Britney Spears Loses Custody Battle

After months of courtroom drama and much speculation about her parenting abilities, Britney Spears was ordered Monday to surrender custody of her two children to her ex-husband, Kevin Federline.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon ruled that Federline will take custody of 2-year-old Sean Preston and 1-year-old Jayden James beginning Wednesday "until further order of the court," The Associated Press reported.

According to Beverly Hills family law attorney Daniel Jaffe, the judge has probably lost faith in the former pop princess's ability to be a fit parent.

"The court must have felt that the kids are in danger with her," Jaffe said. "This would be an unusual order, but, as you can see in the tabloids, she hasn't been behaving properly." "It sounds like the judge has basically given up on her, because she hasn't been complying with court orders," he added.

This is the latest development in the ongoing battle between Spears and Federline over the well-being of their children. In September, Gordon ordered Spears to meet with a parenting coach who was supposed to observe and report back to the court about her fitness as a parent. He said that both she and Federline had to complete the court's Parenting Without Conflict class.

The judge also ordered Spears to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week, because she was engaging in "habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol,"

Federline "is to retain physical custody of the minor children on Wednesday October 3, 2007 at 12:00 pm until further order of the court," the court documents said.

The divorce between Spears, 25, and Federline, 29, became final at the end of July, but their temporary shared custody arrangement for their sons began to unravel amid allegations from Federline's camp that Spears was an unfit mother.

A judge on September 18 ordered Spears to undergo random drug testing in the latest twist in the bitter custody battle over Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.