She’s not going bankrupt, despite what misleading celebrity gossip sources have reported. But Britney Spears is learning money doesn’t grow on trees.
Britney has been ordered to pay her father Jamie, her co-conservator, a sum of $2,500 a week as compensation, as well as lease him a car.
L.A. Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz also ordered the pop singer to pay Samuel D. Ingham III, her court-appointed attorney, $58,800 in fees.
In addition, Goetz authorized the troubled star’s psychiatrist to hire two other doctors and pay them retainers totaling around $9,000.
Jamie Spears’ co-conservatorship of Brit’s estate, which was set to expire March 10, was recently extended until July 31. Sweeeeet! Cha-ching!
Just kidding. If you think Jamie’s in this for the money, think again. He never made a dime off his daughters, and unlike ex-wife Lynne Spears, never exploited his relationship with them, instead working long hours as a caterer to get by.
Jamie Spears and Britney Spears have long had an uneasy relationship, and were estranged for a period of years. But he has stepped up to the plate big time here.
Jamie and his attorney, Andrew Wallet, were put in control of the singer’s finances and estate in February after she was hospitalized for the second time in a month with bipolar disorder and deemed incapable of caring for her own affairs.
Or her children, Sean Preston and Jayden James.
Meanwhile, Britney has been hit with even more bills – legal expenses totaling more than $1 million for a five-month period – and Jamie is livid.
According to TMZ, the conservators have filed documents with the court and will appear on Monday, challenging lawyers’ fees in the case.
Kevin Federline’s lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, asked for around $500,000 for the five-month period from October 2007-February 2008 and has filed the paperwork demanding that Britney pay all of his bills.
The court has already formally ordered Britney Spears to pay K-Fed “reasonable” attorney’s fees. That’s not even all she’s on the hook for, either – her last law firm, Trope and Trope, has billed Spears more than $600,000.
Sources say the conservators feel they’re being fleeced and the bills are inflated. In particular, they’re upset that multiple lawyers on Britney’s side have attended various court hearings – they say unnecessarily.
The conservators will argue that the custody case involving Sean and Jayden is rather simple and that bills of this magnitude are outrageous.