LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles Superior Court spokesman says his office has been informed Britney Spears will not be in court this morning in downtown Los Angeles.
Spears filed an emergency court motion seeking to expand visitation rights with her children, the lawyer for ex-husband Kevin Federline said.
Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan, who told The Associated Press late Wednesday that he had received the motion, moved quickly past a throng of reporters as he arrived in court Thursday morning.
"Please let me in so I can talk to you later," he said as he made his way through the crowd. He added that Federline would not attend.
Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini said his office could find no paperwork regarding Thursday's matter, but that did not mean something had not been filed at the last minute. He said his office had been informed that Spears herself would not be attending.
Kaplan did not give specifics on what Spears was seeking, but criticized the move, pointing out that the judge's decision ordering her to relinquish custody of the children was barely a week old.
"I don't see any emergency or any new facts" in the case, said Kaplan in a telephone interview Wednesday. "We are going to oppose this."
Spears' attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.
Spears was ordered Oct. 1 to relinquish custody of her children by a court commissioner who had raised concerns about drug and alcohol use.
Superior Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon later granted some visitation rights to Spears, but a monitor must watch her when she is with 2-year-old Sean Preston and 1-year-old Jayden James.
The visits could be cut short if the monitor decides any behavior or action by Spears endangers the children.
The next custody hearing had been set for Oct. 26, but Spears' emergency motion sees the case return to the courtroom ahead of that date.
Gordon had previously said Spears engaged in "habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol" and ordered her to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week as part of her ongoing custody dispute with Federline.
Spears, 25, and Federline, 29, were married in October 2004. They divorced in July.
Spears' private woes have played out publicly as a bevy of photographers and videographers follow her whenever she leaves home.
First she was photographed minus panties at various Hollywood hotspots partying hard with Paris Hilton - appearing drunk and out-of-control. Then Spears shaved her head as paparazzi captured the moment, beat a car with an umbrella and ended up spending a month in rehab.
Her performance at an MTV Video Music Awards last month was meant to mark her comeback. However it was widely panned, with Spears appearing spaced-out, lethargic and, to some, out of shape. The following week, Spears' management firm dropped her and her divorce lawyer resigned.
She has also been charged with misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run and driving without a valid license for allegedly crashing into a parked car in August.
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Associated Press reporters Peter Prengaman and Raquel Maria Dillon contributed to this story.
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