The messy legal battle for Britney Spears' personal autonomy and financial freedom may soon be coming to an end. Per Variety, Jamie Spears, the pop singer's father and long-time co-conservator, has been suspended from having legal control over his daughter's finances. A court-appointed accountant will handle the singer's financials for now, while Jodi Montgomery, Britney's personal conservator who manages her medical needs, daily schedule, and has had the final say in all her major life decisions for almost a decade and a half, will temporarily stay on in that role until the next court date.
For those who aren't familiar, a conservatorship is a legal agreement in which family members or other relevant parties agree to take control of someone's finances, healthcare, and other important decisions because the conservatee (Britney, in this case) is deemed incompetent and/or incapable to handle such matters for themselves. Think of it like having power of attorney, but on steroids. After a very public mental breakdown in 2008, Britney's father took legal action to become her conservator, along with a slew of other people he recruited to help him manage his daughter's life, career, and multi-million dollar fortune.
Britney herself — as well as those close to her who don't have any financial skin in the game — has been protesting the continuation of the conservatorship for many years. Her loyal fanbase even started the #FreeBritney social media movement after disturbing Instagram posts and other unusual behavior hinted that there was something wrong. The situation has spawned several documentaries from The New York Times, CNN, and most recently Netflix, whose Britney vs Spears documentary debuted earlier this week. Each one is highly sympathetic to the pop star, exposing allegations that her father put her under surveillance, improperly medicated her, and forced her to adhere to unreasonable work schedules in order to keep her compliant.
These changes are coming about after Britney recently obtained her own legal counsel, which helped her testify on her own behalf for the first time in many years. After hearing that testimony, Judge Brenda Penny ruled the conservatorship "untenable" and that the suspension is in her best interests. Britney's attorney, Mathew Rosengart, is planning to return to court in mid-November to finally set the pop star free.