Britney Spears Ends Her Conservatorship Battle-Celebrity Lawyer Explains
[Source: Spectrum News]
Britney Spears Ends Her Long Conservatorship Battle-Top Family Law Attorney Christopher C. Melcher Explains on Spectrum News.
Giselle: Speaking of freedom on the open road, Britney Spears is behind the driver’s seat of her own life again. On Friday, the Los Angeles Court ruled in favor of ending her long conservatorship battle. Christopher C. Melcher of top family law firm Walzer Melcher LLP, who is ranked one of the best family law attorneys in Los Angeles, has followed this case very closely and joins us now live via Zoom to give us some insight and perspective. Well, it’s taken Britney almost 13 years to gain her freedom and yet I’m reading this morning, she may not have the kind of freedom that we all are thinking she has. Is that right?
“Well, these powers that were placed over her by her father have mostly been restored and certainly over her person. So she can go wherever she wants, do whatever she wants. There is some paperwork that needs to be handled to regain all the financial controls. So those are just really small details over the next couple weeks, but she will be completely free of this thing very, very soon,” explains celebrity lawyer Christopher C. Melcher, who is ranked as one of the best family law attorneys in Los Angeles.
Melvin: There’s was so much conversation leading up to this about really continuing to investigate her father if Britney would become free, now she is. On Friday, her attorney, Matthew Rosengart fielded out some questions that people were asking him, “Will you continue to investigate?” He said, “Ultimately, it’s up to Britney.” You think she will?
Christopher Melcher: I think she will, Melvin. And I like that Matthew Rosengart made that statement. That is Britney’s decision. No, one’s going to decide for her. And it’s a hard thing for any person who’s been harmed to decide, “Are you going to let this go or are you going to pursue it?” Knowing that it’s going to maybe cause some more pain to go through that process. But I do believe she will go forward and hold people accountable who did this to her.
Giselle: Can her freedom still be taken away if she exhibits some crazy behavior or post weird things on her Instagram?
Christopher Melcher: Well, there was not on a conservatorship level. So this type of conservatorship that was placed upon her is not designed for people who have mental health or substance abuse issues. So that was improper from the beginning. So certainly, if she had some issues where she was unable to care for herself, there is this state imposed hold called a 5150 hold that could be there, but we’ve seen nothing that would indicate that she would have any kind of need for that in recent history. So I doubt that that would be coming.
Melvin: One of the things with such a high profile case like this, and she’s such a major public figure, it illuminated, I think, bigger issues around conservatorship. In the LA Times, you said that Britney’s case illustrated a number of clear problems that will impact conservatorship cases for years to come.
Christopher Melcher: Well, I hope it will.
And I hope that we learn here as a legal system from this, because this has happened to Brian Wilson, it’s happened to other people and here it’s again, occurred with Britney Spears where her rights were taken away. There are some pushes to change the law, but to me, the law is perfect. It’s there, it just needs to be followed. We need judges who understand it and have the empathy and common sense to look at this a little bit more carefully and say, “Do we really want to take somebody’s freedom away, put it in the hands of a parent who they don’t have a great relationship with. Does that make sense?”
And so I’m hoping that at least what comes out of this is to take more time for judges to reflect upon what they’re doing and follow the laws that are already on the books.
Giselle: Well, it seems to me there were some really egregious abuses of power in terms of Britney spending millions to employ not just her father, but her management company and others who were overseeing that conservatorship, which begs the question, will they be in legal jeopardy now should Britney want to pursue charges?
Christopher Melcher: Well, Giselle, absolutely. I mean, there is some outrageous allegations of surveillance on Britney that trapped her into this conservatorship and the fees that were charged. So there’s a lot there that needs to be investigated if she wants. And if she pursues that I would imagine that there are going to be people held accountable.
Giselle: Thank you so much for bringing us some insight and perspective. I know a lot of people out there have been following this case very closely and feeling very, very emotional about this case and about Britney Spears.
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Aired 11/15/21
