Ever since her conservatorship began, Britney Spears’ custody of her kids with Kevin Federline has been subject to changes. It begs the question: Where does their custody agreement stand today?
Britney Spears and Kevin Federline were married from 2004 to 2007 and share two sons together. The pair welcomed their first son, Sean Preston, in 2005. Their second son, Jayden James, was born in 2006. Britney filed for divorce from K-Fed in November 2016, just two months after the birth of their youngest child. The singer cited irreconcilable differences in her filing at the time, asking for both physical and legal custody of their two sons with visitation rights for K-Fed. The former couple’s divorce and initial custody agreement was ultimately finalized in July 2007.
According to Netflix’s 2021 documentary, Britney Vs. Spears, the singer claimed she was “forced” to divorce K-Fed by her team. This claim was allegedly made in a letter that Britney gave to her friend Andrew Gallery, who worked on the 2008 MTV documentary, Britney: For the Record, following the release of K-Fed’s December 2008 People magazine cover story. “As for Kevin saying Britney divorced him, she was forced to by her lawyers because she went to visit him in NY and he wouldn’t see her and the children and her lawyers said if she doesn’t divorce him he’s going to do it himself,” the letter read, per Buzzfeed.
“She would love for new eyes to see her situation, but if she brings it up she’s constantly threatened that the conservators will take her kids away,” the letter continued. “So how long does this go on for? As long as the people are getting paid and she has no rights it could go on for a while, but it doesn’t make it right at all.”
Around the same time, Britney had been put under a conservatorship with her father, Jamie Spears, named as conservator of her $80 million estate. Since the conservatorship first began in 2008, Britney’s custody agreement with K-Fed has shifted considerably. Keep on reading below to find out their custody deal today.
Who has custody of Britney Spears’ kids?
When Britney and K-Fed’s divorce was finalized in June 2007, the pair initially reached an agreement to share 50/50 split custody of their kids, Jayden James and Sean Preston. However, in October 2007, a court ruled to temporarily grant K-Fed sole physical custody of their two sons due to Britney’s “habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol” at the time, according to the judge.
Tensions over their custody reached new heights in January 2008, when police were called to Britney’s home after she allegedly refused to relinquish custody of her children to K-Fed. According to reports at the time, the singer had locked herself in a room with her youngest son, Jayden. Following the incident, Britney was hospitalized and placed under a 5150 psychiatric hold at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. K-Fed went on to maintain “sole legal custody and sole physical custody” of their children, whereas Britney was granted visitation rights.
While K-Fed was initially granted full custody of their children, the former couple eventually moved forward with a 50/50 split again during Britney’s conservatorship. In September 2019, however, K-Fed requested to change their custody agreement once again from 50/50 to 70/30 following an altercation between the pop star’s father, Jamie Spears, and his grandson, Sean, which resulted in a restraining order being placed against Britney’s dad.
A judge granted Britney’s ex-husband 70 percent custody of his sons at the time, whereas Britney received 30 percent unsupervised custodial rights. According to K-Fed’s lawyer, the decision was made in the best interests of their children. “The best thing would be for their mom to be healthy and happy,” the attorney told People in June 2021. “And if either of those things aren’t true, it doesn’t provide for the best setting for custody to be exercised.”
“If [the conservatorship is] no longer necessary, that’s great too,” K-Fed’s lawyer continued. “Just want to make sure that all of the considerations, how she’s doing are taken into account if she seeks to change the custody order in the post-conservatorship era, if that ever comes.” After 13 years, Britney’s conservatorship ended in November 2021 after a judge ruled to terminate the order.
Will Britney Spears’ custody agreement change?
K-Fed’s lawyer has noted that he’s open to a change in custody once Britney’s conservatorship ends—but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s on the horizon. According to an insider who spoke to Hollywood Life in October 2021, Britney doesn’t want to go to “war” with K-Fed over the custody of her kids.
