Tag: Conservatorship Guardianship

Why conservatorships like the one controlling Britney Spears can lead to abuse

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“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

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Betty Hayes Court Victim

I am the youngest of four children. I was named Power of Attorney by my parents in 2013. I assisted in caring for them in their home for many years. In 2019, my husband and I created an en-suite apartment for my parents in my home. I wanted to create a space to give them the opportunity to age-in-place with dignity and respect while providing the safety and assistance they required. My father had severe Dementia at this time and had bouts of aggression and rage. My mother also had the beginnings of dementia but it was not as advanced as my fathers. I employed two caregivers to help get some relief a few hours a day. My father passed away in September of 2019 and my mother continued to live in the en-suite apartment. Around that time, she started showing signs that her Dementia was worsening. I decided to keep the caregivers on as my mother enjoyed their time and her safety needs were increasing. Fast-forward to March of 2020 when the world shuts down and a caregivers burden is exponentially increased with the COVID-19 pandemic as there are no options for relief, no respite, no breaks, no assistance from anyone including family members. During this awful scary time we lost my mother in-law to COVID not long after the pandemic started and we were unable to have a proper funeral secondary to the situation at hand. This further expounded the grief and stress I had to experience. This is all in addition to my son who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain Avm in 2018 and underwent radiation treat My son was hospitalized twice during this time with severe brain swelling and he was experiencing grand mal seizures… Read More

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