March 18, 2008

Britney Spears Gets Discount On Kevin Federline's Legal Bills

By Jennifer Vineyard, with additional reporting by Todd Brown (MTV.com)

Two Los Angeles judges helped Britney Spears slash her expenses on Monday (March 17), while at the same time finalizing an extension of her restraining order against former de facto manager Sam Lutfi.

Commissioner Reva Goetz gave attorneys for the singer's conservatorship permission to sell off her vehicles, for unspecified reasons, while Commissioner Scott Gordon finally ruled on last week's request to reduce the bill for ex-husband Kevin Federline's legal fees, which Spears had been ordered to pay. Since Federline's attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan had asked to be paid between $450,000 and $500,000, and Spears' attorney Stacy Philips had said that was too high, Gordon helped the two parties reach a compromise, knocking the figure down to $375,000. (In comparison, she's spent more than $850,000 on her own custody teams.)

In his ruling, Gordon noted that it was Spears' "conduct" that had precipitated what he called a "tremendous amount" of legal proceedings, while Federline took care of the couple's children. As for Spears' attorney's complaint that Kaplan had increased his fee by bringing an associate to court, Gordon pointed out that prior to Philips becoming Spears' latest attorney, the singer's last firm Trope and Trope often represented her by bringing more than one attorney to court as well.

Since lawyers for both sides had reached an agreement over the weekend on the day's main order of business - extending Lutfi's restraining order - it was just a matter of submitting it to the court in Monday's hearing to finalize it. Lutfi agreed to stay at least 250 yards away from the singer and her home for another 30 days, per the terms of the temporary restraining order, which was initially issued in February at the request of Spears' parents.

"All sides agreed to the extension," Lutfi's spokesperson, Michael Sands, told MTV News. "We happily agreed. We're happy with the arrangement as it is right now. Sam just wants to be under the radar and for all of this to go away."

The next hearing to discuss extending the restraining order was set for April 16. The next matter that Spears has in court is on Thursday, for a misdemeanor charge of driving without a license.