“Britney knows that Kevin is a good dad,” the insider told the site. “She doesn’t want to have war with him. No one wants that.” A second source revealed that the “Gimme More” singer may also decide to leave the custody situation “as is” because her children are almost adults.
“Britney has been advised to leave the custody situation as is because – by the time it would get this to the courts and changed – her one son will be 18 and the other will be right behind,” the source explained. “She doesn’t want to put her kids through that mess and deal with unnecessary attention to them or their lives. They are both fully old enough to know exactly what is going on. They love her and are so glad that she is finally getting her life back. All her sons have known their whole lives is Britney in the conservatorship.”
Does Britney see her kids?
As of 2021, Britney does get to see her sons Jayden James and Sean Preston—but she’s been seeing them “less” ever since her ex-husband altered their custody agreement in 2019.
According to a source who spoke to Us Weekly in March 2021, Britney only sees her sons “periodically” and there is no “set schedule” in place for visits. “She used to have more time with them until Kevin altered their custody arrangement after the incident with Jamie,” the insider told the site at the time. “Since then, the boys’ visits have been less frequent.”
“They spend most of their time at their dad’s house and have very few visits with their mom, especially overnight ones,” the source continued. “They are teenagers now and want to be with their friends, not their parents. It’s nothing against Britney; they love and idolize her, and Kevin trusts her. It’s just that they’re getting older, so when they’re not at their main home with Kevin, they’re usually out doing things with friends.”
In April 2022, Britney announced that she and her then-fiancé, Sam Ashgari, were expecting their first child together. “I lost so much weight to go on my Maui trip only to gain it back 🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️ … I thought ‘Geez … what happened to my stomach ??’” Britney captioned a photo of tea and flowers. “My husband said ‘No you’re food pregnant silly 🤪 !!!’ So I got a pregnancy test … and uhhhhh well … I am having a baby 👶🏼 … 4 days later I got a little more food pregnant 🤰🏼🙈🙈🙈”
She continued, “It’s growing !!! If 2 are in there … I might just loose it 😬😬😬😬😬😬 … I obviously won’t be going out as much due to the paps getting their money 💴 shot of me 📸 like they unfortunately already have … it’s hard because when I was pregnant I had perinatal depression … I have to say it is absolutely horrible 😔 … women didn’t talk about it back then … some people considered it dangerous if a woman complained like that with a baby inside her … but now women talk about it everyday … thank Jesus we don’t have to keep that pain a reserved proper secret 🤫 😬😬😬 … This time I will be doing yoga 🧘♀️ every day !!! Spreading lots of joy and love 💕 !!!”
Britney’s pregnancy came six months after a judge ended her conservatorship in November 2021 after 13 years. During a court hearing in June 2021, Britney accused her father and conservator, Jamie Spears, of putting an IUD inside her against her will to prevent her from having another child. “I would like to progressively move forward and I want to have the real deal, I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby, I have a (IUD) inside of myself right now so I don’t get pregnant,” she said at the time. “I wanted to take the (IUD) out so I could start trying to have another baby. But this so-called team won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don’t want me to have children – any more children. So basically, this conservatorship is doing me waaay more harm than good.”
Britney Vs. Spears is available to stream on Netflix. Framing Britney Spears and Controlling Britney Spears are available to stream on Hulu. Here’s how to watch them for free.
Image: Courtesy of Delacorte Books.
For more about Britney Spears, read her 2001 book, A Mother’s Gift. The semi-autobiographical fiction novel, which was co-written with Britney’s mother Lynne Spears, follows Holly Faye Lovell, a 14-year-old girl from the small town of Biscay, Mississippi, who has dreams of becoming a singer. When Holly becomes the youngest student ever to win a scholarship to the prestigious Haverty School of Music, she must make a choice of whether to leave her mother, Wanda, behind or pursue her dreams. As Holly starts her new life and makes posh new friends, she finds herself embarrassed by her mom and their humble background, as Wanda struggles with a long-hidden secret that could destroy her bond with her daughter forever.
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