Britney Spears wasn’t behind petition to end conservatorship, new docs show - Yahoo Entertainment

Britney Spears didn't petition to end her conservatorship — nor did any other of the major players involved.

Ahead of the highly anticipated June 23 hearing in her case, at which the 39-year-old pop star is expected to break her silence, a mystery petition was filed to terminate the controversial conservatorship that spawned the #FreeBritney movement.The question was who filed it — as even Spears's lawyer didn't know — and now we have an answer.

In the filing — which was held up because the petitioner claimed not to have the $90 filing fee, which the court ultimately waived — Wantuch calls for the global super star to be terminated from the conservatorship of her person only, not the conservatorship of her estate.

(Spears has two conservatorships. The one over her person, overseen by professional conservator Jodi Montgomery, to make decisions about the star's daily needs, including her health care, housing and safe-keeping. The second conservatorship is of her estate, run by Jamie Spears and Bessemer Trust, and oversees her financial empire.).

Wantuch lists himself an "interested party" in the filing, declaring that he's a "friend," "debtor" and "heir" of Spears's who's acting "in the interest of justice." He states he has personal knowledge that Spears "may have been suffering from severe depression" when she was placed in the conservatorship in 2008.

Ingham III, has not yet responded to our request for comment about the petition.

When the petition first surfaced, before the petitioner's identity was known and the document was filed, Ingham said, "I don’t know anything about this filing.".

The court can dispense of the petition quickly if his claim that he's a “friend," "debtor" and "heir" is disproved.

So who could petition to end the conservatorship.

"A member of the public might have standing to bring the petition, but that person must have personal knowledge of the facts stated in the declaration supporting the petition," Melcher says.

In April, Ingham told Judge Brenda Penny that Spears wants to address the court about the "status of the conservatorship" — for the first time since she tried to remove her dad as co-conservator of her estate last fall — and that is set to take place June 23 at 1:30 p.m.

Spears's dad, from whom the entertainer is estranged, has said through his attorney that his daughter can end her conservatorship at any time, noting she's "always had this right" but has "never exercised it." Ingham has said Spears is in a "voluntary" conservatorship, seeming to suggest Spears finds some benefit in having a conservator, but wants a say in who it is. .

However, the conservatorship comes at a big cost to Spears.

On Thursday, Spears said she has "no idea" if she'll ever return to the stage again while answering a series of fan questions.

“Rick Leventhal’s work as a senior correspondent for Fox News Channel has been remarkable,” said a spokesperson for the network Thursday.

In another victory for religious groups at the Supreme Court, the justices on Thursday unanimously sided with a Catholic foster care agency that says its religious views prevent it from working with same-sex couples

The court said the city of Philadelphia wrongly limited its relationship with the group as a result of the agency's policy