This is Reva Goetz, the judge who approved the conservatorship over Britney Spears and continued to approve it for 13 years.
Having migrated, over time, from fringe-type Internet sites to legitimate media, and now all the way to the New York Times, the Britney Spears situation is going to become a cause célèbre.
headline yesterday in VARIETY
Judge Denies Britney Spears' Request to Remove Father From Conservatorship Again
headline today in The New York Times
Company Set to Manage Britney Spears's Estate Asks to Withdraw
So...bad news, good news.
------------------------------------------- Sub-head on Times story: Bessemer Trust, a professional wealth management firm, said in its filing that it had not known of Ms. Spears's objection to the conservatorship that governs her life.
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NYT reader comments:
California
This is such a bizarre story. It makes one wonder whether the judge and the father have a side deal where the judge receives a kickback on Britney's tours and music.
Brez
Spring Hill, Tennessee
End the conservatorship and put Mr. Spears and his thieving and bribed associates in jail.
Theresa
New York
This whole situation smells to high heaven--sounds like judges, lawyers, unfit father colluding. An American version of the gulag.
Dan
Montana
Sounds like everyone is taking advantage of her.
G.
PDX
Free Britney.
Nina
NYC
Ms. Spears would benefit from attending Adult Children of Alcoholics meetings. She would learn to create firm boundaries and detach from the sick manipulation her father and family have imposed on her. All the Best to her.
----------------------------------- Rio de Janeiro
She can't. There is a lot of money involved, and the people surrounding her have all the power over her. It's not a matter of setting boundaries, but a case of abuse of power.
Ubiquitous Drive
So, Ms. Spears is incompetent... except for her ability to make everyone else very wealthy.
MacK
Washington DC
So, to be clear, her father, as conservator pays himself $16,000 per month, plus commissions, expenses, etc. but thinks she should get by on $2,000?
And the $860,000 fee from his lawyers for a few months' work on an existing conservatorship.
I think it's time for a legal fee auditor.
Carl Zeitz
Lawrence NJ
Sounds like the first judge was on the take. The second needs to wise up and end this farce and fiasco. And the lawyers living off her while working to keep her in servitude need to be forced to repay what they have been stealing from her.
This is a complete legal travesty.
Oh and she needs to be able to hire the lawyers she chooses because the one she has is working for someone else's interest, not hers.
Deb
ny
Free Britney Spears and do a complete exposé on this and other fraudulent and damaging conservatorships. Sounds like Saudi Arabia.
Suzanne Bee
Carmel, Indiana
If there is anything that makes me believe this arrangement doesn't pass the smell test it's this: "A recent $890,000 bill from one set of Mr. Spears's lawyers, covering about four months of work, included media strategizing for defending the conservatorship."
How in the world does a court deem this expense to be in Ms. Spears's best interests?
Lily
NY
She's a grown woman who is capable of taking care of her finances. Shame on court system that allows a leach like her father to take away her rights.
Ury
Even if she's not capable, it's her right to spend her money as she wishes. Even if she might be unstable at times or use drugs and alcohol. Why is she held to a different set of standards than the rest of the Pop Star universe?
Mel
Beverly, Massachusetts
As a lawyer I have been involved in a small number of cases where the court appointed a conservator to manage the financial affairs of an incapacitated person, an older person with dementia, or someone severely disabled.
This conservatorship is the most bizarre I've heard of.
...One thing seems clear: Mr. Spears and the cadre of professionals representing both him and Ms. Spears are profiting wildly off her labor.
Johnstown
None of this makes any sense. She is 39 years old. If she has some sort of serious issue, I don't see how she could perform hundreds of concerts, make records, make hundreds of public appearances outside of concerts, and get married and have two children. I repeat, she is 39 years old.
Her treatment is shockingly similar to how women are treated in some backward countries.
Ana
California
Absolutely misogynistic control and manipulation of this woman first by the media and paparazzi and now by the court system and her disgusting father. It is shameful.
Connie
Canada
Very sad. I wish the best for Ms. Spears and I hope she gets her new cabinets that she has earned several million times over.
Mike L.
Halifax, Canada
The quintessential expression of institutional sexism. If Britney was Bob, none of tihs would be imagined, let alone happening.
Dick H.
Rochester, NY
Mr. Spear's role is a very straightforward conflict of interest that should never be allowed, much less blessed by a court.
As long as the conservatorship continues, he is very handsomely paid for doing very little and it appears that he lacks any sort of training to perform this role. When it stops, his gravy train stops.
Is there any question why he opposes ending this arrangement?
And where is the oversight of the court? A lot of people are benefiting but Ms. Spears, not so much.
Moosh
Vermont
It's outrageous, downright obscene, & utterly patriarchal & would not be going on if she was a he.
Mary
New Jersey
It seems to me that the conservatorship is now the real risk to her mental health. Suffering such a lack of control and being made to work like a puppet must be very traumatic to her.
marvinsgarden
Virginia
Can you imagine Justin Timberlake or any other 27 y.o. MALE pop star being judged incompetent and placed into a conservatorship managed by his own Mommy? ...I am so sick of how our US culture treats women.
