Britney Spears Reports to Court…Briefly

By: Shannon Gossage

Spears, 26, was not legally required to attend the child custody hearing, but she would’ve had the opportunity to plead her case and try and regain some visitation rights. Spears did not show up for the morning session and reportedly had no plans to do so. Her ex-husband Kevin Federline, 29, arrived at the Los Angeles County Courthouse Monday morning at around 9 a.m., a half-hour before the hearing began. It was reported that Spears’ lawyer, Sorrell Trope, contact Spears and urged her to attend the afternoon session.

Spears reportedly pulled up to the courthouse around 1:15 p.m. and was greeted by swarms of paparazzi. Her car reportedly entered the garage, quickly exited, and began driving around. Allegedly Spears was spotted getting out of the car, but quickly got back in. The car drove off about a half-hour later without Spears making an appearance at the courthouse. Spears’ visitation rights were revoked after she had a major meltdown on January 3 and refused to return sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to Federline’s custody. Spears was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a four-hour standoff with police at her home in Studio City. She was briefly hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation before checking herself out of the hospital.

Federline’s attorney immediately requested that Spears visitation rights be terminated until the next hearing in April. Before Monday’s hearing Kaplan said, "She will have the opportunity to persuade the court that she can have some visitation under monitored conditions." Federline has full-custody of the boys and it seems as if it will remain that way until Spears can get her act together.