Britney Spears’ co-conservator Jodi Montgomery BLASTS pop star’s dad Jamie

282

View
comments

Britney Spears‘ co-conservator Jodi Montgomery has blasted the pop star’s father Jamie for attempting to blame her for the restrictive rules placed on the 39-year-old.

In court documents obtained by TMZ, Jodi and her representation stated: ‘It is ironic that Mr. Spears now wants the conservatorship to ‘reflect her wishes’ since it is no secret that Ms. Spears has wished her father out of her life for years.’

Montgomery also alleged, in another excerpt of the filing obtained by People, that the 69-year-old has used ‘more than $2 million of his daughter’s money’ to fund his legal defense in the hopes of remaining conservator of her estate.

Montgomery, an experienced conservator with a degree in social welfare, was brought on to co-manage Britney’s affairs in September 2019, when her father Jamie Spears became ill.  

According to TMZ’s docs, Montgomery says she has received ‘countless’ messages from Britney about one thing which is getting her father out of her life and the conservatorship.

 In Jamie’s filing last week, also obtained by the publication, he claimed that Montgomery and others were preventing him from communicating with Britney.

Jodi rebutted in the new filing: ‘Ms. Spears is the one who cut him off… That is her choice not Ms. Montgomery’s’

Montgomery has remained in charge of Britney’s personal affairs, working as her ‘care manager’, while Jamie still controls her $60million fortune. 

She reiterated this point in the documents after Jamie suggested that she is making decisions without him as ‘everything costs money’ and all expenses go through him in his role as conservator of Britney’s estate.

Montgomery also insisted in the documents that she is actively working to address concerns that had been made by Britney in her groundbreaking testimony last week 

Among the most alarming claims made by the pop star were that she was banned from removing her IUD birth control or marrying her boyfriend. 

Montgomery has insisted that she is on-board with the singer’s desire to be free from the conservatorship but wants it to be done responsibly with the input of her doctors and also implies that Jamie is not.

The experienced conservator also claimed that Britney’s father has never fully relinquished control of his pop star daughter over the last 13-years and alleges that he has been open to the possibility of being the last person standing to claim complete control.

In People’s portion of the legal documents, Jodi claimed that ‘no expenditures can happen without going through Mr. Spears’ and that ‘not every requested expenditure has been approved, leading to some of the concerns raised by Ms. Spears on June 23, 2021.’

It was suggested by Jodi and her representation that her and Jamie ‘should be working as a team to ensure that Ms. Spears’ best interests are being met, that she is on a path to recovery and termination of her conservatorship, and that she is living her best life possible.

‘Instead, Mr. Spears has decided it is time to start the finger-pointing and media attacks,’ the portion concluded.

Earlier in the day TMZ obtained more court documents filed by Montgomery asking a judge to approve fees of more than $221,090, the six-figure sum is for work ‘she did for Britney’s conservatorship from Nov. 1, 2019 to the end of February 2021.’

In addition to the payment, Montgomery wants the ‘court to approve an additional $65,465 to cover the cost for her personal lawyer.’

On Thursday, Spears‘ father Jamie fought his co-conservator’s request for security, a day after she said she’d help Britney get her own lawyer who can end the complex legal arrangement that he controls. 

Jamie is the only one involved in the proceedings who hasn’t asked the judge to let Britney appoint her own attorney, nor has he commented on Britney’s emotional testimony on June 23 that he is controlling her against her will. 

He shares conservatorship over Britney’s life with Montgomery – a professional conservator who was appointed in 2019.  Jamie is in charge of Britney’s finances whereas Jodi is in charge of her personal and medical decisions. 

Jodi, on Wednesday, asked the judge to let Britney appoint her own attorney as she’d requested, after the resignation of Sam Ingham, the court appointed lawyer who had represented her from 2008. 

Jodi and Britney remain on good terms, according to texts she provided to the court which show Britney asking her to help her and remain in her role as Conservator of the Person so that together, they can take on Jamie and untangle the complex legal arrangement.  

