Britney Spears is fighting back!
The pop icon is demanding the court deny her estranged dad Jamie’s request for her estate to shell out over a million dollars in legal fees.
In court documents obtained by Radar, the 39-year-old singer’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart is objecting to around $1.1 million of the original $3 million Jamie requested to pay multiple law firms who worked on his behalf during the conservatorship.
The first request in question is $427,000 to be paid to the Freeman Firm. Rosengart claims the invoice submitted is outrageous and accused the firm of improperly charging for overhead and simple filing tasks.
Rosengart points out the firm is asking for $85,783 to be paid to them for their “substantial amount of time organizing, scanning and preparing” confidential files pertaining to the conservatorship to be sent to a third party.
“First, files should already have been organized in the ordinary course,” he stated in his objection, adding: “This conservatorship is over a decade old, and the petition provides no explanation for why conservatorship files were apparently so disorganized or why a law firm is required to organize conservatorship files.”
He claimed the lawyers spent “exorbitant time” on “unapproved or unfiled accountings.”
The “Toxic” singer’s lawyer also has issues with a request of $531,000 to be paid to another firm Holland & Knight for “media matters.” Court docs state: “The fee petition papers do not identify who did what (or even everyone involved and at what rates), let alone how the public relations ‘media work’ was legal advice appropriate for a law firm like H&K to perform.”
The firm is believed to have worked on PR strategy for Jamie following the release of the damning documentary Framing Britney Spears. A third objection Rosengart has is an additional $153,000 to be paid out to two separate law firms in Atlanta, Ga.
Britney also requested a judge shut down her dad’s request to be paid a salary of $16,000 a month plus an additional $2,000 per month for “supposed office space” as a part of his conservatorship salary.
“Mr. Spears attempts to justify his exorbitant charges of $16,000/month plus $2,000/month for supposed office space by claiming that he did his ‘best to keep current regarding the music, advertising, and entertainment business,’ but Mr. Spears is not the business manager, and this is not his job,” the Grammy award winner’s motion stated. “Mr. Spears also states he spent ‘considerable time addressing issues that arose from the change in Ms. Spears’ business management team’ but Ms. Spears has already stated she would not work again until Mr. Spears is removed from his post.”
Britney and her dad are expected to appear in court on Wednesday, September 29 as her conservatorship battle rages on.
