The ongoing saga of who has control over Britney Spears' affairs and her $60 million estate continues, and now dad (and conservator) Jamie Spears is speaking out about the drama. The mostly private battle became more public last month, when Samuel Ingham, a lawyer for the 39-year-old singer, said in a court hearing that his client was scared of her father and won't perform as long as he's her conservator. The younger Spears wants Jodi Montgomery, who served as her temporary conservator last year when Jamie Spears was ill, to take over the role permanently. Jamie, who was appointed as his daughter's conservator in 2008, tells CNN he was on "good terms" with Britney until August, when Ingham filed to have him removed from that role. A judge didn't agree to that request, but she did appoint a new co-conservator, the Bessemer Trust, who provides family office services, per the New York Post.
"I love my daughter and I miss her very much," Jamie Spears tells CNN. "When a family member needs special care and protection, families need to step up, as I have done for the last 12-plus years, to safeguard, protect, and continue to love Britney unconditionally." The 68-year-old adds he'll continue doing so to keep away people "with self-serving interests and those who seek to harm her or my family." Vivian Lee Thoreen, Jamie Spears' attorney, says it's Ingham who is causing the strife between father and daughter. "Until ... Ingham abruptly instructed Jamie not to contact Britney a few months ago, Jamie and Britney had spoken often and regularly throughout the entire conservatorship," she says. A hearing is set for Wednesday to go over Jamie's management of his daughter's assets. (More Britney Spears stories.)