Spears' Father Gets $2,500 Per Week

LOS ANGELES — Being Britney Spears' father is now a paying gig _ through most of the summer, at least. A court has ordered the troubled pop star's estate to pay James Spears' $2,500 in weekly compensation and authorized him to lease a car. On Wednesday, his authority to handle his daughter's affairs, which was scheduled to expire March 10, was extended until July 31.

Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz ordered the weekly payments in documents released by the court Thursday but signed on Wednesday. James Spears, who recently worked as a caterer, was named conservator of his daughter and co-conservator of her estate after she was hospitalized twice in January.

Goetz also ordered Spears' estate to make a $58,800 payment to Samuel D. Ingham III, the court-appointed attorney who represents Britney Spears in the conservatorship case. She also authorized the pop star's psychiatrist to hire two other doctors and pay them retainers totaling $9,000 from her estate.

An attorney for James Spears, Vivian Thoreen, argued in court documents that the extension of the temporary conservatorship was necessary because Jon Eardley, an attorney who made an unsuccessful attempt to move the probate case to federal court last month, had filed additional papers in U.S. District Court. Those documents were under seal.

In the past year, Spears was caught on camera engaging in increasingly bizarre behavior. She shaved her head, beat a vehicle with an umbrella, wore skirts without underwear and left her own car on a busy thoroughfare after getting a flat tire.

The strange outbursts and hospitalizations contributed to the 26-year-old losing custody of her young sons, Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2. Ex-husband Kevin Federline has sole custody.

Spears was allowed brief visits with the boys beginning in late February after not seeing them for nearly two months. That happened after Spears and Federline agreed to modify the court order that had stripped Spears of her visitation rights, according to Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan.

Spears' parents came to Los Angeles around the time of her second hospitalization. She has kept a noticeably lower profile since being released from the hospital Feb. 6.

Comments

[enoughalready13]

01:34 AM on 03/08/2008

This young lady is a total disaster. She has everything in the world and can't get it together. Maybe her father stepping in will try to help matters. Otherwise, the Spearses, as a family, are a national embarrassment. Trash, trash and more trash.

[SaintN]

07:15 PM on 03/07/2008

Britney is probably losing at least a $100.000 a week in Rip Offs by her managers and by recording and media companies!

[PatA]

06:58 PM on 03/07/2008

Let me tell you people something that criticize everything that celebrities do.....you could NOT pay me to be Ms. Spear's father right now! Have you even briefly considered what a mess he is dealing with AND that isn't counting Ms. Spears. She was spending money so fast, no savings, no college funds for those little boys, endangering numerous people (most of all, her children) and her dad has stepped in and at least slowed her down and provided what appears to be a more stable environment for her.

Let it go! $10k isn't too much for dealing with that crap!

[grisgris]

07:19 PM on 03/06/2008

So he's getting $10,000 a month for his troubles. Big deal.

[Lucille]

11:40 PM on 03/06/2008

grisgris,

I agree. I'm more concerned about the attorney's fee's $58,000? It's only been maybe two months since he's on the case.

[nanotubz]

10:34 AM on 03/07/2008

Court sanctioned legalized robbery, been going on since the advent of lawyers and courts.

[grisgris]

02:50 PM on 03/07/2008

Lucille,
The new attorney has to sift through ALL of Spears past court and non-court dealings in order to effectively represent her. That's why most people don't fire their lawyers and hire new ones (this is her fourth lawyer, that we know of). It's very expensive to do so. She basically has to start at square one. And, considering the way Spears fires attorneys, I'm guessing this guy (wisely) wanted a large retainer. Considering that Spears can drop several thousand dollars in a few minutes of shopping, I'd say this is a small price to pay to someone who is trying to regain her the right to see her 2 young sons.

[dora rice]

04:15 PM on 03/07/2008

that's less than a treatment center would charge. If he is honest it's not a bad deal. If he is a crook he will go to jail eventually.