Britney Spears' custody hearing rescheduled

Britney Spears' father will remain temporarily in control of the pop star's personal and financial affairs while she is evaluated in a hospital psychiatric ward, a court commissioner ruled Monday.

The decision came after lawyer Adam Streisand unsuccessfully sought to enter the case as Spears' attorney, saying she told him by phone that her father, James Spears, should be removed from the case.

"She has expressed to me very strongly that her father not be the conservator," Streisand said. "There has been an estrangement for quite some time. With him as conservator, that is causing her more agitation and more distress."

Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz rejected Streisand's request to represent the singer and extended her order granting James Spears temporary conservatorship until February 14. He was given control on Friday.

She also appointed a physician to evaluate her competence to make decisions.

In addition, Goetz went a step further in distancing Britney Spears from her friend and sometime manager, Sam Lutfi.

The singer was ordered to have no contact with Lutfi, specifying she can't reach him by phone, text message or any other means. Goetz also extended a restraining order against Lutfi.

Court spokesman Allan Parachini said the restraining order has not yet been served on Lutfi, but he declined to elaborate.

In a text message to The Associated Press, Lutfi said: "I have no problems with anyone writing anything negative against me. My image is not of concern, hers is."

Lutfi did not immediately respond to further questions left in text and phone messages.

Streisand, who conservatively placed the singer's estate assets at $40 million, said he believed he had been authorized to represent the singer.

Court-appointed attorney Samuel Ingham said he had interviewed Britney Spears on Sunday at UCLA Medical Center and determined that she didn't understand the court proceedings, and that "she lacks the capacity to retain counsel."

Streisand argued that she hadn't been given any notice of Ingham's plan to interview her, saying Ingham appeared at the hospital unannounced.

Vivian Thoreen, attorney for James Spears, said her client should continue to be conservator because "his daughter is in great distress."

"He's not here to take over her assets," Thoreen said. "He's here to get her medical help. He's here to take over while she's healing."

Britney Spears was originally to be released Sunday after a 72-hour mental evaluation. But doctors and a ward medical officer cited California law to keep her for two weeks, said a person close to the pop star who requested anonymity.

The state law allows patients to be kept for medical treatment if they are found to be gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others.

Streisand also said one of Spears' entities is being audited by the IRS.

Earlier Monday, a child custody hearing was held but continued because of Spears' condition.

Lawyers for Britney Spears, her ex-husband Kevin Federline and her conservators met behind closed doors. The hearing was to deal with efforts by Spears' legal team to withdraw from the case, but the lawyers abandoned that effort last week.
advertisement

Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon barred the singer from contact with her two small children after she refused last month to relinquish the children to representatives of Federline after a court-sanctioned visit.

On that occasion, she was also taken to a hospital for psychiatric observation but quickly released.[source]