Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - #FreeBritney, Part 2: Work, (Rich) Bitch

Episode Date: June 9, 2021

In the conclusion of our 2-part episode on guardianships and conservatorships, Nicole dives into the most high-profile conservatorship case to date: that of Britney Jean Spears. Will it ever be possible to truly #FreeBritney? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Money rehabbers, you get it. When you're trying to have it all, you end up doing a lot of juggling. You have to balance your work, your friends, and everything in between. So when it comes to your finances, the last thing you need is more juggling. That's where Bank of America steps in. With Bank of America, you can manage your banking, borrowing, and even investing all in one place. Their digital tools bring everything together under one roof, giving you a clear view of your finances whenever you need it. Plus, with Bank of America's wealth of expert guidance available at any time, you can feel confident that your

money is working as hard as you do. So why overcomplicate your money? Keep it simple with Bank of America, your one-stop shop for everything you need today and the goals you're working toward tomorrow. To get started, visit bofa.com slash newprosmedia. That's b-o-f-a dot com slash n-e-w pros p-r-o-s media. bfa.com slash newprosmedia. Hey guys, are you ready for some money rehab? Wall Street has been completely upended by an unlikely player, GameStop. And should I have a 401k? You don't do it? No, I never do it. You think the whole world revolves around you and your money.

Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. Welcome back, my Rehabbers.

Yesterday, we talked all about guardianships and conservatorships and how they can make your life and finances very messy if you don't have a plan in place. Go back and listen to our last episode if you haven't already, but today we're gonna look at the most high-profile conservatorship. That's right, it's Britney, bitch. We all remember back in 07 when Britney had a very public falling apart, or at least that's what the media showed us. We saw photos of her shaving her head, an umbrella outburst, and oh my god, we remember Kevin Federline, right? But then it seemed that her father swooped in, took control of her care, and things got

a lot better, right? When someone has a huge amount of assets, there will always be people who want to take control, and not necessarily with bad intentions. Like we talked about before, if Brittany had decisional capacity, she likely wouldn't have had to enter into a conservatorship at all. You may think she had decisional capacity, or you may not. That's hotly debated online. But a medical professional, her family and friends, and ultimately a judge decided that she did not have decisional capacity. As a general rule, when there are mental health issues in a conservatorship, those parts of the court proceeding are sealed. So if that's the case with Britney, it's not for us to know.

Fans of Britney Spears found it concerning when her father was chosen as the conservator, partly because it seemed she was so much closer with her sister and mom. And for reasons we can't know, the court chose her dad to be in charge of her many hundreds of millions of dollars. When somebody becomes a conservator, while you're not there to make a huge amount of money off them, you should get paid. And it can be a massive amount of work to manage financial assets of that magnitude, as well as the lifestyle and career of one of the world's biggest pop stars. The thing is, though, especially because of who she is, Britney's conservatorship isn't typical.

One public guardian we spoke with said that the suggestion of her original conservatorship team, that it was a joint business venture, set off, as she put it, a zillion alarm bells. Not to mention the toxic circus of legal drama between her mother and father, who seem like they'll disagree about her care till the world ends. It's crazy. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. But you better work, rich bitch. Generally, when somebody becomes a ward, the court has decided that that person is incapable of making decisions for themselves. In Britney's case, though, she had expressed preferences about how she wants to live her life, about who she wants to date, that she wants to see her kids, and that she wants to alter her conservatorship to a neutral third party,

making these decisions for her and not her father. It seems that Britney doesn't want her father to be in the position where he has the incentive to order her to work in order to profit off her career. If you saw the New York Times doc framing Britney Spears, you know that her returning to work so soon after her 07 breakdown seems to have been instigated by her father. Britney has made it clear that she wants her father removed as her conservator, and the court recently ruled partly in her favor by adding a co-conservator to that role. But hypothetically, one day, will she ever be lucky enough to get out of this legal bind? While the answer is yes, it's very difficult. The process is called restoration to capacity.

Normally, a conservatorship is put in place for a progressive disease, dementia, for example. But sometimes, say a person recovers from a traumatic brain injury or can successfully manage their mental health with medication or other therapies, they can get to a point where they don't need conservatorship anymore. Brittany is scheduled to speak at the court hearing about her conservatorship this summer, and according to reports, won't be asking her conservatorship to go away entirely. What may be an easier next step is moving toward what's called a limited conservatorship. Remember I told you to remember that word? So for Brittany, if she is able to secure a limited conservatorship,

someone else would manage some aspects of her business, but she would still have access to a lot more freedom. Here's today's tip you can take straight to the bank. The best time to make a decision about who you want to make decisions for you is while you still can make that decision for yourself. If you're over 18 and if you're listening to this podcast, you probably are. Get yourself a power of attorney so you can decide what happens to you and your stuff if suddenly you no longer can. This puts the power back in your hands in case it's ever in somebody else's. You can decide not only who has control, but make decisions in advance about what you want done with your assets and your healthcare decisions. There are

several types of power of attorneys, and they're relatively inexpensive to sign up. So go see an estate planning attorney to set you up for success with a power of attorney, and hopefully you'll never need to use it. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartMedia. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Catherine Law. Money Rehab is edited and engineered by Brandon Dickert with help from Josh Fisher. Executive producers are Mangesh Hatikader and Will Pearson.

Huge thanks to the OG Money Rehab supervising producer, Michelle Lanz, for her pre-production and development work. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.