Jamie Spears will be questioned amid the ongoing legal fallout of his daughter's 13-year conservatorship.- A judge on Wednesday ruled that the pop star's father must sit for a deposition in the next 30 days.
Jamie Spears will have to sit for a deposition in the next 30 days, a judge ruled on Wednesday — marking the first time
At a heated Wednesday hearing, Judge Brenda Penny granted a motion that will force the pop star's father to be formally questioned, in what is considered a major victory for Britney Spears in her ongoing conservatorship proceedings. Though the contentious conservatorship is over, there are still financial details that are being worked out, including who should pay for the attorneys retained during the conservatorship.
Jamie Spears's attorney Alex Weingarten said that the move amounted to an "ambush deposition."
"I understand that it is en vogue to trash Mr. Spears," Weingarten said, adding that his client was being held to "different standards."
The singer's attorney Mathew Rosengart said the questioning will focus on allegations that Jamie Spears recorded Britney Spears in her home for over 180 hours, conflict of interest claims, and his profits of over $6 million from his daughter's career.
Britney Spears's legal team in January claimed in court documents that Jamie Spears paid a security firm $6 million from Britney Spears's estate to electronically monitor his daughter and ex-wife. The New York Times was first to report that Jamie Spears had paid security firm Black Box to obtain private phone records and collect GPS "ping data" from his daughter during the conservatorship.
Penny on Wednesday also tentatively ruled that Britney Spears will not have to sit for a deposition, which Jamie Spears's team had requested. Rosengart vehemently called for the motion to be granted as both lawyers passionately made their cases as to why each client should be deposed in a testy hearing.
"Why don't we just skip to the part of the case where we construct the gallows and hang Jamie in the public square?" Weingarten told the court.
Jamie Spears's attorneys requested that details of the deposition be limited to the public, accusing Rosengart of seeking the deposition to generate a "media circus."
Penny told the court that Jamie Spears would have to sit for a deposition in Los Angeles within 30 days and that she would decide definitively if Britney Spears would be deposed at a July 27 hearing.
Another motion from Jamie Spears's team for Britney Spears to turn over documents related to her objections to paying conservatorship attorney fees for her father and other parties was also rejected.
"Mr. Spears has the documents," Rosengart told the court. "You don't make the victim sit down with the victimizer. It's immoral."
In the lead-up to a contentious conservatorship hearing, Jamie Spears asked for his daughter to be deposed because of allegations she's slung at him over social media.
In a since-deleted June Instagram post, Britney Spears alleged that her father and brother subjected her to multiple drug tests a week during her 13-year conservatorship and forbid her from drinking alcohol.
The conservatorship, which was in place from 2008 to 2021, granted a group of people, including Jamie Spears, control over her personal, medical, and financial decisions.
On September 7, Jamie Spears filed a petition to end his daughter's conservatorship, which the pop star's legal team labeled as a "massive" legal victory. The conservatorship was officially terminated on November 12.