Kevin Federline is ready to let Britney Spears back into the picture.
Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said Friday that the two sides have worked out a modified agreement that will soon allow the singer to spend time with her sons for the first time in almost two months.
He didn't go into details but sources say Britney will have limited monitored visits with two-year-old Sean Preston and 17-month-old Jayden James.
The court commissioner still has to sign off on the deal and fax it over, Kaplan told E! News Friday. When that happens, "Ms. Spears will be seeing her boys very soon after that. But it's not a total done deal yet."
As for reports that father Jamie Spears and a psychiatrist will also be along on those proposed visits, Kaplan said, "It will involve many more specific terms to be met than just those two people in the room. We have put lots of specific terms, conditions and protections in place to make visitation happen in the safest way possible.
"None of this would have happened if Jamie Spears had not been involved. That's for sure," Kaplan added. "He gets a lot of credit for helping make this happen. But we've worked very hard with the conservator lawyers, as well, to make this all work."
Score one for the conservatorship, apparently. While Britney may be simultaneously trying to retake the control she lost to her dad when she was hospitalized Jan. 31, her custody-related legal team has also been working hard this week to get her some face time with her kids.
"I think that both sides agree that visitation would be what's best for the children," Kaplan told E! News earlier Friday, before the deal was announced. "Certainly that's something that she keenly desires to have start as soon as possible."
All parties just want to "assure that there will be continuity and stability," he said. "They say the devil's in the details, so that's what everyone's working on right now."
Federline has had sole custody since October, and Spears hasn't seen Sean and Jayden since Jan. 3, after she refused to allow Federline's bodyguard to pick up the boys after one of her monitored visits and she ended up under observation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
The troubles songstress was stripped of her visitation privileges and has only been allowed to contact the boys by phone.
But while Federline seems to have things under control—"A hands-on dad…He's with the kids 24/7," Kaplan said—the consensus is that Sean and Jayden shouldn't be without their mom for too long.
"Kevin looks forward to developments in the future whereby the children will have a mother who will participate in their lives," said Kaplan, who has been meeting with Britney's outgoing and incoming family attorneys, Anne Kiley and Stacy Phillips, to fashion a visitation game plan. "That's his goal, that's [Jamie Spears'] goal, that's her lawyer's goal. So, in that regard, we are all on the same page."
And the fact that Jamie is temporarily in charge of his daughter's finances and general welfare hasn't exactly been a bad thing, as far as Federline's camp is concerned.
"With Jamie as the conservator, it puts a lot of different dynamics into the case that were necessary but not present before," Kaplan said.
"Obviously, Jamie is somebody who is reliable, that has the best interest of the petitioner in mind. He has, so to speak, cleaned house and got everyone away from her that he didn't feel were necessarily acting in her best interests."
So, it seems pretty clear as to where Kaplan stands as far as Britney pal Sam Lutfi, who under a temporary restraining order is prohibited from approaching the singer until at least Mar. 17, is concerned.
"The fact that he's served is a good thing," Kaplan said. "I think it just gives the conservator more control over the situation and certainly protects against outside contact that probate court is trying to stop."
But as far as Britney's time with Sean and Jayden is concerned, Jamie's increased influence in the Blackout popster's life is a good thing, not least because Jamie and Lynne Spears have already been cultivating their relationship with the kids while they've been staying at K-Fed's house.
"I think that his presence in the case is an extreme positive, and it helps to stabilize a situation that was wildly in flux," Kaplan said. "At least I don't have to be nervous about what [the] situation is over at the residence where visitation might be taking place.
"When I'm nervous, it's not necessarily a good thing. You have children in the middle and you always have to keep a view of that. You can't go into court, regardless of how impassioned your plea is, with something you know is not reasonably going to be perceived as what is best for the children."
And perhaps with mom back in the picture, dad will be able to pursue some of the film, TV and even stage offers Kaplan says is coming Federline's way these days.
"I don't think it will affect the kids, because what he takes will be based in part on his availability to be there," he said. "That's extremely important to him. He certainly wouldn't take any offer that would deprive the children of his presence."
The next hearing in the Spears-Federline custody case is set for Mar. 10.
Britney has yet to undergo a court-ordered evaluation, the report from which must be turned in 10 days prior to the hearing, Kaplan said. The evaluation will be a "key ingredient" in determining Britney's readiness to care for her children.
(Originally published Feb. 22, 2008 at 5:08 p.m. PT)