It’s been three years since Britney Spears’ well-publicised conservatorship – which allowed her father to control her financial affairs and make decisions concerning her mental health – ended. But the warring between the singer and her father, Jamie Spears, is far from over. 

Five months ago, Britney’s legal team opposed 71-year-old Jamie’s request for his daughter to pay his legal fees and hand over documents. Jamie has since accused the singer of using stalling tactics to draw out the trial over her discontinued conservatorship. Jamie – who lives with Britney’s younger sister Jamie-Lynn in Louisiana – has a long-standing battle with alcoholism, which is believed to have caused his colon to rupture in 2018, plus he underwent a leg amputation last November, following an infection. Now a source says say that Britney, 42, will never forgive her dad, despite his ongoing health issues.

The insider says, “Jamie is still trying to get more money out of her, he wants her to pay his legal fees and she’s dead set against it. As far as she’s concerned, he’s taken more than enough from her and doesn’t deserve another cent. It’s sickening to her to think that she’d have to hand him more money when he’s already taken so much from him. And the fact that he’s sick and trying to use his health problems to manipulate her isn’t going to work.”

They add, “He kept her locked up and never had an ounce of sympathy for her. She’ll never forgive him, in her eyes he’s done nothing but abuse her and this ploy to get more money from her is just more abuse. She’s made it clear she’s going to fight back any way she can.

“The fact that he’s in a rush to get this settled only makes her want to drag it out longer, even if it costs her more in lawyer fees so be it because she’d rather give anyone but her dad money after all that he’s done to her.”

Following a series of public meltdowns in 2007, which saw Britney drive with a baby on her lap and get wheeled out of her Beverly Hills mansion on a stretcher before being sectioned in a mental health facility, Jamie was appointed sole conservator of Britney. The guardianship gave Jamie full control of the singer’s finances and all aspects of her personal life. As a result, Britney lost custody of her sons with ex husband Kevin Federline – Sean Preston, 19 and Jayden James, 16.

Britney quickly objected to the arrangement and her father’s role in it – which earned him $100k a year. She attempted to hire her own lawyer to advocate for her, but the courts ruled that she did not have the capacity to choose a lawyer. They instead gave her a court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D Ingham III.

Then, in 2016, while Britney was performing her Las Vegas residency and releasing her ninth studio album, she told a court investigator that those involved in the conservatorship had made her perform while sick with a fever and that her security team and assistant held her credit card and used it whenever they wanted.

Despite this, the arrangement continued for years, but it took a dramatic turn in June 2021, when Britney requested she be allowed to speak publicly.

She told a court that the guardianship was “abusive” and that she felt “bullied” as she claimed to have been forced to go on tour as well as ordered to take the drug lithium. She also told the court that her father had her admitted to a mental health facility against her will. She claimed that her boyfriend at the time wasn’t allowed to drive her in his car and that she was barred from removing her birth control. She pleaded with the judge that she “just wanted her life back”.

She said, “My dad and anyone involved in this conservatorship… They should be in jail. The control [he] had over someone as powerful as me… He loved the control to hurt his own daughter.”

Finally, in November 2021, a judge approved the termination of the conservatorship after 14 years. Subsequently, Jamie filed a petition for Britney to pay his legal fees and expenses. But he’s accusing his daughter of using stall tactics – including an upcoming mediation meeting due to take place in June – to draw out the case.

He indicated that he and Britney were unlikely to resolve their issues after spending more than two years without coming to an agreement. The insider says there is no going back for relations between Britney and her dad, which continues to ‘traumatise’ her all these years later.

“Jamie is claiming he doesn’t have the money or the stomach for any more legal arguments with Britney, it’s already drained his savings dry and he says he needs the matter resolved in an open court as soon as physically possible. The judge has ordered him and Britney to sit for mediation in the meantime but as far as he’s concerned that’s just another waste of time that won’t go anywhere. It’s his total belief that Britney has delayed the process and kept it going as long as possible to cause him maximum pain, that she has no intention of compromising with him and all she wants for him to do is suffer.

They add that he’s not “totally wrong”, but explain Britney is traumatised about their continual warring.

“The actual reality of facing off with her Dad in court – which will almost certainly become a reality eventually – is something she’ll find hugely traumatic, as and when it does finally happen. Having to look him in the eyes then get cross examined by his team – it’s the stuff of absolute nightmares for her, since it’ll bring all those awful memories flooding back, not to mention all the attention it will bring, and she’s kind of buried her sand that it’s a reality – hence why she’s tried to delay the process for as long as she can.”

The insider adds that Britney won’t change her mind about forgiving her dad as she sees him as the ‘devil’, despite the fact his health seeming to rapidly decline in the last few years. As well having multiple issues with his kidneys and colon, Jamie recently had to have his leg amputated after a serious infection.

“They’re locked in limbo, basically, with this mediation looking like it’s going to be fruitless as she’s too stubborn and Jamie being put through the wringer whilst wracking up a ton more legal bills,” they say.

“His health is in very bad shape, the guy lost his leg not long ago and it’s common knowledge he’d do anything to patch things up with Britney. But she sees him as the Devil more or less, the fact he put her through that torture for much of her life is something she’s not willing to forgive or ever forget, ever, end of story, no matter how ill he gets.

“Jamie’s still got some sympathy from some of Britney’s family, her mom, sister and brother are all on talking terms with him and it pains them so much to see this fight raging on between him and Britney. But there’s nothing anyone can do to snap her into forgiveness – let along writing her Dad any type of cheque, not until she’s ordered to by a judge. And that’s something she’s provenly willing to fight every step of the way.”