Britney Spears court-appointed attorney, Samuel Ingham III, has requested to be removed from the pop star’s conservatorship.
Britney Spears’ court-appointed attorney, Samuel Ingham III, will resign from the pop star’s conservatorship case. Ingham filed paperwork on Tuesday, asking the Los Angeles Superior Court to dismiss him as Spears’ legal representative. “Samuel D. Ingham III hereby resigns as court-appointed counsel for Britney Jean Spears, conservatee, effective upon the appointment of new court-appointed counsel,” the court filings read. Ingham did not respond to Variety‘s numerous requests for further comment on Tuesday. Ingham has been representing Spears for the entirety of her 13-year conservatorship. In 2008, the court put the arrangement in place, with her father, Jamie Spears, as her sole conservator. Ingham and Spears’ working relationship came into question last month when the singer gave a explosive testimony, calling her conservatorship “abusive” and addressing the court for the first time ever in her 13-year conservatorship. During her 24-minute court statement, Spears mostly took aim at her father, but also told the judge that Ingham had previously advised her not to come forward with her claims regarding her conservatorship. She asked the judge for the opportunity to select her own lawyer, rather than being appointed a legal representative by the court. Spears told the judge that she had built a relationship with “Sam,” as she called her attorney during the hearing, and stated that they have been in communication three times per week. But, Spears appeared to go rogue during her blistering statement, and it became clear that the singer had not consulted Ingham about her testimony, as the lawyer told the judge that he was unaware of what she was about to say, stating, “These are entirely her words.” At the end of her testimony, Ingham said he would resign, if that was his client’s wish. “My lawyer, Sam, has been very scared for me to go forward,” Spears told the judge last month.
