Here's a look at how conservatorships operate, what's unusual about hers, and why she and so many fans have worked to #FreeBritney.When a person is considered to have a severely diminished mental capacity, a court can step in and grant someone the power to make financial decisions and major life choices for them.
Several states have recently used the attention that Spears has brought to the issue to reform their conservatorship laws.With a fortune of more than US$50 million comes secrecy, and the court closely guards the inner workings of Spears' conservatorship. Spears also said she had been denied the right to get married or have another child, but she has since gotten engaged to longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari.The ultimate power in the conservatorship, and the sole power to end it, falls to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny.
They pored over her social media posts to extract clues about her well-being, and coalesced into a movement that has arguably shifted public opinion. She attacked one cameraman's car with an umbrella. She shaved her own head at a salon. She lost custody of her children. When she refused to turn over her boys after a visit, she was hospitalized and put on a psychiatric hold. The conservatorship was put in place within days.A conservatorship can always be dissolved by the court. But it's rare that a person achieves their own release from one, as Britney Spears appears on the verge of doing.