Company Set to Manage Britney Spears’s Estate Asks to Withdraw

The wealth management firm that was set to take over as the co-conservator of Britney Spears’s estate, alongside her father, has requested to resign from the arrangement, citing Ms. Spears’s public criticisms of the conservatorship, according to a document filed in court on Thursday.

Bessemer Trust, a professional wealth management firm that manages more than $100 billion in assets, said in a court filing that it wants to resign “due to changed circumstances.” In its court filing, the firm said it was told that Ms. Spears’s conservatorship was voluntary and that she had consented to the company acting as co-conservator. But in a court hearing on June 23, Ms. Spears excoriated the arrangement and demanded it end.

“As a result of the conservatee’s testimony at the June 23 hearing, however, Petitioner has become aware that the Conservatee objects to the continuance of her Conservatorship and desires to terminate the conservatorship. Petitioner has heard the Conservatee and respects her wishes,” the court filing states.

Bessemer’s decision further throws Ms. Spears’s conservatorship into turmoil. For 13 years, she has lived under a system that last week she called “abusive,” and pleaded with the court to let her out of the arrangement without a medical evaluation. Her court-appointed lawyer has not filed a formal request to terminate the conservatorship with the court.

Last fall, Ms. Spears’s lawyer had requested the singer’s father, James P. Spears, be suspended as conservator of the estate immediately, claiming Ms. Spears was “afraid of her father,” but the judge declined that request.

Bessemer Trust had been approved by the court to be added as co-conservator of the estate last fall, but had not taken any action as co-conservator and had not received any of the assets of Ms. Spears’s nearly $60 million estate, nor had it taken any fees.