All eyes are onBritney Spears' conservatorship case following another fiery court hearing on Wednesday.
After Judge Brenda Penny allowed Spears, 39, tohire her own attorneyin a hearing during which the singer described herconservatorship as “abuse,” PEOPLE spoke to two attorneys to get a breakdown of what comes next in her conservatorship case.
“It was a wild day in court,” David Glass, a family law attorney who was present at the hearing, tells PEOPLE. “[Britney’s new attorney Mathew Rosengart] is a very impressive attorney. He was a longtime assistant U.S. Attorney, he prosecuted major cases for them before he went to the private side.”
“He’s with a firm that has a massive, all-encompassing trust and estates department so he has all the people he needs who know probate and conservatorships and trust issues,” he adds. “He himself doesn’t do those cases, but he’s a master litigator. He can handle any case that’s given to him as long as he has the right team around him.”
Glass explains that during the hearing, Britney interrupted her new attorney, saying she was “fine” having the court stay open, which may potentially hint at “a bit of conflict” between the two.
Britney Spears.J. Merritt/Getty
During the hearing, Britney even asked thecourt to press charges against her fatherJamie Spears for what she described as conservatorship abuse.
“It’s a pretty complex procedure to even initiate, and most people don’t even go ahead with it,” says Glass. “If they can have the conservator either resign voluntarily or be taken off the case, then they move on and deal with the rest of their lives instead of going after that person for whatever alleged wrongs they may have committed.”
As for what’s next in the case, both Amanda Bynes' lawyer, David Esquibias, and Glass agree that Britney will now have to meet with her new representation to decide the next best step. Esquibias described Judge Penny’s decision to allow Britney to hire her own attorney as a “huge deal.”
“Judge Penny has made a decision to probably end the conservatorship — but she can’t do it quickly. She has to do it incrementally so it appears that due process is occurring,” Esquibias tells PEOPLE. “It’s totally inconsistent for a conservatee such as Britney to be able to hire her own lawyer because the whole point of a conservatorship is because a judge has said that you’re unable to manage your own financial affairs.”
“[Britney] is going to strategize with her lawyer about how to terminate the conservatorship. These are all the acts of a highly functioning individual,” Esquibias adds. “These are not the acts of a conservatee, so I think the writing is on the wall.”
Britney Spears.lester Cohen/Getty
Esquibias explains that the next step in this process will likely be petitioning to remove her father as a conservator. “Most conservators are granted all the power at the very beginning, so it’s the wolf guarding the henhouse,” Esquibias says.
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Esquibias says he anticipates that the conservatorship “may end, but it may turn into something else that’s court-supervised.”
“For example, her money can be put into a trust and the court wants to continue to monitor it, but Britney’s rights are restored. She may still have some court involvement but can walk around as an individual with all her rights,” he says. “That’s a court-supervised trust, and in that case lawyers and financial advisers are involved. But the judge may also be confident enough with her new lawyers and financial advisers in place that they don’t require a court-supervised trust.”
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He also shares that it’ll be “nearly impossible” for the singer to end her conservatorship without first going through a medical evaluation.
“It’s a major factor in termination,” he says. “When you’re conserved, at the very beginning a doctor has to fill out a capacity declaration… Doctors have to say whether there’s impairment, mild impairment, moderate impairment or severe impairment. If I were a judge, I would ask for the same thing going out as I would coming in.”
“The problem with Britney’s case is that if she’s able to generate $30 million at a Las Vegas show for the year and is able to work 50 to 60 hours training, learning songs and dance moves … people of her caliber aren’t managing their money anyway,” he adds. “They always have accountants and money managers. She’s unique in that they expect her to manage her own money, but what person is managing their own $60 million anyway? It’s a rarity.”
source: people.com
