LOS ANGELES – Britney Spears’ best chance of regaining visitation rights with her two sons is in court – but whether she’ll be there is anyone’s guess.
Spears is scheduled to appear Monday morning for what an attorney described Sunday as “the most significant hearing in the case so far” in the pop star’s effort to regain visitation rights.
But Spears has had trouble making recent court dates: On Dec. 12, she called in sick for a court-ordered deposition, then arrived nearly two hours late on its rescheduled date, Jan. 3.
“I don’t know if she will be there” on Monday, Kevin Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan told The Associated Press. “You can’t phone this one in.”
Police and emergency medical technicians who were summoned to her home the night of Jan. 3 in a standoff involving her refusal to return the boys to ex-husband Federline will testify Monday, probably behind closed doors, Kaplan said.
If Spears comes to court, Kaplan said she would be expected to testify. “She will have the opportunity to persuade the court that she can have some visitation under monitored conditions,” he said.
Phone and e-mail messages requesting comment from Spears’ attorneys Sunday afternoon were not immediately returned.
Kaplan said he knew it was only a temporary measure when he obtained emergency court orders two weeks ago granting sole physical and legal custody to Federline.
Police were called by a court appointed monitor on Jan. 3 when Spears refused to hand over Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2, to Federline’s security guard. She locked herself in a room with one of the boys.
Spears was taken to a hospital in an ambulance chased by photographers and was placed on an involuntary hold on grounds she was a danger to herself or others. Spears left Cedars-Sinai Medical Center a day and half later.
The day after the incident, Kaplan presented papers to Commissioner Scott Gordon, who awarded sole legal and physical custody of the boys to Federline and suspended Spears’ visitation rights.
Kaplan said if visitation is restored, it would be under more restrictions than those originally imposed by Gordon.
