Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz granted Britney Spears’ father Jamie Spears indefinite control of the pop-singer’s financial affairs, by extending the conservatorship beyond the year 2008.

Initially, the latter had been scheduled to be ceased at the end of this year, on December 31, but attorneys' recommendations and several medical evaluations Britney has undergone lately have shown that the decision to render the conservatorship permanent was necessary.

Ever since February, Jamie Spears has been controlling his daughter’s affairs, after Britney’s already rife with major issues life took a turn for the worst.

The singer has agreed to leave her financial affairs completely in his father’s hands, after all the details of the conservatorship were thoroughly explained to her. The measure entails, among other things, that Britney is exempt (at least until February 2009) from sworn testimony in court cases. This means that she would not be called to the stand in the lawsuit filed by one of Spears’ former managers against her, even though the manager’s attorneys tried to force her to deliver a deposition in the case.

Britney has the option to request that the conservatorship be removed later on, but in case she does not take any action with regards to the matter, the decision is to be considered a lifetime measure.

Britney Spears rose to fame in 1999, when she released her first album „...Baby One More Time,” after having signed a recording contract with Jive Records.

From then on, all eyes have been on the pop icon, who was only seventeen when the wings of stardom touched her.

Nevertheless, it seems that always being in the spotlight started to take its toll on Britney a few years ago, given that since 2004 her personal life has come into more media attention than her singing career.

On January 3, 2004, Britney married childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander at The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, the marriage having ended in annulment only 55 hours later.

In July that same year, she became engaged to Kevin Federline, whom she had met just three months before. On September 18, the two got married and one year later, the couple’s first child was born.

Two years later, in September 2006, Spears became mother of two, when Sean’s baby brother Jayden James Federline saw the light of day for the first time.

Nevertheless, 2007 was the year when things went from bad to worse for Britney. She admitted herself to a drug rehabilitation center twice within only one week, after her aunt Sandra Bridges Covington died of ovarian cancer on January 21, 2007. Moreover, she divorced Kevin Federline and also lost the custody battle for her two sons.

This year, though, after everything had fallen apart, Spears gradually resumed control of both her personal life and her career. On July 18, she reached a custody settlement with Federline and regained her visitation rights, while on September 7, she won the Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video Of The Year Video Music Awards for her „Piece of Me” single.

Britney Spears’ new album is slated for release on December 2, 2008, when the singer turns 27 years old.