Court-appointed attorney for Britney Spears asks to withdraw from legal guardianship
Samuel Ingham, the lawyer appointed by the Los Angeles Court to represent the interests of Britney Spears, has requested this Tuesday to withdraw from the controversial legal guardianship that has controlled the artist's life for 13 years.
'Free Britney Spears': chronicle of the teenager who became a pop icon and now lives under the tutelage of her father
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Ingham has been practicing Britney's lawyer since 2008 and his work has been called into question after the artist said in her last statement that she never knew she had the right to request the termination of the guardianship and that she would not let her speak against herself. "I have been talking to him like three times a week. We have built a kind of relationship, but I really have not had the opportunity to personally choose my own lawyer. And I wish I could do that," Britney said in her media statement from the June 23.
Now, the judge overseeing the legal guardianship, Brenda Penny, must appoint a new lawyer or give Britney the possibility to choose him herself.
Spears artist representative resigns
It is not the only withdrawal of legal guardianship after the artist's testimony, as the investment fund that supervised Britney's assets, the Bessemer Trust, has also asked to withdraw from the guardianship after affirming that it "respects" the wishes of the singer. And Larry Rudolph, the artistic representative of Britney Spears for twenty-five years, has broken his contract with the singer by recognizing that his will is to retire from the music industry.
"This guardianship is paying the salary of many people. I am fed up," was one of the arguments with which Britney asked for the end of the guardianship. Despite the artist's insistence, neither Britney's lawyer - who is now retiring - nor her father, Jamie Spears, have formalized the petition to end this legal mechanism that controls the personal life and finances of the singer. Toxic.
According to an exclusive from The New York Times, the lawyer has earned 3 million dollars (2.5 million euros at current exchange rates) since 2008 with this case. In addition, sources cited by The New Yorker magazine denounced that Ingham has been more faithful to the interests of the father than to the singer herself.
Currently, legal guardianship is divided into two parts: the financial area, controlled by Jamie Spears and the Bessemer Trust company, and the personal aspect, protected by a lawyer named Jodi Montgomery.
The next hearing will be held on July 14 without the participation of the artist.
