Britney Spears Denied Visitation

By: Shannon Gossage

Spears has been battling ex-husband Kevin Federline for custody of their two young sons 2-year old Sean Preston and 1-year old Jayden James, since they split in November 2006. Spears lost custody of the boys and was relegated to monitored visitation with a court appointed monitor. She then lost all visitation rights after her January 3 four-hour standoff with police when she refused to return the boys to Federline’s custody. She is currently only allowed phone contact with the boys and has not seen them since January 3. Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon refused to grant Spears any visitation rights with the boys at the hearing Tuesday, and ruled she is still only allowed phone contact with them.

Federline’s attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said after the hearing, "Both sides want to see the day when visitation can renew and the question of working out the details of how that would be implemented will probably take some time. But not that much time, hopefully." He added, "We are working to expedite that process, as it would be in the best interests of the boys."

Spears has been admitted twice to the psych ward at UCLA medical Center since last month. The court session was scheduled before her second trip. Federline is seeking full custody and reportedly fears for the boy’s safety if they are allowed to see Spears. His attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, will reportedly request a full psychological evaluation of Spears before there is any talk of visitation with the children. A request for a gag order in the case was thrown out by Commissioner Gordon. Spears attorney Sorrell Trope was also replaced by attorney Stacy D. Phillips. Trope quit after complaining that he had troubles communicating with Spears.