Legal Guardianship: Other Celebrity Cases Similar to Britney Spears

Strange as it may seem, certain people may not be able to be self-controlled or have the full freedom to do what they want. This is the scenario that Britney Spears has had to live through for more than a decade when her father Jamie Spears took full control over her assets and decisions through legal guardianship. The reason? The 39-year-old singer had suffered a health breakdown in 2008.

Justice in these cases always tends to seek the best for the ward, regardless of the cause that led to such a situation. Although Britney's fight is to stop her father from being her legal guardian, the judge in charge will have to appoint another figure to guard and manage the assets and properties of the artist, which are valued at 60 million dollars. The truth of all is that no matter how powerful this legal tool has, as well as its abusive potential, each and every person deserves to have a healthy and calm life.

Legal guardian: your obligations and how you can terminate your duties

A legal guardian is known as the person who is appointed by a judge to represent another, either a minor or incapacitated to perform acts on their own, in order to exercise certain obligations to fulfill the duties that correspond to the ward. . This figure must meet certain requirements and, furthermore, be determined by the judge as established in the Civil Code. As it is a position that carries great responsibility, the guardian must always be accountable for his actions before the judge who appointed him.

Now, why should one person have control over another even if they are of legal age and/or a celebrity? This happens when the ward does not have the will or ability to exercise its legal functions, so a third party (or third parties) is appointed in order to ensure their well-being. In fact, among their obligations is to seek to improve their capacities for their prompt reintegration into society, manage their assets, represent them legally, periodically inform the judge about the evolution of the ward, among many others.

It is worth mentioning that this legal guardianship is not "forever", since it is possible that the guardian ceases his functions for various reasons. One of them is extinction, which is when the causes that originated are extinguished; for example, when the ward manages to be in full exercise of his faculties again. For its part, it is also possible to excuse, that although tutoring is considered inalienable, it is possible that the designated person can excuse himself for certain reasons. Finally, the dismissal can be initiated by the court judge as long as the guardian fails to fulfill his duties or has ongoing problems with the ward.

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Other celebrities with legal guardianship

Certainly, it's hard to believe that celebrities have to deal with a legal figure. Britney's case is not the only one that has sounded strongly on social networks and/or digital media, but it is the one with the greatest coverage due to what her career in the music industry has meant. A similar example is that of Amanda Bynes, Nickelodeon's youth star in the 2000s. After a drug addiction that led to a series of accidents, the actress was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so in 2012 her mother became her personal and financial guardian. Since then, Bynes has had episodes of sobriety and relapses, something that has not allowed her to end the guardianship.

Another of the cases in the musical field that at the time gave a lot to talk about was that of Brian Wilson. The founder of the band The Beach Boys, who was considered a genius of music in the sixties, began to suffer a picture of depression that increased with drug use. Given this, his wife chose to call Eugene Landy, a psychiatrist with experience in dealing with artists, but who actually ended up manipulating him for years to take advantage of him instead of helping him. In the 1990s, when he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, Wilson's family intervened to get him away from Landy and appointed him a guardian.

Likewise, young celebrities like Ariel Winter and Macaulay Culkin also went through similar moments. The "Modern Family" actress said at the time that she struggled to emancipate herself from her mother, whom she accused of physically and emotionally abusing her during her childhood and adolescence. It was in 2014 when she managed to become independent from her and be under the tutelage of her sister. For his part, the "My Poor Little Angel" actor was 14 years old when he became a millionaire and had to fight legally against his father, who wanted to take advantage of his assets. Once free, he appointed his accounting advisor as guardian and severed all relationships with his father.

The list of celebrities in that situation is long, regardless of the country of origin. As much as they seek to give a person the necessary well-being, the excess of control they exert over them becomes something so counterproductive that they can push them towards their own limits, as happened to Demi Lovato in 2018, which was debated between the life and death from an overdose. The figure of a guardian must go beyond the legal and be that of great support, where mental and physical health is the number one priority.