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The Britney effect: Conservatorships get scrutiny
“布兰妮效应”：保育权受到审查
Pop star Britney Spears made headlines when she spoke out against the legal authority her father wields over her finances and personal affairs in June, after 13 years of near-silence on the matter. Ms. Spears called her court-appointed conservatorship “abusive” and asked a judge to terminate the arrangement. On Thursday, her father, Jamie Spears, agreed to step aside as conservator, ahead of a Sept. 29 hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court. Her comments, which she reiterated in a July 14 court hearing, have shined a new light on conservatorships, reinvigorating long-standing calls for legal reform.
流行歌手布兰妮在沉默了13年之后于今年6月上了头条新闻：她公开反对父亲在她的财务和个人事务上拥有的法律权力。斯皮尔斯女士称，法庭为她指定的托管属于“滥用职权”，并要求法官终止这一安排。周四，她的父亲杰米·斯皮尔斯（Jamie Spears）在于洛杉矶高等法院29日举行听证会之前，同意辞去监管员一职。她在7月14日的法庭听证会上重申了自己的观点，这一言论让人们对托管问题有了新的认识，并重新唤起人们长期以来对法律改革的呼吁。
Conservatorships, sometimes referred to as guardianships, involve the appointment of a legal guardian who manages a person’s finances, personal needs, or both. Typically, they are approved by court order after a person is found incompetent to manage their own affairs, such as a person diagnosed with dementia or with developmental disabilities.
保管权，有时被称为监护权，涉及到指定一个法定监护人来管理一个人的财务、个人需求或两者均有。通常情况下，当一个人被发现没有能力管理自己的事务时，比如一个人被诊断患有痴呆症或发育障碍时，他们才会得到法院命令的批准。
Such arrangements are only supposed to be granted as a “last resort,” says Nina Kohn, a professor at Syracuse University who specializes in elder law. However, Ms. Kohn notes that courts often grant conservatorships without exploring all other options. “Nobody should be subject to guardianship or conservatorship unless there is no other way to meet their needs,” she says. “For many individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their needs can be met without stripping them of any legal rights.”
妮娜•科恩，作为锡拉丘兹大学专门研究老年法的教授表示，这样的安排只能在“最后的手段”下才会被批准。不过，科恩女士指出法院经常在没有考虑（探索）其他所有选择的情况下就授予了托管权。“除非没有其他办法满足他们的需求，否则任何人都不应该受到监护或托管。”她说。“对于许多有智力和发育障碍的人来说，他们的需求可以在不剥夺他们任何法律权利的情况下得到满足。”
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