LOS ANGELES • Britney Spears on Wednesday failed to remove her father from controlling her business and personal affairs after a Los Angeles court made no immediate changes to her 12-year conservatorship.
The pop star, now 38, had asked for her care manager to permanently replace her father, Mr Jamie Spears, as her conservator. But the closed-door court hearing extended the current arrangements until February next year, according to a court document posted online by fans.
Since her infamous series of public meltdowns in 2008, Spears has lived in California according to a court-approved legal guardianship largely governed by Mr Spears.
Many fans have marched and picketed on her behalf under the slogan #FreeBritney, believing that the artist - who launched to global fame as a teenager - is sending coded messages through her splashy Instagram account begging for help.
But Spears - known for hits including Toxic and ...Baby One More Time - and her court-appointed lawyer have until now made little effort to alter the set-up.
On Tuesday, her attorney Samuel Ingham filed court papers to remove her father from the conservatorship's charge, instead naming her care manager Jodi Montgomery - a licensed professional conservator - as its permanent head.
Ms Montgomery has been temporarily overseeing Spears' affairs for nearly a year, as the star's father struggled with health issues.
"We are now at a point where the conservatorship must be changed substantially in order to reflect the major changes in her current lifestyle and her stated wishes," Spears' attorney wrote in the documents filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
He said those changes include her current desire not to tour, having announced an "indefinite work hiatus" in January last year.
At that time, she cancelled her next scheduled concert residency, saying that she was going to focus on her father's health.
Conservatorships are normally set up to protect the elderly and people who are very sick or mentally disabled.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
