Britney Spears' father will retain broad control of the troubled pop singer's financial and business affairs until at least July 31, court sources told AFP Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Superior Court said the court on Wednesday extended Jamie Spears's control over his 26-year old singer's estate, but declined to provide additional details.

He was granted conservatorship of Spears's assets last month, after she was admitted to the psychiatric unit of a Los Angeles hospital.

Spears's career has been locked in a downward spiral since her split from her now-ex husband Kevin Federline in 2006.

Federline has been granted temporary custody of their two children Sean Preston, two years old and Jayden James, one.

A judge limited the singer's access to her two children in October after she failed to submit to random drug testing as demanded at an earlier hearing where the court ruled she was a "habitual and continuous drug user."

Last year she was repeatedly photographed out partying while wearing no underwear, bizarrely shaved her head at a public salon, and attacked a paparazzi's car with an umbrella before finally entering rehab.

Spears shot to superstardom in late 1998 with her smash-hit debut album "Baby One More Time," which she followed with another chart-topping success the following year, "Oops! ... I Did It Again."