By DPA
Los Angeles : Britney Spears has been ordered to remain hospitalised for a further two weeks to continue psychiatric evaluations.
In a separate development, a judge Monday affirmed her father Jamie as conservator of her affairs after a court-appointed lawyer visited Spears in the mental ward and testified that she was not capable of understanding her legal situation. Based on the evidence, the court commissioner extended the conservatorship until Feb 14.
Spears was represented by lawyer Adam Streisand, who said she had hired him to object to the conservatorship.
“She has expressed to me very strongly that her father not be the conservator,” Streisand said. “There has been an estrangement for quite some time. With him as conservator, that is causing her more agitation and more distress.”
Samuel Ingham, who was appointed by the court, said he interviewed Spears Sunday at the UCLA Medical Centre and determined that she didn’t understand the court proceedings, and “she lacks the capacity to retain counsel”.
Streisand objected that Spears had not been given any notice of Ingham’s plan to interview her and that he appeared at the hospital unannounced.
Streisand said that Spears authorised him to nominate Northern Trust Bank as her conservator. He told Goetz that the Spears estate has assets totalling $40 million and is currently being audited by tax authorities.
Earlier Monday, a child custody hearing was discontinued because of Spears’ condition.
Spears, 26, currently has no visitation rights for her sons, Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1, and has been fighting ex-husband Kevin Federline, 29, in family court for more contact with the children.
Spears was hospitalised early Thursday for a “mental health evaluation hold”, after her psychiatrist signed a decree stating that she was a potential danger to herself and others.
Spears was taken from her house in an ambulance, escorted by a police motorcade as dozens of paparazzi looked on. It was the second time in a month that Spears was subjected to a mandatory evaluation order.
In early January, she was committed to Cedars Sinai Hospital for a day, after a standoff with police in which she refused to hand over Jayden to Federline. This time, she was sent to the UCLA Medical Centre, where she is being treated for a severe bipolar disorder, according to TMZ.