ANALYSIS: A Toxic Conservatorship
Allen Berezovsky/WireImage
From hits like “Baby One More Time” to “Toxic” Britney Spears has become a pop icon. However, for the past decade her name has been on front pages for other reasons. In 2008, Jamie Spears, Britney’s father, petitioned the court for a conservatorship. He stated that this was in Britney’s best interest due to her unstable mental state. The judge named Jamie Spears the conservator of the person and of the estate for Britney.
Throughout those 13 years, it slowly became clear that conservatorship was not the best option for her. Now, over a decade later, Britney is free after her father was removed as her conservator on September 29. Further details regarding the next steps of her conservatorship will be determined on November 12 during their next court date.
A conservator is “a court-appointed individual who handles financial or daily life affairs of a conservatee” as defined by the Legal Information Institute. A conservatorship of the estate means the conservator controls the conservatee’s finances. A conservatorship of the person means that the conservator dictates everything from the conservatee’s daily activities to health care. The court appoints conservators as last resorts and even then, only for extreme cases.
Andrea Seielstad, Professor of Law at the University of Dayton, wrote in an article in The Conversation that abusing the power of a conservatorship is a common occurrence that can be dated back to the 20th Century. Federal and local governments in the United States used it to mask theft of land from the Osage Tribe in the Midwest region. The government had used conservatorships as a way to gain control over Osage land and sell it back to the government without needing their permission.
Several present stars like Amanda Bynes have gone public to talk about abuse within their conservatorships. Conservators have the power to financially exploit their conservatees which is a common example of the abuse they face.
Many are asking what the future holds for conservatorships. Some believe that the Britney v. Spears case has shone a light on the troubled justice system, and others feel that it is still a valuable solution for those unable to provide for themselves. Over the past decade, the whole world has gotten an inside look at what could happen with conservatorships, using Britney Spears’ as their main example.
The public has expressed disapproval regarding her situation and the recent Netflix documentary outlined the communal negative feelings towards conservatorships. Several journalists are reporting that this may lead to some reform or abolishing them completely.
Britney Spears’ conservatorship was first introduced because of a 2008 incident when Britney locked her and her children in a room after refusing to give them to her ex-husband’s bodyguard. At this time, Britney was at the height of her career and recently went through a difficult divorce the year prior. She wrote her Blackout album right before this incident which reflected her real life and the inner turmoil she was experiencing. Some have said that this album foreshadowed her deteriorating mental state which led to the conservatorship.
Britney could never get a break from the paparazzi and this in addition to the constant tabloids regarding her divorce, had a clear effect on her mental health. She was eventually involuntarily admitted to a hospital for a psychiatric hold after losing full custody of her kids to her ex-husband. It was from there that the idea of a conservatorship was first offered up by her father.
This year was the first time the world heard what was truly going on for Britney Spears. She had never appeared in court to speak for herself. Her 24 minute speech on June 23 illustrated the cruel, traumatizing conditions of the conservatorship. She mentioned how she was forced to take lithium, which can lead to mental impairment if given a high dosage, after being taken off her usual medication. She had a lack of control over when she saw her kids or even got to drive her car. While many of these things were normal for conservatorships, with Britney functioning in the way she was and constantly touring, she did not feel that these actions were in line with her ability to perform at concerts or hold a four-year Las Vegas residency.
According to legal experts, for a conservatorship to be valid, the conservatee needs to be incapable of work. In her speech to the judge, Britney summarized how her father was abusing his position. He would deny her access to a lawyer of her choosing and forced her to keep her birth control device in. Britney tried several times to terminate the conservatorship soon after realizing the crippling impact it was having on her. She compared her life to sex trafficking.
Britney Spears is currently waiting for the end of this year when her conservatorship will officially be terminated. In the meantime, a temporary conservator has replaced Jamie. Millions of fans have rallied behind Britney over the last year in support of her ending the conservatorship. It was a 13-year battle, but Britney Spears is free from her toxic conservatorship.