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Local shares fell on Friday as investors make last-minute adjustments to their portfolios ahead of the main index’s rebalancing, while unease over rising infections grows. 
- Bessemer Trust, a wealth management firm that has been a co-conservator of Britney Spears’ estate, has filed a petition to remove itself.
- The decision was made due to “changed circumstances” including “the fact that the Conservatee claimed irreparable harm to her interests”.
- The news comes after the singer’s admission in court calling her conservatorship “abusive”.
Bessemer Trust, a wealth management firm that had been tapped as co-conservator of Britney Spears’ estate, on Thursday asked a Los Angeles court to withdraw from the case after the pop superstar’s testimony that she opposed the arrangement.
Spears, 39, told the court last week that she felt the legal arrangement put in place in 2008 was abusive. The Stronger singer said she had been forced to take the drug lithium against her will and had been prevented from marrying and removing a contraceptive device so she could try to have a baby.
READ MORE | Britney Spears pleads with judge to end ‘abusive conservatorship’
Last year, Bessemer Trust had been approved by the Los Angeles Superior Court judge, Brenda Penny to be added as co-conservator of Spears’ financial assets of around $60 million (R870 million) alongside her father, Jamie Spears.
The financial firm said it had not taken any steps regarding Spears’ assets, or received any fees, because it was awaiting additional court documents that authorised it to act. Those filings were made on Wednesday.
In a petition to the court on Thursday, Bessemer Trust asked the judge to approve its resignation from the case, citing “changed circumstances” including “the fact that the Conservatee claimed irreparable harm to her interests”.
Last year, Britney Spears began the legal process of trying to remove her father, Jamie Spears, from any role in her business affairs. The judge has rejected that request.
Jamie Spears was appointed as a conservator of his daughter’s affairs in 2008 after she was hospitalised for psychiatric treatment.
The conservatorship has been the subject of a vocal campaign by fans with the #FreeBritney social media hashtag.
