Britney Ordered to Pay the Legal Bills

The court commissioner who has been moderating the chaotic Britney Spears-Federline custody battle on Tuesday ordered the "Gimme Me" singer to cut K-Fed a $120,000 check for legal fees, according to court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. (View the ruling.)

Federline's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, had petitioned for $160,000 on Oct. 10, stating that his client had paid $31,900 and was "in immediate and dire need of attorneys' fees." Kaplan said that the former backup dancer has about $726,000 in assets but that $125,000 is already earmarked for other bills.

"Even if a party has the ability to pay his or her own fees, a disparity in the parties' respective circumstances may itself demonstrate relative 'need,'" Commissioner Scott M. Gordon wrote in his decision.

That "disparity" referring to the fact that Spears' monthly income equals Federline's entire net worth, as revealed in financial documents made public last week.

According to Spears' camp, the pop star has shelled out $225,279 for her own custody-related legal bills. She has been giving her ex $35,000 a month in spousal and child support, the $20,000 spousal portion of which expires on Nov. 15.

Both sides' attorneys have seemingly been working overtime since Oct. 1, when Federline was granted full custody of two-year-old Sean Preston and year-old Jayden James. The doting dad was spotted by paparazzi earlier Tuesday giving his kids a kiss before they were chauffeured off to their mom's house for one of the twice-weekly monitored visits she's been granted.

Gordon noted in his ruling that that the "vast majority of the post-judgment litigation deals with [Spears'] conduct." Meaning, it's the 25-year-old songstress who has kept the counsel burning the midnight oil.

As for the part of Spears' life that least resembles the twilight zone these days, industry analysts are projecting that Blackout, her first studio album in four years, is going to debut at the top of the Billboard 200 on Wednesday after moving about 290,000 copies.

Via eonline