Rebecca
Baltimore
I feel like I'm reading a story from the 19th century. Gifted woman deemed 'unstable' by domineering father who profits from keeping her mental health in question. This is a very old story.
USA
The judges in this case seem very biased against Ms. Spears and for her father. A 39 yo woman who performs regularly, earns big money, and lives by herself in Las Vegas has a conservatorship run by her father from Kentwood, Louisiana? Bizarre.
Kiki Holden
Minneapolis
If Britney was a man this would be a very different story. In fact, there wouldn't be a story because there wouldn't be a conservatorship.
DHC
Hillcrest, California
Mr. Ingham continues to be paid as long as the conservatorship lasts. That is his conflict of interest. Ms. Spears should be able to hire her own attorney.
Sara
Wisconsin
In 2021, can we decide that if a woman can earn enough money (in like, a week) to pay her father's million dollar lawyer bill, then she's probably sane enough to pick a new color for her kitchen cabinets?
HughCC
Budapest
She's 38-years-old and seems perfectly capable of running her affairs. And frankly, if she wrecks her life it's her business and no one else's. Her father only cares about keeping the gravy train running.
El Conejo
Kansas
It seems a bit excessive to control who a person dates and the color of their kitchen cabinets.
1 of the 99%
East Lansing, Michigan
It happened because she was female. If this had been a male pop star, it's hard to believe that the court would ever have allowed the father to be the controller.
PattyDixon
Arizona
I can't help but wonder why we don't hear about troubled male celebrities who are in conservatorships controlled by their mothers?
Because gender politics plays a part in this, it just does. This is a 39 year old woman that should have complete independence and control over her life. How sad that this is even contested in 2021.
Seattle
$16,000 a month???!!! Are you kidding me? Jamie Spears is sucking his daughter dry. It's criminal that a family court judge allows this situation to continue. There are licensed professionals that can help Britney manage her income and protect her money. There is no reason to allow this toxic situation to continue.
James
Rhode Island
This reads like something out of a handmaidens tale. How the legal system has failed this woman and put her through this long nightmare is unreal.
Barking Doggerel
America
By the standards used against Ms. Spears, Donald Trump should have a conservator.
Sarah
Massachusetts
I agree with all comments against the conservatorship and I also think the judge should be investigated.
dan
ny
It's hard for me to imagine something like this happening to a very-successful 39 year-old man.
Lisa
The judge has sentenced her to a life of parental abuse.
Joanne
New Jersey
Conflict of interest? You think? He lives off her wealth. If she is so badly off that she needs this supervision, she shouldn't be performing to keep her father and others living the life.
Chris
Philadelphia
I suspect if Britney were a DUDE this would have ended long ago (or never happened in the first place). I hope she finally gets what she wants because this whole thing is ridiculous and unbelievable.
Jay
New York
The father is ripping her off and it appears the court is in cahoots with him.
Suzanne
United Coastal States of America
I'd be willing to bet that, were Britney Spears not a money machine to be milked, her father would show no interest in continuing the conservatorship. This whole arrangement smacks of self-dealing on many levels.
Thomas
Munich, Germany
I wonder if 20 years from now we will all find out that the judges in this case were given a financial incentive to rule in favour of the conservatorship. Someone should start looking into the finances of these judges, I bet they received something from Mr. Spears.
dr. c.c.
planet earth
Can you imagine this happening to a man with his mother as conservator?
Rob Lawrence
San Francisco
If Britney were a man would this have ever happened? I think not.
DK
Idaho
Misogyny personified. Free Britney. Free all women.
TYVYT
NY
Please follow up this article by seeing what action the California Bar is going to take regarding this parasitic arrangement.
Melimo
USA
Something tells me that if this conservatorship paid the minimum to the conservator for financial advising and handling, and was pro bono work for the lawyers involved, everyone would claim she was in perfect health and no longer needed a conservatorship.
AMG
Maine
@M-in-Vegas no, she cannot do any of those things. The conservatorship means that she has been deprived of most of her civil liberties and is legally barred from making the most basic decisions about her life.
She can't "get a real job" or enter into any other contract.
She can't drive her own car without permission.
She can't make or see friends, call anyone, or have access to her own cell phone if her conservators forbid it.
She can't even leave her own house without permission.
If that makes her sound like she's effectively a prisoner under house arrest, it's because she is.
dd sweet
Portland, Maine
If Britney Spears were male, this would never have happened. ...I wish her the best, which includes her inalienable rights as a human being to live her life on her own terms.
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Another Lawyer
Boston
I became angrier and angrier as I was reading this.
There is something so wrong with this picture.
And it just goes back to the judge who seems to have a stake in maintaining the status quo.
It seems unlikely an impartial judge applying the law would keep a successful woman like this under conservatorship.
There are so many conflicts, it's unbelievable.
This situation screams misogyny as well. There seems to be a punitive element to the judge's decision making. Ms. Spears is being punished for being young, successful, creative. Investigate the first judge. Give this woman her freedom, to make her own choices good or bad.
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