Spears must go to court for custody of kids

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhuanet)-- U.S. pop singer Britney Spears would have to appear in court in person on Monday if she wants to restore the right to see her children, media reported.
"I don't know if she will be there," Federline's attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan was quoted as saying.
If she comes to court, she "will have the opportunity to persuade the court that she can have some visitation under monitored conditions," said Kaplan, adding that it will be "the most significant hearing in the case so far."
Police were preparing for possible media frenzy in the downtown civic center if Spears appears. They issued warnings on Sunday that vehicle and pedestrian violations would lead to summons.
On Jan. 3, Spears refused to return the boys to her ex-husband Kevin Federline at her home. Later there was a standoff, and Spears was sent to hospital in an ambulance.
On Jan. 4, her former husband Federline was awarded sole legal and physical custody of their two boys and Spears' visitation rights were suspended.

Mommy dumbest

LOS ANGELES - A court commissioner gave sole physical and legal custody of Britney Spears’ two little boys yesterday to ex-husband Kevin Federline and suspended the troubled pop star’s visitation rights.
Spears was hauled away from her home to a hospital by paramedics a day before, after police had to intervene when she refused to return the children to Federline after a court-monitored visit.
Commissioner Scott Gordon ordered another hearing to be held Jan. 14.
Federline had previously been awarded temporary custody of 2-year-old Sean Preston and 1-year-old Jayden James because Spears has defied court orders, resulting in limitations on her visitation.
“I’m not happy about any of these events,” Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said when he left a closed-door emergency hearing yesterday afternoon. “There’s no winners here.”
Federline was not in court for the hearing, Kaplan said.
The attorney had said he did not expect the ruling to be released until Monday, but it was issued shortly after the hearing concluded.
Law professor Steve Cron, who is not involved in the Spears-Federline matter, predicted that Spears - who was not arrested - will face sanctions from the court for her behavior.
“My guess is that she won’t be seeing her kids for a while,” said Cron, who teaches at Pepperdine University in Malibu.
Gordon has little option other than to further reduce the time Spears can legally spend with her children, Cron said, “at least for the time being until she gets some help. She’s obviously a very troubled person.”
The 26-year-old pop star remained hospitalized yesterday.
Her latest troubles began around 8 p.m. Thursday when officers were called to her home to help resolve a dispute over her refusal to turn the children over to Federline, as dictated by their custody agreement.
It took two to three hours to resolve the conflict, said Officer Ana Aguirre.
“There was a time where she was within the residence and wasn’t available to be speaking to the officers, apparently,” she said. “There was no threat to the children.”
Early police reports said officers thought Spears might have been under the influence of some substance, but Aguirre said there was no evidence of that.
“Our understanding is that was not the case,” she said.

Officers at the scene determined that paramedics “needed to be called,” but it was unclear why, she said.
“We’re not aware of any type of injuries that she sustained” and she was not combative with authorities, Aguirre said.