Home : Britney Spears : Brit to Lawyers: Dang, Stop Dinging Me With Fees

Brit to Lawyers: Dang, Stop Dinging Me With Fees

Posted Mar 7th 2008 11:54AM by TMZ Staff

Britney SpearsTMZ has learned Britney Spears' conservators are ballistic over the legal bills she is being asked to pay in her custody fight -- bills totaling more than a million bucks for a five-month period.

Sources tell us the conservators have filed documents with the court and will appear on Monday, challenging lawyers' fees in the case. K-Daddy's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, has asked for around $500,000 for the five-month period from October 2007 through February 2008 and has filed papers demanding that Brit pay his bill. The court has ordered Brit to pay K-Fed's reasonable attorney's fees.

We're told Brit's last law firm, Trope and Trope, has billed her more than $600,000.

Sources say the conservators feel they're being fleeced and the bills are inflated. In particular, they're upset that multiple lawyers on Brit's side have attended various court hearings -- they say unnecessarily. The conservators will argue this is a simple custody case and bills of that magnitude are simply outrageous.



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46. How many times did she not show up for court? Did she think that was all free? Having a team of lawyers on retainer 24/7 isn't cheap.

Posted at 12:45PM on Mar 7th 2008 by Whatever!

47. If she wasnt a homewrecker in the first place none of this would be happening...

Posted at 12:46PM on Mar 7th 2008 by Star

48. I hope the conservators win big on this! I think it is outrageous that Brittany has to pay for K-Feds attorneys. Let HIM pay for them. I bet that would end a whole lot of legal wrangling FAST. All these attorneys are criminal! Plus you'd think she would be sick to death of paying all this and straghten up. I truly hope & pray she gets her act together fast & never gives Kfed another reason to hold any thing over her head & then SHE will have the power. I think kfed will have her in courst until her boys turn legal!!!! It is free publicity for him & his skanky lawyers.

Posted at 8:55PM on Mar 13th 2008 by awave

49. If K-fed were paying Kapass out of his own pocket , Kaplan would not even represent K-fed!

Both sides , T&T and Kaplan, were more than likely in the KNOW re: Lutfi and his drugging-Pap-Crazy Train tricks! I'll bet they had side deals w/lutfi so that lutfi would make sure Brit was ZONKED out the days for court appearances and verbally scaring the s**t out of her! or something like that. So that the lawyers could keep adding up more court days-Billable Hours etc.

There is an abuse of system going on here!

Hope the Judge isn't part of this travesty!!!

LAWYERS_ what do you think about the conservators chances?!

Posted at 12:53PM on Mar 7th 2008 by itsy

50. "Millionaire"
"Billionaire"
"Wealthy"
"Uniform"

add to "cupid" "dating" "match" or "singles" and you have the address for a HACKER VIRUS SITE

"I saw his/her profile on my virus hacker web site!"
"I chatted with him / her last week on my virus hacker web site!"
"Did you know his/her profile is on my virus hacker web site?"
"He / she is very pretty. I saw her on this virus hacker website..."
"Can you believe she posts on my hacker virus website?"

All these clever posts are trying to trick you into clicking their HACKER VIRUS SITE and infecting your hard drive and stealing your identity.

DON'T FALL FOR IT

Posted at 12:56PM on Mar 7th 2008 by BillyBong

51. Even though I feel sorry for her. ITS ALL HER FAULT. Just like previous post

* How many times has she WASTED TAX PAYERS MONEY by not showing up to court.
* How many times has she WASTED TAX PAYERS MONEY by taking and treating these legal hearings as a joke
* How many times have the TAX PAYERS of LA flipped the bill for her to make the cops prtotect hers ass because she wants to be the center of attention...

Posted at 12:56PM on Mar 7th 2008 by Weezy

52. if they're so worried about the bill, hire an attorney out of the yellow pages, they charge less! you go big you pay big zitface!

Posted at 12:57PM on Mar 7th 2008 by poobear

53. bitch should pony up the money for making a mess of her childrens lives...

Posted at 1:32PM on Mar 7th 2008 by yep

54. The people who think Britney is not at fault are the same people who thought it was ok for her to sleep with a pregnant womans man so their opinions dont mean anything anyway. No morals, values, or opnions that matter

Posted at 1:04PM on Mar 7th 2008 by Star

55. Stealing from Britney?

Oh please ...

[1] Good attorneys arent cheap. You want a Hyundai with Lexus results? Aint gonna happen
[2] Not cooperating - dont you remember that Brit's lawyers fired her for not communicating and cooperating? How much time (and therefore $$$) do you think that wasted?
[3] Drawn out - lets see - months of attorney usage based on billable hours = big $$$
[4] Pay K-feds fees - of course - she lost - she needs to pay other parties court/attorney costs

If the skank wanted it cheap, she should have gone to mediation ... bit she doesnt seem to have enough brains to even contemplate that one.

If she's short on money, maybe she can cut back on the Starbucks lattes.

Posted at 1:04PM on Mar 7th 2008 by Donk

56. "Britney is also my favorite. It seems she is dating online now. I saw her profile on....."

It seems these idiots will do anything to get people to these stupid dating /hacker websites. it also seems that their English is awkward so my guess is, English is not their native language.

BillyBong is right. Dont fall for this crap, folks. Maybe these stupid ads will eventually go away. Apparently TMZ is not doing anything to get rid of them.

Posted at 1:08PM on Mar 7th 2008 by SmokingJoe

57. Unfortunately, high legal fees are the consequence of Britney's action which required so many different hearings and legal maneuvers on her behalf by the lawyers. This is what it costs for a high profile celebrity's legal antics. Normal people do not do things that rack up the bills like this. And top legal counsel does cost a great deal. There are thousands of lawyers who dont charge the highest fees for this work for the rest of us to hire, but celebrity types and in the LA area want the highest profile attys and this is normal, its what they cost. Not only that, but because of her many erratic actions, the lawyers had a duty to do take every action possible to protect and defend her rights, however costly it was. You, me and the rest of us may freak out about the amount of legal fees but the reality is this is a totally top echelon arena. It does not compare to the ordinary person's ordinary custody case.

Posted at 1:10PM on Mar 7th 2008 by oneforjustice

58. I understand divorce is not easy and can be expensive, but it seems Lutfi came into her life a little after her divorce . Then the Crazy began to escalate! And Kaplan was probably Soooooo happy Lutfictious was Britney's mgr.! AND Trope (we dont want Brit as a client...OH , Wait, she's going crazy...Uh, Judge we DOOO want to rep Ms. Britney Spears! We ARE her lawyers and she DOES need representation , your honor), then Streisand , Eardley and whom ever else Osama has waiting in the wings---all lining up like Bums at a (Brit) soup kitchen! Disgusting.

This is wrong. I believe there was collusion and taking advantage of a sick person seems like abuse.

Posted at 1:16PM on Mar 7th 2008 by anonymous

59. she didn't think anyone was being scalped when parents are dumb enough to spend money on her music and concerts for their spoiled brats-get a brain and quit crying in your starbucks. easy come-easygo!

Posted at 1:19PM on Mar 7th 2008 by missydo

60. Not Sams fault, she has a brain just because she doesnt want to use it, doesnt mean its ok to blame others

Posted at 1:19PM on Mar 7th 2008 by Star

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