A court commissioner on Tuesday agreed to hear arguments that
legal filings in the bitter child custody battle between troubled
pop star Britney Spears and her ex-husband Kevin Federline should
be open to the media.
Britney Spears and Kevin
Federline in a composite image. Spears and her second husband have
finalized their divorce and agreed to share custody of their two
young sons, court papers showed on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Reuters
Photo)
Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott
Gordon set a September 14 hearing date for lawyers from celebrity
magazine People and local television station KNBC to argue that
court records should be made public.
Lawyers for Spears and Federline oppose the idea and on July 30,
when the couple's divorce was finalized, their attorneys won a
conditional order to keep the records sealed. That order stays in
place for now.
Spears and Federline are battling over custody of their sons,
Sean Preston and Jayden James, who turn 2 years of age and 1 year
old in September, respectively.
But in recent months, the public behavior of Spears has grown
ever more erratic, and on Tuesday, Federline's lawyer Mark V.
Kaplan confirmed his client was seeking greater custody than the
current 50:50 agreement.
Outside the hearing, Kaplan told reporters Federline wanted the
two boys "isolated from risks," and denied recent published reports
that Federline was seeking more money from the former teen singing
sensation.
"This has nothing to do with money," Kaplan said.
A separate hearing on modifying the child custody arrangement
was set for September 17.
Spears, 25, rose to pop stardom as a child on cable television's
The Disney Channel and as a teenager and young adult became a
singing sensation, recording hit songs like "Oops ... I Did It
Again."
She married Federline, 29, in October 2004, and filed for
divorce in November of last year.
Recent published reports have had Spears firing staff, fighting
family members, canceling photo shoots, lip-syncing songs and
stripping down to bra and see-through panties for an ocean
swim.
A spree of high-profile partying landed her in rehab this past
spring.
(Agencies via China Daily August 16, 2007)
