Monday, February 25, 2008

Britney May Need More Than a Trust

Norman Mailer had a revocable trust, and so does Britney Spears. But Ms. Spears' financial life is in a shambles nonetheless, according to today's NY Times:
On Feb. 1, the day after Ms. Spears was involuntarily admitted for treatment at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center, her estranged father, Jamie Spears, was named her co-conservator . . . . Mr. Spears is sharing oversight of her estate with an independent lawyer, Andrew M. Wallet, to dispel the notion that Ms. Spears’s parents were making a grab for their daughter’s fortune. With the court’s permission, they immediately fired her business manager.

Another team of lawyers was hired for the conservators and quickly set out to assess the financial damage. Yet another lawyer was appointed by the probate court, as is routine, to look out solely for Ms. Spears’s interests. Ms. Spears’s brother Bryan, along with a lawyer, were given control of her revocable trust, which contains all her liquid assets, so they could begin paying her bills. And Ms. Spears’s criminal lawyer, Blair Berk, was said to be overseeing the whole Humpty Dumpty-like effort.
At one time, estimates of Ms. Spears' net worth ranged as high as $125 million. Current guesstimate: around $50 million.

Care to guess whether Britney will still be rich when she reaches Julie Christie's age?

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