But in her request, she also asked the judge to compel Jamie to grant her $50,000-a-month to pay for 24/7 security.

Jodi said she needs it because since the case has attracted so much attention in recent weeks and months, she is receiving regular, violent threats. 

Jamie, in court papers on Thursday, contested it. 

He said that they all get death threats and have for years so Jodi should make her own arrangements to protect herself, and not request that Britney’s estate pay for it. 

‘Mr Spears is very concerned about the situation that has been developing for many months and the dangerous rhetoric that has been circulating for quite some time regarding the Conservatorship.

‘Mr Spears is aware of the increasing number of threatening communications, social media posts directed to various individuals involved in the Conservatorship, apparently including Ms Montgomery now.

‘Mr. Spears, himself, has been the subject of innumerable and ongoing threats as well – not just recently, but for years. 

So Mr. Spears understands well the challenges inherent in the position he holds and the work he performs on behalf of his daughter,’ his attorney said.

He argued that he ‘does not believe’ her request for 24/7 security – which she said would cost $25,490 for two weeks so more than $50,000 a month, if it lasts that long – is ‘reasonable’, ‘necessary’ or a ‘proper expense’.    

‘The relief she requests…is too vague and open-ended and improperly and inexplicably seeks to shift the burden of ensuring her safety to Mr. Spears.’ 

In her request on Wednesday, Jodi said Britney should not be held to the same standard now as she was in 2008, when the Conservatorship was put in place after she suffered a mental health breakdown. 

She is not stepping down – doing so would not end the conservatorship, but open the court up to appointing someone else – and instead says she’ll help Britney by letting her get her own lawyer, who can then file the paperwork needed to end the legal saga. 

In documents filed on Wednesday afternoon, her attorney said: ‘After 13 years of court-appointed counsel, Ms Spears wants to select her own counsel.

‘In addition to her very public comments, Ms Spears has told Ms. Montgomery privately that she wants to select her own counsel and has asked Ms. Montgomery, as her Conservator of the person, to help her in the selection process.

‘While Ms. Montgomery is always driven to help Ms. Spears in whatever way she can, there is no question that Ms Montgomery’s input on Ms. Spears counsel is beyond her powers and is inappropriate in light of Ms. Spears recent criticisms of her conservatorship.

‘Nonetheless, she has heard her words and wants to honor her wishes. she believes it is urgent and important for her to bring this issue to the court.’ 

If Britney appoints her own attorney and they file a request to terminate the Conservatorship, it will be down to the judge – Brenda Penny – to either grant it or not. 

Britney told the court on June 23 that she wasn’t aware she could file such a request so she never asked her lawyer to do it. 

Ingham, her attorney, did not publicly state why he resigned nor has he confirmed if he ever told Britney she had the right to end the legal arrangement. 

Britney’s mother Lynne has also asked the judge to grant Britney permission to appoint her own lawyer. 

Her attorney wrote: ‘On June 23, 2021 in very courageous showing, Conservatee [Britney] appeared by phone and spoke for almost twenty—five minutes, baring her heart to the Court in an impassioned plea to be heard on several requests.

‘Petitioner Lynne Spears, interested party and mother of the Conservatee, hereby petitions this Court to listen to the wishes of her daughter, and as first step, respectfully requests an Order granting permission to the Conservatee to hire her own private legal counsel.’ 

Lynne’s attorney goes on to say Britney has ‘quite literally earned hundreds of millions of dollars’ as a celebrity and can care for herself. 

‘It is beyond dispute that this is a unique conservatorship. In the original petition for appointment, her given address was the UCLA Medical Center. 

‘That was over 13 years ago. 

‘Now and for the past many years, she is able to care for her person and in fact has, inside the parameters of this conservatorship, earned literally hundreds of millions of dollars as an international celerity.

‘She should no longer be held to the same standard,’ Lynne’s attorney wrote. 

The next hearing is on July 14.