Britney's Legal Tab Breaks the Bank

Update

Britney's Legal Tab Breaks the Bank

Tue., Mar. 24, 2009 8:45 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

"Gimme More" isn't just a Britney Spears song title. It's her legal team's mantra.

According to court documents filed yesterday and obtained by the Los Angeles Times, the singer's estate has shelled out upward—most likely, way upward—of $2.7 million in legal fees for the first 11 months of her conservatorship.

Although it has been 14 months since the 27-year-old Spears was first placed under the court-ordered control of her father and an outside attorney, the fees from this year, already considerable thanks to ongoing litigation with Sam Lutfi and Adnan Ghalib, have yet to be submitted to the court.

Per the documents, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Britney's six-figures-and-rising bounty has been divvied up among 17 lawyers and firms.

View the documents

Attorneys representing father Jamie Spears submitted yesterday's filing. Among the line items was their own fee of $1 million. The figure, they claimed, reflected that the singer's mental health had continued "to mend," that she had regained "substantial visitation" with kids Sean Preston and Jayden James and that her once-waning career "has been revitalized" under their watchful—and expensive—eye.

"Since the initiation of the conservatorship, as a result of the concerted efforts of Mr. Spears as well as the professionals involved, all aspects of Ms. Spears' life have been stabilized and continue to improve," attorney Geraldine Wyle writes.

Wyle further backed the bill by adding that Spears continues to face "complex and challenging issues" that require outside counsel.

Here's a rundown of some of Spears' more notable legal costs:

$460,000: Cost of divorce and custody proceedings with Kevin Federline
$113,000: Cost of a Florida civil suit brought against Spears by her former manager
$26,000: Cost of Spears' headline-grabbing driving without a California license trial
$7,000: Cost of a legal dispute over mold in Spears' leased Malibu property
$102,000: Cost of Jamie Spears' attorneys during the first six months of conservatorship
$4,600: Cost to hire a private messenger service to confidentially deliver legal documents
$25: Cost to reserve private courthouse for legal proceedings to avoid media coverage (in retrospect, money not so well spent)

But while the Spearses' legal fees may be breaking the bank, Britney's trying her darndest to replenish her coffers.

Gary Bongiovanni, a spokesman for concert tracker Pollstar, tells E! News that, judging by the early numbers that have come in so far, Spears' Circus tour is doing her bank account good.

"From just one show in Tampa, Florida, on March 8th, she sold 19,845 tickets and made around 1.9 million dollars," Bongiovanni said. "If that is any indication of how the tour is doing, then we don't have to worry about Britney. Because of the economic environment, every tour can expect that some cities just won't sell out."

There are still 24 performances to go on the 36-date itinerary.

—Additional reporting by Ashley Fultz