Britney Spears’ Conservatorship Rights Explained By Top Family Law Attorney

[ABC Prime]

Britney Spears’ Conservatorship Rights Explained By Top Family Law Attorney Christopher C. Melcher on ABC Prime.

For more on Britney’s 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.

In the legal system, we so often hear that people have a right to an attorney, of course, and here Britney has been the one footing the bill. Why does she even have to ask or fight for the right to pick her own attorney?

“That’s one of the most amazing aspects of this story, is that she is the source of funding for all of this. She did have a court-appointed attorney that she was unhappy with. And now, question about picking a new attorney and she needed court permission for that, and why is it taking time.

This is really a feature of being under a conservatorship. These rights that all of us have, these freedoms to make decisions are taken away, and this fundamental right to have counsel isn’t. She has the right to pick, but how does she do that when she is under all of these constraints?

Her movements are being monitored. Communications are being monitored. She doesn’t have access to her funds. How would she be able to go out and search for somebody like the rest of us would? Fortunately, it sounds like she’s picked a great attorney who will come in and now zealously…

https://walzermelcher.com/news/trending-criminal-cases-explained-by-celebrity-lawyer/https://walzermelcher.com/news/trending-criminal-cases-explained-by-celebrity-lawyer/”ly advocate for her, which should have been done from the get-go,” stated celebrity lawyer Christopher Melcher.

How difficult is this of a case to be an advocate for Britney Spears in order to get her out of this conservatorship?

“This is hard because it started really too easily. This is what they’re calling a voluntary conservatorship. There was never a determination by the court that she was incapacitated, and so she was convinced into agreeing to it.

And then, now, she’s finding a hard time getting out of it after all these 13 years. It’s really remarkable that she would have understood the loss of liberty and freedom that she would have experienced now for 13 years when this was initially placed on her. So now, she is asking, we’ve seen tremendous movement here in the case in these last three weeks since she’s spoken, and now with these changes that are happening with council, I’m hopeful that the court will move rapidly,” says celebrity lawyer Christopher C. Melcher.

Some of the people who have been controlling Britney’s life and finances are now jumping ship. Presumably, they don’t want to be a part of this conservatorship anymore. Why do you think that’s happening? And if you were involved, do you think that you’d also want out at this point?

“Well, there’s tremendous pressure. There’s nowhere to hide now in this case, and this had gone on for 13 years. We had conservators who were being paid, the lawyers for the conservators also being paid. We have fees on fees and that she has been paying for this whole time, including fees expended by her father to resist her attempt to have him removed. This is understandable why people would jump ship, because this is a sinking ship. And there isn’t going to withstand this level of scrutiny anymore because now the light has been placed on this conservatorship, going back from the beginning, why was it ever placed to start from, why does she need these level of protections. I don’t think she does. It’s understandable that people are jumping ship, and we may see more movements to come,” says Chris.

And what can we expect from tomorrow’s hearing? Where do you think that this case goes from here?

“…This is ranging from her selection of counsel to having Bessemer Trust removed, to her having her dad potentially removed. ACLU has filed a petition to assist her with picking counsel. Legal process does move so slowly, but this is somebody’s freedom that’s being taken away. Every minute of her life is affected. I’m hoping that the court won’t act in the usual slow manner, but will act much more quickly in bringing this to an end…” stated Chris.

And finally, Chris, most conservatorship cases don’t play out in the public eye like this one. What’s been the impact of all this attention and the so-called Free Britney Movement?

“Well, I give credit to the Free Britney Movement because before this, people weren’t paying attention to it. This has gone on for 13 years, and it’s only in the last three weeks that many people have been talking about it, but Free Britney fans and supporters have been out there for years, collecting documents, analyzing, sharing information to support or to bring light to this.

And what’s unfortunate is this is not the only case. There’s many people that are under a conservatorship that don’t have fans and supporters like Britney does and that are being abused by the very protections that are put in place for them.

There are positive things coming out of this particular case. People learning about conservatorship abuse, learning about the law, learning how to stand up for their rights. So, stay tuned. There’s much more to come out of this,” explained celebrity divorce attorney Christopher C. Melcher.

Britney Spears’ Conservatorship Rights Explained By Top Family Law Attorney