Britney Spears tells judge she wants to charge father with 'conservatorship abuse'

Britney Spears can hire her own attorney in her battle to end the conservatorship she's been under for the last 13 years, a Los Angeles County judge ruled on Wednesday.

Samuel Ingham was made Spears' court-appointed counsel in 2008, and earlier this month, he filed a petition to resign, effective once a new counsel was appointed for the pop singer. Spears has retained Mathew Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor who was at Wednesday's hearing. During a hearing in June, Spears made her request for new representation, and also told Judge Brenda Penny the conservatorship was "traumatizing" and "abusive" and she wanted her father, Jamie Spears, removed as her conservator.

Spears spoke to the court again on Wednesday, calling into the hearing. She said she wanted to "charge my father with conservatorship abuse" and "press charges against my father today. I want an investigation into my dad." Spears previously said she was being blocked from getting married and having more children, and had an IUD that she wanted removed but was being forced to keep in. "If this is not abuse, I don't know what is," she told Penny on Wednesday.

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After the hearing, Rosengart said Jamie Spears should voluntarily step down as conservator, as it is in "the best interest" of his client. If he doesn't, "we will be moving promptly and aggressively for his removal," Rosengart said. "The question remains, why is he involved?"