Britney Spears' lawyer was appointed without her say and can charge $10,000 a week, more than she spends on herself

• Britney Spears is paying the salary of a lawyer she didn't choose for herself, The New Yorker said.
• The court-appointed attorney can charge up to $10,000 a week, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
• Spears has a weekly spending allowance of $2,000 a week, financial documents show.

Britney Spears' lawyer of 13 years was appointed without her say and charges huge fees that outstrip her own cost of living, according to a new, lengthy New Yorker report by Ronan Farrow and Jia Tolentino on Spears' conservatorship.

Sam Ingham was assigned to represent Spears in 2008 after she was deemed incapable of managing her own affairs, and he has been on her payroll since.

Scrutiny of her conservatorship has soared since Spears made a public court appearance seeking to end the arrangement, arguing that it was cruel and abusive.

Spears pays for Ingham's work on her behalf despite not having chosen him. Her fortune also covers the legal fees of those running her conservatorship who want the arrangement to continue.

The New Yorker article highlighted that Spears' outlay on Ingham was greater than her total spending on herself:

Other reports have described the $520,000 figure as a maximum, of which Ingham receives an amount determined by the hours he works.

The New York Times said Ingham was paid $475 an hour for his work with Spears. His salary is capped at $10,000 a week, an amount approved by the court, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That would equate to $520,000 a year if he got the full amount every week.

The Times said Ingham made about $373,000 for his work with Spears in 2019. The outlet said that since 2008 he had been paid about $3 million.

Recent financial documents show that Spears is limited to a $2,000 weekly allowance, The Times said. In 2012, despite being paid millions to appear as a judge on "The X Factor," she was unable to cover a $1,300 bill for dinner with a friend in Las Vegas, per The New Yorker.

In 2018, according to recent financial documents, she spent $400,000 on living total expenses. She spent $438,360 in 2019, per The New Yorker.

Ingham has faced criticism after Spears said he hadn't informed her of her right to ask to end the conservatorship. Before the public hearing, he dissociated himself from anything Spears might say.

In 2018, according to documents cited by "ET," she spent $1.1 million of legal and conservator fees, covering Ingham as well as the rest of the legal work that goes into maintaining the arrangement.

This total includes payments to attorneys representing the conservators who Spears alleges have been "abusive" to her, The Times reported. Her conservatorship obligates her to cover all legal bills, the paper said.

Recent court documents seen by The New Yorker show that her father, Jamie Spears, also billed Spears nearly $900,000 for hundreds of hours of work by public-relations specialists from October to February.