britney spears
Britney Spears
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
  • Britney Spears has asked a Los Angeles judge to end her father’s control over her life and finances. 
  • A lawyer for Spears told the judge that her client is afraid of her father and won’t perform while he remains as her conservator. 
  • James Spears has maintained legal control of his daughter’s finances and, until last year, life. 
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A lawyer for Britney Spears told a Los Angeles judge that her client will not perform while her father maintains control of her career, the Associated Press reported.

Spears, 38, was placed under a conservatorship — also known as a guardianship — in 2008 after experiencing public mental breakdowns that resulted in her hospitalization.

Her financial assets have since been under the control of her father, James Spears.

“My client has informed me that she is afraid of her father,” Spears’ attorney Samuel Ingham told the judge. “She will not perform again if her father is in charge of her career.”

On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny declined to immediately suspend James Spears’ role in his daughter’s conservatorship, but said she would consider future petitions with further documentation. 

 For more than a decade, fans have been calling to"Free Britney," the battle cry of a movement dedicated to getting Spears out of her conservatorship.

 

Conservatorships are intended for people who have severely diminished mental capabilities and are normally temporary. 

Spears has previously said that when she was placed in one 12 years ago, it was necessary and likely saved her career, according to the AP. She had experienced mental health issues and was hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation. 

In August, though, she began publicly seeking to regain control over her career and life, fueling her fans and the "Free Britney" movement. 

Ingham told the judge that her client hasn't talked to her father in a long time, the AP reported.

Until last year, he not only controlled the singer's career, but also other major life decisions. Her dad stepped down from that role last year after a medical issue, putting control of her person temporarily in the hands of Jodi Montgomery, a professional fiduciary. 

Spears is seeking to keep Montgomery as her personal conservator, while appointing the corporate fiduciary, the Bessemer Trust, as conservator of her finances, USA Today reported.

In court, James Spears' attorney, Vivian Lee Thoreen, told the judge that her client has protected his daughter bringing her out of debt to a net worth of over $60 million, the AP reported.

In court filings viewed by the AP, James Spears' attorneys have said his "sole motivation has been his unconditional love for his daughter and a fierce desire to protect her from those trying to take advantage of her."

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