Britney Spears asked a judge to deny her mother's request that she pay for more than $660,000 in legal fees incurred during her former conservatorship.
Britney Spears’ attorney, Matthew Rosengart, objected to the request in a response filed before a hearing Wednesday, noting that Lynne Spears was a third party to the conservatorship. The request, which Lynne Spears filed in November, argued that she hired a legal team “to assist Britney to break the restrictions imposed by the conservatorship.”
Britney Spears, who paid for legal fees for her father, Jamie Spears, throughout the conservatorship, objected to her mother’s request. Rosengart asserted that there is no legal basis to require a conservatee to pay for a third party’s expenses and that it would be a dangerous precedent.
Rosengart also said Britney Spears has already spent nearly $1.7 million for her mother to live “in a large, expensive house” in Kentwood, Louisiana, and for related upkeep expenses.
“The fees and costs at issue cannot be hoisted onto Britney Spears, who already has paid many millions for court-appointed counsel, counsel for the conservator of the estate, counsel for the conservator of the person, and others, all while very generously providing a beautiful home for her mother and paying for all associated expenses,” Rosengart said in his objection.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny delayed a ruling, saying more documentation was required before she could grant the request, according to a minute order reviewed Thursday by NBC News.
The petition is expected to be reviewed again in July.
In 2008, Britney Spears was placed in a conservatorship, which was dissolved last year after she expressed to the court that she felt her father’s controlling influence over her life as a conservator was abusive.
Lynne Spears filed a series of legal motions in 2019 asking to be kept informed of developments in the conservatorship.
Although Lynne Spears did not file to become either a personal or a financial conservator, her petition said she assisted her daughter in interviewing new doctors and raised concerns with the court during what was described as a “crisis” point in the conservatorship.
Rosengart argued that forcing his client to pay for Lynne Spears’ attorneys would open the door to “mischief” for any “interested party” to seek to have conservatees pay exorbitant legal fees they did not incur.
“If Britney Spears (now, at last, a free woman) were to voluntarily agree that Lynne Spears should receive an additional payment from her, that would be her choice,” Rosengart said. “But the Petition is entirely unsupported by law or equity and must be rejected for these reasons alone.”
