Court Extends Spears Conservatorship

LOS ANGELES — The court extended the conservatorship of Britney Spears on Thursday, and took actions intended to give her father and a lawyer access to money in the pop singer's trust to cover her needs.

James Spears' temporary control over his daughter's life and estate will continue at least until a hearing on March 10, Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz said. At that time, she said, a court-appointed attorney also must submit an evaluation of Britney Spears' medical and psychological condition.

There was no mention of her condition since her latest release from a hospital.

After more than a year of bizarre behavior in which she divorced Kevin Federline and lost custody of her two young sons, Britney Spears was put in a psychiatric hospital twice in January and has been under a repeatedly extended temporary conservatorship since the beginning of February.

Attorney Jeryll Cohen, who represents James Spears, also told Goetz that investigators have spent more than 200 hours trying to locate the singer's sometime companion Sam Lutfi to serve him with a temporary restraining order issued in response to claims that he had taken virtual control of her life and even drugged her.

"We have made great effort to have Mr. Lutfi served," said Cohen. "We staked out his residence at the hospital. We did many things we do not want to discuss right now. We have information he is intentionally avoiding service."

Cohen asked that the order be reissued if it is not served in time for Lutfi to obtain counsel and appear for a Feb. 22 hearing. The commissioner agreed and said that when Lutfi does appear, she will order live testimony taken.

Goetz also granted a request to expand James Spears' powers as conservator to allow him to handle taxes on Britney Spears' assets and other matters.

Among numerous lawyers present were Andrew Wallet, who was appointed with the father as a co-conservator for her estate, and two attorneys representing Britney Spears' brother, Bryan.

Goetz granted an application by a law firm and Bryan Spears to be named temporary co-trustees of a trust established by Britney Spears in order for them to gain access to assets held in it.

Documents submitted to the court said Britney Spears set up the trust in 2004 with herself as the sole trustee and "all of Britney's liquid assets are vested in the trust."

As a result, the documents said, the co-conservators have been unable to access any liquid assets and her family members, friends and members of her household have been paying for her necessities.

"Immediate access to the trust's liquid assets is necessary to pay for Britney's security, and to pay for her medicine, food, other day-to-day expenses, and for psychiatric and other essential medical services," the papers said.

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Raquel Maria Dillon contributed to this report.

Comments

[adc]

11:06 PM on 02/15/2008

oh gawd... will this teeny tart just go ahead and O.D. on something so we can all move on? Get on with it Brit! before Amy Winehouse steels your thunder.

Then Daddy can have all your millions to himself - just like he planned.

>>groan

[mpgarr]

01:50 PM on 02/15/2008

I think you have this situation pegged Lucille--it is my view that this whole situation was able to spiral down like it has thanks to the leaches like her "manager" who seemed there merely to take from her---it's obvious that since he is trying to avoid service---he has reasons to hide---such sleazy, slimy individuals out there in Hollywood!!!--they are like scavenger fish in the water who come around when sharks kill and eat the bigger fish--they eat the stuff that falls to the bottom. The lure of Britney was that she was not too smart, already out of control and thanks to previously released court documents--all the world knows that she made a half-million per month----that is one damn big gravy train to steal from!!!

[Lucille]

04:02 PM on 02/15/2008

mpgarr,

Yes and the fact that Brit's husband was not going to leave the scene with just what he was able to negotiate from the divorce (he'd signed a prenup that gave him $500,000, but Brit gave him more money and the house he currently lives in).

The lure to Brit's millions attracted her ex-husband and his sleazy lawyer too. Kfed knows what buttons to push and in fact it worked too well because Brit has guardian's of her own, and I hope those guardians drag Kfed through the mud like Kfed and Kaplan did Britney.

[Lucille]

10:18 PM on 02/14/2008

I'm glad Brit's family is there for her and I applaud her father's handling of Brit's needs so far. Now that Brit's brother is now a trustee of her estate as well as her father and, an additional attorney being guardians, I pray that no one gets greedy and abuses their position.

I happy that Brit finally has people on her side taking care of business and that Kfed and Kaplan can't literally run her into a psych ward anymore.

And please posters, spare me the bullshit about it being Brit's fault and Kfed and Kaplan having nothing to do with it when they had everything to do with it. They knew what they were doing and if her family hadn't intervened they would have drove Brit to her death.