Who's In Charge of Britney Spears's Money?

The trust where Britney Spears keeps most of her estimated $100 million fortune is out of her hands – and under the control of her brother and a lawyer, according to court documents released Thursday. And for 30-year-old Bryan Spears, that means keeping tabs on everything from cash to pay for medicine to money for her Starbucks runs.

Bryan is a co-trustee to his famous sister's SJB revocable trust. According to the trust, which was established in 2004, if Britney stops being a trustee, "then Bryan Spears ... and Ivan Taback [a partner in the personal planning department of the New York-based law firm Proskauer Rose] may act as successor co-trustees under the trust."

The troubled 26-year-old singer, who was recently released from the UCLA Medical Center psych ward, has been stripped of her trustee powers because she is currently considered "legally disabled" by the court, which also extended her father Jamie's co-conservator role until March 10. A court reaffirmed Bryan and Taback’s roles on Thursday.

"This is nothing new," says Bryan Spears. "This was a decision made some time ago and signed off on by Britney, before she was married to Kevin, before she had kids. As with anyone with a large trust, trustees were named. This is nothing new."

So what does it mean to be a trustee? Bryan and Taback have the power to pay for Britney's "continued security, medicine, food, other day-to-day expenses and for psychiatric and other medical services," according to court documents. Neither party can act unilaterally, but require "unanimous consent" with the other trustees to act. The documents also state that the trustees can't sell or lease Britney's home without a court order, nor can they remove any of Britney's property from California.

The trustee appointments were made a week after conservatorship attorneys were granted the right to fire Britney's business manager, Howard Grossman.

news source : http://www.people.com/