TRLA Attorneys on the Britney Spears Case: Five Lessons from a Toxic Guardianship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 30, 2021

Contact: Robert Elder, TRLA Communications Director | (512) 374-2764, relder@trla.org

AUSTIN – A guardianship only produces high-wattage headlines when a celebrity is involved. But it is a legal process that profoundly affects the future of individuals in everyday life. Join Texas RioGrande Legal Aid on Facebook Live on July 1 at 1 p.m. Our advocates will discuss the issues that have made headlines in the Britney Spears case and how these same issues can play out in matters affecting low-income Texans with diminished capacity. The discussion will be recorded and available on TRLA’s Facebook page.

The Spears conservatorship has sparked national discussion because of its length – 13 years and still going –- and the singer’s recent startling court testimony about the highly specific restrictions placed on her.

Julie Balovich and Gabriel Sanchez are advocates on TRLA’s guardianship team, which serves individuals with disabilities to make sure they can meet their physical, financial, and essential needs with minimal intrusion on their self-reliance and independence.

The team regularly deals with the issues that have raised concerns in Spears’ case including:

• The power to forcibly medicate individuals who have diminished capacity;

• The role of the attorney ad litem appointed to represent a person subject to a guardianship proceeding;

• The different types of capacity and assumptions made about individuals who have mental conditions;

• The rights of persons placed under guardianship, including the right to seek to set aside the guardianship; and

• Alternatives to guardianship that are less restrictive, such as supported decision-making agreements.

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid provides free legal services to people who cannot afford an attorney in 68 southwestern counties, including the entire Texas-Mexico border. TRLA attorneys specialize in more than 45 areas of law, including disaster assistance, family, employment, landlord-tenant, housing, wills and estates, education, immigration, farmworker, and civil rights. Our hotline is open from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m (CST) Monday - Friday: 956-996-TRLA (8752).