Thursday, 11 October 2007

Britney Spears seeking expanded visitation with kids

Lawyers for both sides are due in court Thursday morning

Britney Spears's lawyer is expected in court Thursday morning after the pop star filed an emergency motion seeking expanded visitation rights with her sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.

Currently, she only has monitored visits roughly every other day, but cannot have the kids overnight.

According to her lawyer, Sorrell Trope, her chances of regaining 50-50 custody are "good, based on the overall circumstances of the case."

Spears, 25, has been passing her court-ordered random drug tests, Trope added, and there's been "no complaints" with regard to her parenting coach.

However, Federline's lawyer told PEOPLE, "If progress is made, we're happy with that. But nothing so far has happened to alter Kevin's request to the court [for a permanent primary custody arrangement]. It's [only] been a week."

Last weekend, the pop singer was reunited with her mother Lynne, 56, and spent quality time with sister Jamie Lynn, 16. Spears and her mother had a falling out in June and had not been seen together.

Last month, Commissioner Gordon ruled that Spears is a "habitual, frequent and continuous" user of alcohol and controlled substances, and ordered her to undergo twice-weekly random testing.

Two weeks later, she was temporarily stripped of custody, and Federline retains physical custody of the boys for now. On Oct. 3, Spears was granted monitored visitation rights with her sons, and must complete a litany of orders by the next hearing date of Oct. 26.

By Ken Lee