Britney Spears' dad defends conservatorship as Republicans call for congressional hearing

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The legal team of Jamie Spears is firing back as Republican Representatives Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz cite Britney Spears in formally calling for a congressional hearing on the matter of conservatorships.

Jordan and Gaetz filed a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler on Tuesday in calling for a hearing that will "examine whether Americans are trapped unjustly in conservatorships."

"The most striking example is perhaps the case of multi-platinum performing artist Britney Spears," the letter reads, in part. "Since 2008, Ms. Spears has been under a court-ordered conservatorship. The facts and circumstances giving rise to this arrangement remain in dispute but involve questionable motives and legal tactics by her father and now-conservator, Jamie Spears."

"In court appearances in August and November of 2020, Ms. Spears' attorney represented to the court that Ms. Spears 'strongly opposed' having her father as a conservator that she was afraid of her father, and that she would not again perform publicly so long as this arrangement persisted. Despite these pleas, Mr. Spears remains a conservator of her estate. Despite Mr. Spears' 'claiming to want nothing more than to see Ms. Spears 'not need a conservatorship,' his attorney admitted in a recent documentary [Framing Britney], 'Of the cases I've been involved in, I have not seen a conservatee who has successfully terminated a conservatorship.' Ms. Spears is not alone. There are countless other Americans unjustly stripped of their freedoms by others with little recourse." (These quotes were slightly edited for grammar.)

In a statement sent to EW via email, Vivian Thoreen, Jamie's lawyer, replied to Jordan and Gaetz's letter.

"From the beginning, the court has closely monitored Britney's situation, including through annual accountings and in-depth reviews and recommendations from a highly experienced and dedicated court investigator who annually meets at length with Britney and all involved in her conservatorship," she said. "Britney's Conservatorship of the Estate was co-managed by a private professional fiduciary and her father until early 2019. At that time, Britney requested in court papers that her father be the sole conservator of her estate."

"Her Conservatorship of the Person is not managed by her father but by a private professional fiduciary, and is similarly subject to the scrutiny of interviews, audits, and detailed reports to the judge by the court investigator," Thoreen continues. "Jamie Spears has diligently and professionally carried out his duties as one of Britney's conservators, and his love for his daughter and dedication to protecting her is clearly apparent to the court. Any time Britney wants to end her conservatorship, she can ask her lawyer to file a petition to terminate it; she has always had this right but in 13 years has never exercised it. Britney knows that her Daddy loves her, and that he will be there for her whenever and if she needs him, just as he always has been — conservatorship or not."

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