Photo Credit: Zillow (Engel & Volkers)
Britney Spears has finally settled her long-running legal battle with her father, Jamie Spears, nearly three years since her conservatorship ended in 2021.
The pop superstar and her estranged father settled for an undisclosed amount. The dispute initially sparked from both Jamie Spears’ handling of the 42-year-old Britney’s finances during her highly controversial conservatorship, and his assertion that he was entitled to have his legal fees covered by his daughter’s estate.
Jamie Spears’ 2021 petition to the court claimed that Britney’s nearly $60 million estate should cover his legal fees “to ensure the conservatorship can be wound up quickly and efficiently to allow Britney to take control of her life.”
Britney Spears’ lawyer, Mathew S. Rosengart, called the request “shameful” in a statement at the time: “Mr. Spears reaped many millions of dollars from Britney as a conservator, while paying his lawyers millions more, all from Britney’s work and hard-earned money.”
On Monday, Rosengart said in a statement to USA Today that “Britney Spears won when her father was suspended as conservator and she obtained her freedom, and her civil rights and liberties were restored.”
“She has now obtained her final piece of freedom as she instructed, as she no longer will need to be entangled with the court or the court system in this matter,” he continued. “It has been our honor and privilege to represent, protect, and defend Britney Spears.”
The 71-year-old Jamie Spears, in a statement from his lawyer, Alex M. Weingarten, said he is “thrilled all this is over,” that he “loves his daughter very much” and “wants the best for Britney, nothing less.”
Britney Spears’ conservatorship and the subsequent highly publicized legal battle as she fought to get out of it ended in 2021. The singer was first placed under a conservatorship in 2008 following her public breakdown the year prior, captured by paparazzi.
Public uproar over the conservatorship ramped up rapidly following the release of The New York Times’ documentary, “Framing Britney Spears,” which highlighted the conservatorship, the controversies surrounding it, and the #FreeBritney movement. Shortly thereafter, the singer’s testimony during a June 2021 court hearing, in which she called the conservatorship abusive and pleaded for its end, brought even further momentum.
Jamie Spears, who has consistently denied all accusations against him, was suspended from the conservatorship in September 2021, and ordered to turn over Britney’s assets — totaling around $60 million — to a temporary conservator accountant.
