Spears' Father Gets $2,500 Per Week

LOS ANGELES — Being Britney Spears' father is now a paying gig _ through most of the summer, at least. A court has ordered the troubled pop star's estate to pay James Spears' $2,500 in weekly compensation and authorized him to lease a car. On Wednesday, his authority to handle his daughter's affairs, which was scheduled to expire March 10, was extended until July 31. Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz ordered the weekly payments in documents released by the court Thursday but signed on Wednesday. James Spears, who recently worked as a caterer, was named conservator of his daughter and co-conservator of her estate after she was hospitalized twice in January. Goetz also ordered Spears' estate to make a $58,800 payment to Samuel D. Ingham III, the court-appointed attorney who represents Britney Spears in the conservatorship case. She also authorized the pop star's psychiatrist to hire two other doctors and pay them retainers totaling $9,000 from her estate. An ... (link)