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Britney's Custody Hearing Continued

BY LINDA DEUTSCH, AP
FEBRUARY 4, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Britney Spears' child custody hearing was quickly continued Monday after a closed-door meeting between her lawyers, her ex-husband and her conservators.

"In the end, no change was made," court spokesman Allan Parachini said. Another hearing was set for Feb. 19.

A separate hearing was scheduled for Monday afternoon to deal with the issue of conservatorship of Spears and her estate.

Spears remained hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation and did not attend the hearing that was closed to the press and public. It had been scheduled before Spears was hospitalized.

"It's a very fluid landscape that's changing day by day," said lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan, who represents Spears' ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Kaplan said he was not being given information on Spears' condition.

Spears' father, James, and her attorney, Andrew Wallet, were granted temporary conservatorship Friday after Court Commissioner Reva Goetz ruled that Spears needed someone to take over her personal and financial affairs. The conservatorship was to remain in effect until another hearing was held.

Meanwhile, Spears current stay in a psychiatric ward was extended for two weeks under a state law that allows patients to be kept for medical treatment if they are found to be gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others, a person close to the pop star told The Associated Press.

Spears was originally to be released Sunday from UCLA Medical Center's psychiatric ward after undergoing a 72-hour mental evaluation. But doctors and a ward medical officer cited California law to keep her longer, said the person close to Spears, who requested anonymity.

Monday's custody hearing had been meant to deal with efforts by Spears' legal team to withdraw from the case, but the lawyers abandoned that effort last week and took it off the court calendar.

Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon barred Spears from contact with her two small children after she refused last month to relinquish the children to representatives of Federline after a court-sanctioned visit.

On that occasion, she was also taken to a hospital for psychiatric observation but quickly released.

***

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen contributed to this report.


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