29 October 2008

Britney Agrees to Permanent Conservatorship

Britney Spears may be comebacking like a madwoman, but the court thinks she can still use some guidance on that road to redemption.

The popster's conservatorship arrangement with father Jamie Spears was made permanent today, with no objection coming from the 26-year-old "Womanizer" warbler. If the terms of the deal remain the same, her dad will continue to oversee her estate, finances, legal affairs and medical care along with attorney Andrew Wallet.

"The court finds the proposed permanent conservatorship is necessary and appropriate," said Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz, who has been presiding over the Spears saga for the past year, at a Tuesday status hearing.

And while Britney was no fan of the arrangement back when it was imposed Feb. 1, her attorney informed the court today that his client had requested he not argue with Goetz's ruling.

Besides, it's not as if permanent means forever.

"The permanent conservatorship doesn't have a set date to expire," court public information spokeswoman Vania Stuelp tells E! News.

"In order to make it go away, someone has to petition the court. It was supposed to expire on Dec. 31. It's not anymore."

In the meantime, an evaluation detailing Spears' psychological fortitude has been completed and will remain sealed, Goetz said. Another status hearing has been set for Dec. 22.

But while this may all be as-expected news for Britney's camp, it doesn't bode well for the lawsuit against her filed by former manager Johnny Wright.

Saying that Spears' "capacity issue remains open and has not been resolved one way or another," Goetz ruled earlier today that Wright's attorneys are not allowed to depose Spears, whom he says owes thousands in unpaid commissions, until the conservatorship ends.

"We think it's reasonable," Wright's lawyer, Clay Townsend, who had been hoping to have Brit sit for a deposition Nov. 17, tells E! News. "Being on the cover of OK magazine, signing a big contract with AEG to go on a world tour, going on Good Morning America—gosh, it seems fairly reasonable to try to do a deposition in late November. It's not like she is in the hospital and we are dying to go down and take her deposition."

Instead, they will have to speak with ruler-of-the-roost Jamie Spears next month.

"She seemed to be doing so well, that we thought it was not unreasonable," Townsend added. "My client Johnny Wright still has great affection for Britney. He worked with Britney for a long time in the early days. So that last thing that we would want to do was to harass her."

Goetz said that she will revisit the deposition issue Feb. 2.

Source: eonline