Britney Spears Loses Custody Battle

After months of courtroom drama and much speculation about her parenting abilities, Britney Spears was ordered Monday to surrender custody of her two children to her ex-husband, Kevin Federline.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon ruled that Federline will take custody of 2-year-old Sean Preston and 1-year-old Jayden James beginning Wednesday "until further order of the court," The Associated Press reported.

According to Beverly Hills family law attorney Daniel Jaffe, the judge has probably lost faith in the former pop princess's ability to be a fit parent.

"The court must have felt that the kids are in danger with her," Jaffe said. "This would be an unusual order, but, as you can see in the tabloids, she hasn't been behaving properly." "It sounds like the judge has basically given up on her, because she hasn't been complying with court orders," he added.

This is the latest development in the ongoing battle between Spears and Federline over the well-being of their children. In September, Gordon ordered Spears to meet with a parenting coach who was supposed to observe and report back to the court about her fitness as a parent. He said that both she and Federline had to complete the court's Parenting Without Conflict class.

The judge also ordered Spears to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week, because she was engaging in "habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol,"

Federline "is to retain physical custody of the minor children on Wednesday October 3, 2007 at 12:00 pm until further order of the court," the court documents said.

The divorce between Spears, 25, and Federline, 29, became final at the end of July, but their temporary shared custody arrangement for their sons began to unravel amid allegations from Federline's camp that Spears was an unfit mother.

A judge on September 18 ordered Spears to undergo random drug testing in the latest twist in the bitter custody battle over Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.

Los Angeles Superior Court judge Scott Gordon said at the time that according to evidence presented in closed door hearings, Spears was a "habitual, frequent, and continuous" user of "controlled substances and alcohol," court documents showed.

Her drug and alcohol testing was to be "conducted twice per week on random dates and times."

However, Tuesday's documents said the transcript of proceedings was "sealed" and gave no details about what led the court to change of custody order.

Earlier this month, a former Spears bodyguard had lodged a statement with the court making allegations of nudity and drug use, and expressing concern about the welfare of the Spears' sons.

Reports have said Federline had been seeking a 70/30 arrangement in his favor instead of the 50/50 agreement the couple agreed to after separating.

Spears and Federline were to be "restrained from making derogatory remarks about the other party and the other party's family or significant other," an earlier court order said.

Gordon, who also ordered Spears to see a therapist at least once a week, is requiring her to hire a parenting "coach," ordered the former couple to sign up for a Parenting Without Conflict program.

Spears filed for divorce last year from Federline, a former back-up dancer and aspiring rap singer, and has rarely been out of the tabloid headlines since -- especially following her downward spiral that landed her in a rehabilitation center in February.

Her stint in rehab followed a series of lurid tabloid headlines chronicling her erratic lifestyle.

She was repeatedly photographed in nightspots wearing no underwear, and was also captured bizarrely shaving her head in a hair salon and attacking a photographer's car with an umbrella.

She reportedly has had fallings out with both of her parents; media reports also speculated that she might suffer from post-partum depression or another psychiatric condition.

The loss of custody was the latest blow to Spears' image as she attempts to rebuild her sagging career ahead of the release in November of her first album in four years.

Just weeks ago, Spears' management company terminated a barely month-old contract with her, following heavily criticized public performance by the singer at the MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas.

The talented dancer and performer stunned many at the show by appearing not to know all the moves to her own number, or all the words to her own song.

Spears shot to superstardom in late 1998, with her smash-hit debut album "Baby One More Time" which she followed with another chart-topping success the following year, "Oops! ... I Did It Again".

According to Time magazine, Spears has sold over 76 million records worldwide and her 31 million albums sold in the US make her the eighth best-selling female artist in US music history.

On Sept. 22, Spears was charged with multiple misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run and driving without a valid license after she allegedly rammed her car into another in August. While that incident can't do anything to help her reputation in the public eye, Jaffe said, it probably didn't factor into Monday's court order.

Jaffe speculated that after Spears, 25, hands over custody of her sons to Federline, 29, a custody evaluator will be appointed to assess which parent will be better for the kids. It could take months before a final decision is made.

"That's a long process," Jaffe said. "Probably three to six months to get a full psychological report, at which time the psychological evaluator will tell the judge who is a more fit parent."