The question of who should control Britney Spears' affairs was posed in a court filing Friday, as her parents made a surprise appearance at a conservatorship hearing while their daughter was under psychiatric evaluation in a nearby Conservatorships are created to care for people deemed by a court to be incapable of taking care of themselves or managing their finances. A court appoints another individual or organization to act as the person's "conservator," taking charge of the person's care or finances or, in some cases, both.