Britney Spears’ court-appointed counsel, attorney Samuel D. Ingham III, will resign from her conservatorship case.
Ingham filed a motion to Judge Brenda Penny on Tuesday requesting to stop representing Spears. His resignation will be effective as soon as Spears retains new counsel. Under the terms of the conservatorship, Spears is not allowed to seek out and retain her own legal counsel, so the court will need to appoint her a new lawyer.
Ingham is the latest in the team of people surrounding Spears to leave following her jarring and emotional testimony given via phone to a Los Angeles court June 23. On Monday, Spears’ manager Larry Rudolph wrote a letter to Spears’ co-conservators Jamie Spears and Jodi Montgomery and announced his resignation.
Wealth management firm Bessemer Trust also withdrew from the conservatorship. The bank was managing Spears’ funds for her because they thought the conservatorship was “voluntary,” and that she “consented to the firm acting as co-conservator” until they heard Spears’ testimony. Bessemer Trust’s request was also part of Tuesday’s conservatorship filings.
In the June hearing, Spears expressed anger and dismay that she’s been kept under the legally restrictive agreement since 2008. She testified to the court that she wanted her father, Jamie Spears, to be removed as the lead conservator in her case — but Britney also made clear she wants the entire conservatorship abolished.
“I just want my life back,” Spears said at the hearing. “It’s been 13 years. And it’s enough. It’s been a long time since I’ve owned my money. And it’s my wish and my dream for all of this to end without being tested.”
The next hearing in Spears’ ongoing conservatorship battle is set for July 14.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.