. The judge’s move to allow Spears an attorney of her own choosing is a major step forward for the pop star, who wants to terminate the conservatorship she has been under for the past 13 years.
On Wednesday, Judge Brenda Penny granted Britney permission to hire Mathew Rosengart, a prominent Hollywood lawyer and former federal prosecutor, as her new attorney moving forward.
The judge approved the resignation of Spears’ longtime court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, as well as the resignation of the wealth management company Bessemer Trust, which had previously signed on to be the co-conservator of Spears’ estate. This leaves Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, the sole conservator of her financial dealings.
Britney Spears, who joined the hearing by phone, reiterated to the court that she wants her father out of her conservatorship. She said that the arrangement “is allowing my dad to ruin my life” and said she is scared of him. Spears talked about feeling trapped and forcefully medicated, and she described an instance in which he showed up to her house drunk.
“I’m here to get rid of my dad and charge him with conservatorship abuse,” she said.
Moments ahead of her voluntary testimony, Judge Brenda Penny granted Spears to hire her own lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, who attended the hearing in-person, representing the singer, who appeared remotely via phone.
Spears’ being allowed to choose her own lawyer is being hailed as a win by #FreeBritney activists and disability rights organizations.
Britney Spears is “celebrating” the latest developments in her ongoing conservatorship case.
The singer took to Instagram on Wednesday to share her gratitude for her fans in a gleeful post, all in response to a judge’s decision to allow her to hire her own legal representation.
“Coming along, folks … coming along,” Spears wrote in the caption, alongside clips of her riding a horse and doing cartwheels in a park, all set to KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse And The Cherry Tree.”
“New with real representation today … I feel GRATITUDE and BLESSED !!!!” Spears continued in her caption. “Thank you to my fans who are supporting me … You have no idea what it means to me be supported by such awesome fans !!!! God bless you all !!!!!”
A conservatorship is a legal arrangement that gives a court-appointed individual, known as the conservator, the power to handle the financial and/or personal affairs of another adult who has been deemed incapacitated.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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