Britney Spears Abuse Claims Explained By Celebrity Divorce Lawyer
[Source: ABC Prime]
Celebrity Divorce Lawyer Christopher C. Melcher Explains Britney Spears Abuse Claims on ABC Prime.
Now the wild twist in the Britney Spears conservator case. In legal filings, Britney’s father, Jamie, has asked the court to investigate Britney’s jaw-dropping claims last week that she’s being abused and enslaved by the conservatorship that she’s been under for 13 years. Jamie, once in control of multiple aspects of his daughter’s life, now overseas only her money and business dealings, along with a financial firm, while a court-appointed professional makes personal decisions for the singer.
To help us unpack what’s happening in this case, we bring in top family law attorney, Christopher C. Melcher, of high net worth family law firm Walzer Melcher LLP which represents several celebrities. Britney made clear that she wants out of this conservatorship after comparing it to enslavement and detailing how even her decisions about birth control and getting married were being made for her. If Britney is telling the truth, does this seem like an appropriate conservatorship agreement or do you think these are allegations that deserve further investigation?
“They absolutely need investigation. It never made sense that she had a conservatorship for so long. Maybe 13 years ago when she had a lot of difficulties with the paparazzi, she needed help then for sure, but all these years later, it was never clear to us why she would need this level of control. She’s an adult, she works. Why would she need another adult, or now a series of adults, to control the most personal aspects of her life? That never made sense, and it certainly doesn’t make sense after listening to her statement last week,” states celebrity divorce lawyer Christopher C. Melcher.
Reporter: What do you make of Jamie’s new calls for the court to investigate Britney’s claims, especially when he’s been painted as one of the most controlling of all?
“I was surprised by his recent filing. Jamie is in full damage control mode now, where he’s stated that he’s not responsible for anything that’s happened recently to her because he’s not even speaking to her. He claims that he’s been cut off from communication. Well, how can somebody protect Britney when they’re not even talking to her? Of course, they can’t,” explained celebrity lawyer Christopher C. Melcher.
“The other thing that Jamie raised in his paperwork is that Britney’s court-appointed lawyer may not be serving her interests now, that Jamie is accusing. Also, Jamie’s saying that the conservator who’s making decisions for Britney’s medical care was never properly appointed. Jamie’s citing the paperwork that was done two years ago under his watch. I wonder why is he bringing it up now? Why didn’t he raise these issues two years ago?” states Christopher C. Melcher.
Reporter: Is Britney likely to escape this legal arrangement if that’s what she wants?
“Well, I think that there should be some lifting of the restrictions. What she’s under, how she described it, not being able to marry, not being able to decide whether to have a child, all these financial decisions being made for her, certainly some of those, if not all of those, can be lifted. We heard her communicate in court for almost a half-hour last week that didn’t sound like somebody who was unable to care for themselves. To me, to be under a conservatorship, we should be able to tell within moments of talking to this individual that they’re unable to protect themselves. We didn’t see that last week, so I think she has a good chance of it,” explained Christopher C. Melcher.
Reporter: Christopher, finally, what do you think the impact has been of the so-called Free Britney movement on this case?
“It’s an absolute victory for the movement. It’s really the power of love that all these fans have had, that show up at these hearings, on social media, that have brought light to this problem. There’s going to be further allegations here that are going to be investigated now. There’s no hiding from it. Really, we’re seeing the conservators now pointing fingers at each other. It’s all because of the pressure and attention that was brought on the conservatorship. For the last 13 years we weren’t looking at it, now we are, and it’s because of her fans,” stated the celebrity divorce lawyer Christopher C. Melcher.
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