Britney Spears is expected to address a judge overseeing the conservatorship that has controlled her money and affairs since 2008, in the case’s most anticipated hearing in years.

If Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny does not make a last-minute decision today (23 June) to seal the proceedings, Spears’ words will be heard in open court for the first time in the 13-year conservatorship.

The hearing has been eagerly awaited by the fans in the #FreeBritney movement, who feel she is being controlled unfairly against her will and are likely to gather outside the courthouse in large numbers.

Spears, who is scheduled to take part remotely, asked for the hearing so she could address the court directly.

Her court-appointed attorney, Samuel Ingham III, made the request at an April 28 hearing. He gave no indication of what the 39-year-old pop star wants to say.

But in recent court filings, Spears has sought a greater say over who runs the conservatorship, and has asked that her father, who had extensive power over her life and money for most of its existence, be removed.

Spears said through Ingham that she fears her father James Spears, and would not end a two-and-a-half year pause on her career as long as he has control over it.

The judge declined to remove James Spears entirely, though he now plays a smaller role. He serves as co-conservator of her finances along with estate management firm the Bessemer Trust, and in 2019 relinquished his role as conservator over his daughter’s life choices to a court-appointed professional.

She has spoken in court in the conservatorship before, but the courtroom was always cleared and transcripts sealed.

The last time she was known to have addressed the judge was in May 2019.

Spears has since requested greater transparency from the court since then.

Earlier this week, it emerged that Spears had reportedly “expressed serious opposition to the conservatorship earlier and more often than had previously been known”.

According to The New York Times, Spears, who has overall refrained from making public statements about the situation, once told a court investigator that she wanted the conservatorship to end as soon as possible.

Jamie Spears and his attorneys have stressed that the pop star and her fortune, which court records put at more than $50m (£36m), remain vulnerable to fraud and manipulation. Under the law, the burden would be on Spears to prove she is competent to be released and free to make her own choices.

Spears is expected to appear in court at around 4.30pm EST (9.30pm BST).

Additional reporting by Associated Press