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Why did Britney Spears lose her appeal to have her father removed as her conservator?
I don't know! But I know a little about conservatorships, and now you can too, so you can decide if you want to join the #FreeBritney movement or not.
I don't know! But I know a little about conservatorships, and now you can too, so you can decide if you want to join the #FreeBritney movement or not.
A conservator (in some states, a guardian) is someone who makes certain decisions for you if a judge finds you lack the capacity to make those decisions for yourself. It's like a parent, except you're not a minor.
In California, there are multiple types for multiple reasons.
In California, there are multiple types for multiple reasons.
The one most psychiatrists think of is an LPS conservatorship. Named after the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, which revamped our state's mental healthcare system, it's for people who lack the capacity to provide for their own food, clothing and shelter (aka being "gravely disabled")
But it has to be due to a mental illness - like schizophrenia - not just poverty or homelessness or bad choices. The conservator makes the decisions about psychiatric hospitalizations, psych meds, housing, etc. It's mostly about treating someone's mental illness.
Another type is probate conservatorship. This is for someone determined by a judge to be "unable to manage his or her own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence". Like who keeps letting Adrian Pimento sleep on their couch and lending him $7000. Again.
A lesser known kind is a Murphy's conservatorship, for people who are charged with violent offenses but found incompetent to stand trial and can't be "restored to competency". They can't finish their course through the criminal justice system and be adjudicated, but...
...no one wants a violent offender with a serious mental illness moving into the house next door. So they are often appointed a conservator to manage their living in a supervised facility and continuing their treatment.
Anyhoo...given her lack of violent crimes, a Murphy's wouldn't make sense for Britney. And an LPS wouldn't really add up either, since she sure seems to do okay on the food, clothing, and shelter front...
But it's not unheard of for young people with impaired decision making to be on a probate, especially when there's a history of bad decisions and the financial stakes are high and a family member is around to be concerned.
A probate gives the conservator decision-making power over financial matters and the estate, but doesn't allow them to make decisions about medical or psychiatric treatment for the person. It's more to preventing financial ruin than about getting the person into treatment.
I don't know why she's been on it so long, nor what it will take to get her off, but it's likely a higher threshold than it would be for most of us because of her enormous wealth.
Of course it's a slightly unusual situation,
It's Britney, b*tch!
Of course it's a slightly unusual situation,
It's Britney, b*tch!
