Bessemer Trust Withdraws From Britney Spears Conservatorship
Bessemer Trust, the professional wealth management firm that was supposed to become co-conservator of Britney Spears’ estate alongside her father Jamie, has requested to resign from the arrangement “due to changed circumstances” following the pop star’s impassioned court statement calling for the end of the conservatorship last week, The New York Times reports.
In a document filed in court on Thursday, the Bessemer Trust said it was told that conservatorship was voluntary and that Spears had consented to the corporate fiduciary’s involvement. “As a result of the conservatee’s testimony at the June 23 hearing, however,” the filing states, “Petitioner has become aware that the Conservatee objects to the continuance of her Conservatorship and desires to terminate the conservatorship. Petitioner has heard the Conservatee and respects her wishes.”
Britney Spears’ lawyer requested last fall that Jamie Spears be removed from the conservatorship and replaced with the Bessemer Trust, stating that the singer was “afraid of her father.” Judge Brenda Penny declined to suspend the elder Spears but did approve the addition of the Bessemer Trust as co-conservator. The change had not yet taken effect, though; the Bessemer Trust had not taken any action as co-conservator, received any assets of Spears’ estate, or taken any fees.
Long story short, nothing has actually changed for Spears, and the future of her conservatorship remains uncertain. Her court-appointed lawyer has not filed a formal request to terminate the conservatorship with the court, so that seems like a likely next step in the wake of last week’s explosive hearing. In the meantime, her father’s lawyers have filed paperwork seeking an investigation into her claims that the conservatorship is “abusive.”