Britney Spears is free!
Last week a Judge ruled that the conservatorship arrangement to which Britney Spears has been subject for the past thirteen years be terminated. Conservatorships are controversial legal arrangements in the US whereby conservators are appointed to take personal and financial decisions over their conservatee. In the case of Britney her father Jamie Spears and an attorney Samuel D Ingham III were appointed thirteen years ago to ‘make decisions for her’
Five months ago, in June, Britney was permitted to speak out in public about this arrangement. She spoke about being told to take medication, perform while sick, prevented from removing birth control, stopped from marrying her boyfriend and ordered to pay her father $16,000 a month when she was only allowed an allowance of $2,000 a week
Conservatorships are usually granted in the US for the elderly who are unable to take financial and personal decisions. It is not surprising therefore that once a court has decided that someone is incapable of taking decisions it is then difficult for that person to prove that their rights should be restored.
Britney is not elderly; her rights were removed when she was going through a tough time. In 2008, she was struggling with vicious paparazzi abuse and had lost custodianship of her two children to her ex-husband. She shaved her head and lashed out at the press with an umbrella.
The court granted conservatorship to her father and Samuel D Ingham III to look after her personal fortune estimated at $60million. According to the Guardian newspaper Ingham has earned $3million from Britney at an hourly charging rate of $475
Earlier this year Britney was permitted to have Ingham removed and appointed her own attorney, Matthew Rosengrat who has now succeeded in having the conservatorship terminated. Rosengrat says he will continue acting for Britney to pursue her father about his abusive behaviour and will ensure a smooth transition for Britney to make decisions for herself
In most countries there are procedures for others to take financial and personal decisions on behalf of others. In the UK when signing a Will you may be asked whether you want to put in place a ‘Lasting Power of Attorney’ for your financial and/or your personal decisions. You may then be asked if you want to register it in case of an emergency so that your attorney can take over immediately.
Arrangements can also be put in place for children or grandchildren if they are to inherit a substantial sum when they are too young to make sensible decisions with their wealth. In writing a Will a testator can put in place a Will Trust and appoint trustees to manage and administer the wealth until the child is 25 or possibly later if the fortune is considerable.
Most arrangements operate for the best interests of those who need protection from their own decisions; but in some situations trustees, who are people in a similar position as Jamie Spears, take advantage of their powers.
In our country trustees have a ‘fiduciary duty’ to act in the best interests of the beneficiary.
If for example George sets up a Will Trust for his son Charles and he appoints Mary and Jane to be the trustees, on his death Mary and Jane must how much allowance to pay Charles, what schools George should go to, whether and what house to buy for him – demand he take out a pre-nuptial agreement before he marries, and whether to give him some money to start his own business? In this case Charles does not take decisions over his finances even if he can do so!
Then there is the tricky area of what trustees do if they, not only have Charles to look after, but Ben as well. Charles may be hard working, good with money and can form excellent human relationships whereas Ben may be feckless, buying his way into friendships, cannot settle into any task, prefers to make a quick buck rather than a a commitment to hard work. What should the trustees do here?
They are obliged to act in the best interests of all the beneficiaries – but how do they do that? Do they pay Ben more because he will never be able to make enough money to look after himself and his family, leaving Charles to fend for himself or demand that Ben works harder?
There is no right or wrong. I have worked with some families where the settlor matches the income earned with distributions so that the more the beneficiary makes the more, they receive, but then what do the trustees do when a child wants to leave work to have a family or care for an elderly relative?
A beneficiary can apply to the court if they think that the trustees are not acting in their best interests, but a court will rarely intervene if the decision made by the trustees are rational and what prudent man (or woman) would make knowing all the facts and terms in the documents.
The trickiest decision and most important one – which is often overlooked is who to appoint as Trustees – obviously Jamie Spears has a lot to answer for in managing the business interests of his daughter, and Ingham would appear to have benefited well from acting as Britney’s lawyer. In my book ‘Reimagining the role of the Private Client Industry’ post lockdown I go into a lot of detail about how to choose and appoint an advisor, a trustee, an executor or any other professional. Personal recommendation is not always the best solution unless recommender has detailed knowledge about the person they are recommending – which is why I set up Caroline’s Club
I want private client professionals to get to know each other better and so they can make good recommendations based on a proper understanding of what a given professional does for his or her clients.
Please let me have your comments and don’t forget to register for Caroline’s Club – it’s FREE to register and you can then learn more about our exclusive award winning club of leading private client professionals who are keen to win business and build trust with clients simply register here