After close to a year out of the public spotlight, the Britney Spears conservatorship roared back into news and social cycles this month as we learned that Jamie Spears, Britney’s father and former conservator, has been ordered to be deposed.
Los Angeles Judge Brenda Penny, who retains control over any matters related to the conservatorship, ordered Jamie Spears to produce all documents related to any electronic surveillance of Britney Spears during the 13 years he was her conservator. Is this a massive win for Britney, as some clickbait headlines indicate, or simply a regular part of a continuing legal process?
Sandra Choi, the founder of the New York/New Jersey-based Choi Law Firm that focuses on estates and probate law, argues that the deposition is very important in the context of the entire conservatorship:
“The documents Mr. Spears will be compelled by Judge Penny to produce is important from the perspective of Britney Spears and her counsel. Mr. Spears has been avoiding producing documents which he will now need to — these may eventually lead Britney Spears to take legal action against her father.”
In this case, the foundation for the current legal wranglings were the two made-for-streaming movies that came out last year just as the Spears conservatorship was nearing its end. The filmmakers had accused Jamie Spears of years of detailed surveillance of Britney Spears, including recording devices and cameras in her bedroom. This forms part of the subject matter of the current discovery, which could lead Britney Spears to file a formal claim against her father.
There is also a possibility that Britney might be compelled by Judge Penny to undergo a deposition, as Jamie Spears has requested as a counter-claimant. The court has extended the deadline to reach a decision on this issue until July 27. The optics of Jamie Spears, through his counsel, forcing Britney Spears, the victim in her conservatorship, to sit for a forced deposition are brutal. It would be a serious strategic misstep for Britney’s father to go through with this even if Judge Penny approves procedurally.
In allowing Jamie Spears to be deposed, all of this means that Judge Penny finds some credibility in the allegations coming from Britney Spears’ camp against her father as conservator.
If last summer was a hot Britney conservatorship summer, the next few months might be at least the warm late summer and early fall of unpacking some of the most egregious allegations against Jamie Spears in his role as conservator of Britney’s estate.
If even a fraction of the most salacious accusations of conservatorship misconduct we heard are true, watching this unfold in real-time will be compelling legal viewing.
