Why conservatorships like the one controlling Britney Spears can lead to abuse
“I’m here to get rid of my dad and charge him with conservatorship abuse,” Britney Spears told a California court on July 14, 2021. She said that he was ruining her life, and in previous testimony she claimed that a team led by her father controlled her schedule, prevented her from having another baby and bullied her. She may soon get her wish after the judge in the case said she could hire her own lawyer, former prosecutor Mathew Rosengart, who plans to file paperwork soon to end the conservatorship on her behalf. To terminate a conservatorship, California law simply requires the filing of a petition demonstrating that it is no longer required. No one has filed this paperwork yet, according to the latest media reports. Spears’ case is unusual: Conservatorships are typically not imposed on someone who doesn’t have severe cognitive impairments, and Spears has toured the world, released four albums and earned US$131 million, all while deemed legally unfit to manage her finances or her own body. But it does illustrate how easily conservatorships can be abused – which is one reason some members of Congress are considering ways to reform the state-run system. More than 140,000 readers get one of The Conversation’s informative newsletters What is a conservatorship? I teach about conservatorships in my course on aging and law and have written extensively about the parent-child relationship. Conservatorships are legal arrangements that give a third party control over someone else. They can be imposed only by a court, and only a court can terminate them. The person put in charge of the person’s affairs is called the conservator, or the guardian in some states. Conservatorships have been around for centuries and are critical legal mechanisms to help… Read More
