The conservator appointed to oversee Spears' personal needs denies telling
Jamie Spears his daughter could be subject to psychiatric
hospitalization.
Britney Spears' father claimed in a legal filing
Friday that the conservator appointed to oversee her personal needs told him
she is "mentally sick" and could be subject to involuntary psychiatric
hospitalization.
The filing, related to Jamie Spears' possible removal as conservator to his daughter's estate, said her temporary conservator of the person, Jodi Montgomery, expressed concern in a July 9 phone call over the pop singer's mental health.
Montgomery, speaking through a statement from her lawyer, Lauriann Wright, said she did express "concerns" about the star's "overall mental health" but that Jamie Spears "misrepresents what Ms. Montgomery said to him in relation to a potential 5150 psychiatric hold for Ms. Spears."
Involuntary psychiatric detainment in California is known as a
5150 hold.
"At no time did Ms. Montgomery express to Mr. Spears
that Ms. Spears would currently qualify for such a hold," Wright said.
Montgomery
said her words were twisted and that her concerns were related to the
possibility that Britney Spears would have to testify in her attempt to
remove her father from the conservatorship.
Britney Spears
formally asked the court Thursday to remove her father, claiming he had
enriched himself while controlling her finances.
"The concern that Ms. Montgomery did raise to Mr. Spears during
their telephone call is that forcing Ms. Spears to take the stand to testify
or to have her evaluated would move the needle in the wrong direction for
her mental health," Wright said.
Montgomery was appointed in 2019
as Britney Spears' temporary conservator of the person, a role designed to
help the subject of a conservatorship handle basic personal needs, such as
shelter, medical care and food.
Jamie Spears' representatives
declined to comment, and an attorney for Britney Spears did not immediately
respond to a request for comment Friday.
Jamie Spears said in the
document filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court that during their phone
call, Montgomery sounded "distraught" and "expressed concern about Ms.
Spears’ recent behavior and her refusal to listen to or even see her
doctors."
His sense, he said in the document, was that "Ms. Spears was
spiraling out of control."
"Ms. Montgomery explained that my
daughter was not timely or properly taking her medications, was not
listening to the recommendations of her medical team, and refused to even
see some of her doctors," he said in the filing.
"Ms. Montgomery
said she was very worried about the direction my daughter was heading in and
directly asked for my help to address these issues.
