Magazine asks for access to Britney's divorce papers

A US court commissioner said he would consider a motion by a magazine and a TV station to make documents in the Britney Spears-Kevin Federline divorce and custody case public.

“They’re appropriate participants in here,” Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon said yesterday of the request by People magazine and KNBC, on behalf of the celebrity news show “Access Hollywood”.

Spears and Federline were not present for the hearing. Gordon delayed ruling on a request by their lawyers that a conditional order made on July 30 to seal the records be made permanent.

The commissioner scheduled another hearing for September 14 to give the lawyers time to make their case for keeping the documents under seal.

After the hearing, Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said the documents contain information about the schedules of the couple’s children and other details that could put the youngsters in jeopardy.

“It would be best for the children that they not be exposed,” Kaplan said.

He gave no specific examples of threats to the children.

Laura Wasser, lawyer for Spears, did not address reporters at the courthouse and did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Lawyer Alonzo Wickers, who represents KNBC and People magazine, said in an interview that attorneys for the former couple have not been able to prove that their concerns outweigh the public's right of access to court records.

"Celebrities have to meet the same high burden to justify the sealing of court records” as other people, he said.

Spears’ divorce from rapper and dancer Federline became official on July 30.

Since February, Spears, 25, and Federline, 29, have shared joint custody of their sons, 22-month-old Sean Preston and 10-month-old Jayden James.

Kaplan said Federline is seeking additional custody because the two boys are “isolated from risks” when they are with his client. He declined to elaborate.

A hearing on the custody modification request is set for September 17.