Britney Spears' attorney urged the pop star's father to immediately step down as her conservator after accusing him of trying to get about $2 million as a condition of his resignation.
In a new court filing Monday, Mathew Rosengart demanded James "Jamie" Spears' resign as conservator, a position he has held for 13 years, without payment.
He cited Jamie Spears' Aug. 12 response to a petition to remove him from her conservatorship, which said he would be “willing to step down when the time is right, but the transition needs to be orderly and include a resolution of matters.”
"Mr. Spears and his counsel are now on notice: the status quo is no longer tolerable, and Britney Spears will not be extorted," Rosengart wrote in a court filing Monday. "Mr. Spears’s blatant attempt to barter suspension and removal in exchange for approximately $2 million in payments, on top of the millions already reaped from Ms. Spears’s estate by Mr. Spears and his associates, is a non-starter."
He added: "The only honorable, decent, and humane course of action is for Mr. Spears to resign now, provide all necessary information to evaluate his accounting, and, if matters cannot be resolved consensually, to try to defend his accounting."
Rosengart told NBC News that Jamie Spears' departure was "inexorable."
"Britney Spears will not be bullied or extorted by her father," he said in a statement. "Nor does Mr. Spears have the right to try to hold his daughter hostage by setting the terms of his removal."
"This is not about him, it is about the best interests of his daughter, which as a matter of law, mandate his removal. Even putting aside the legal issues requiring his prompt removal, if he loves his daughter, Mr. Spears should resign now, today, before he is suspended. It would be the correct and decent thing to do," Rosengart said.
Jamie Spears’ legal team declined to comment on the new court filing.
During rare public testimony in June, Britney Spears, 39, said she wanted her conservatorship to end. She told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny that her father ruined her life and “loved” to hear her in pain while he exerted his power over her.
Britney Spears alleged that her conservatorship was “abusive” and that if she didn’t comply with the demands of her father or management, she was told she would not be able to see her children.
Jamie Spears and his team have vehemently denied the accusations that he has abused his position, repeatedly stating that he only has his daughter’s best interests at heart.
“Britney being safe and not being taken advantage of is his No. 1 priority,” Vivian Thoreen, attorney for Jamie Spears, said in March.
In his Aug. 12 response to the petition to remove him, Jamie Spears contested his removal despite saying he would be willing to step down, arguing there was no urgent need for his removal and urged the court not to make a decision based on “false allegations.”
The pending petition to remove Jamie Spears is the second attempt by Britney Spears to have her father replaced as her conservator, after Penny denied a similar motion last year.
The judge is expected to rule on whether to replace Jamie Spears with professional accountant Jason Rubin on Sept. 29.
