Britney Spears is spending more quality time with her sons.

Preston, 2, and Jayden, 17 months, spent more time at their mother’s house on Wednesday morning – the third visit Spears has had with her children since lawyers for the singer and her ex-husband Kevin Federline reached a visitation agreement on Feb. 22.

Spears’s recent visits with her boys have been full of hugs and affection, PEOPLE reports in its new issue (on newsstands Friday). “Kids this age are amazingly resilient, and the very close bond that Britney has with her children is apparent,” a source tells PEOPLE.

On Saturday, Spears reunited with her sons for the first time since she was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Jan. 3. She also had another visit with them Monday.

According to the source, Spears’s father, Jamie, and psychiatrist Dr. Lee Sadja have been monitoring the visits between the boys and Spears, who has had two stints in the hospital this year. Sadja began treating the singer during her most recent hospitalization at the UCLA Medical Center psych ward.

Source: People Magazine

While the rest of Hollywood was getting over their Oscar hangover on Monday morning, Britney Spears was enjoying the second visit from her two young sons in three days.

“It went very well,” a source close to the pop star tells OK! about this second visit, which lasted from 9am to noon PT on Monday. “The boys are really happy to see their mom.”

Even those who you’d expect to be most skeptical about the visits, like Mark Vincent Kaplan, lawyer for Brit’s ex-husband Kevin Federline, seemed upbeat on Monday. “These visitations with the boys will help to normalize the family environment,” Kaplan told OK!. “Kevin has always been rooting for Britney to regain visitation… and if these visits go well, they will ramp up over time.”

In fact, says the Britney insider, the rumor around the Spears house is that Sean Preston, 2, and one-year-old Jayden James could soon be visiting up to three times a week — so long as the singer continues to follow the rules and as long as certain people are present for the visits.

Sources confirm to OK! that the people required to be on hand for the boys’ visits to their mom include her father Jamie Spears, one of K-Fed’s bodyguards, Britney’s psychologist, the court-appointed monitor and a lawyer representing the conservatorship.

“It’s a lot, for sure,” one legal source explains to OK!. “But if she really wants those kids back, she won’t complain about all the people looking over her shoulder.”

And speaking of the ongoing custody battle for the two boys, Kaplan confirms to OK! that the original April 9 start date for the actual hearing will likely not go down as scheduled for several reasons, including the fact that the court needs to finish its custody evaluation of both parents. This evaluation will consider, among other factors, how each parent interacts with the children, each parent’s personal behavior and lifestyle, and how the exes behave together in front of the children.

A more likely start date for the case, says Kaplan, who also requested the Britney undergo a psychiatric evaluation, would be in the early summer.

Source: OK! Magazine

Britney Spears will be allowed to visit her children “soon, very soon,” after lawyers hammered out a structured visitation arrangement, Kevin Federline’s attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan tells PEOPLE.

Kaplan confirmed Friday that he and his partner Jim Simon spent two days working with Spears’s legal team. Under the terms of the agreement, details of which Kaplan would not disclose, Jayden, 1, and Preston, 2, will once again enjoy “participation of their mother in their lives,” Kaplan says.

“We’re pleased that … the process of reinstating the children’s mother as a participant in their lives can commence,” said Kaplan.

Spears, 26, has not seen her boys since her Jan. 3 custody stand-off with police, leading to her first forced hospitalization in a psych ward.

Source: People Magazine

What will it take for Britney Spears to regain visitation rights with her two sons? That remains to be seen. But the pop star’s tentative reconciliation with her father, Jamie, is a step in the right direction, says Kevin Federline’s lawyer.

In fact, attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan was full of praise for the elder Spears, who has emerged as a controversial force in Britney’s life recently – and who was front-and-center at Tuesday’s family court hearing.

“Jamie Spears’s presence is an extreme positive,” Kaplan told PEOPLE, adding that the patriarch’s continued presence could make it possible “to develop a visitation plan that enables these children to have a mother in their lives.”

While Britney’s visitation with children Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1, was discussed at Tuesday’s hearing, there was no official legal progress on the matter. (Spears has not seen her sons since her Jan. 3 standoff with police.) Still, Kaplan said, “[Jamie] brings that day closer. Absolutely.”

Jamie’s role as temporary co-conservator – overseeing Britney’s wellbeing and estimated $100-million fortune – has attracted its share of criticism. His own daughter is apparently seeking legal remedies to regain control and, in a recent interview with PEOPLE, attorney Jon Eardley claimed that Jamie’s conservatorship was a “violation of [the singer's] civil rights.”

Kaplan, however, sees Jamie’s control as a “huge step.” “He’s building from the ground up,” the attorney explained. “[He's] stabilizing the situation, removing people that may not have had [Britney's] best interests at heart.”

Does that mean Britney could see her kids again in the near future?

“We all want this as soon as possible,” said Kaplan. “That’s Kevin’s desire – to have his kids visiting their mother. That’s everyone’s goal in this case.”

Source: People Magazine

Once again, Britney Spears has a new lawyer: High-profile attorney Stacy D. Phillips became the latest to sign on for the custody case.

Phillips, who was approved by a court commissioner Tuesday, replaced Sorrell Trope, who quit after complaining of problems communicating with the troubled pop star.

A Columbia University law grad, Phillips represented Bobby Brown in his divorce from Whitney Houston, and Tori Spellling’s ex, Charlie Shahnaian. She’s also a frequent legal analyst in magazines and on television.

She also authored Divorce: It’s All About Control, once explaining that, “I’ve yet to handle a divorce where control was not an issue or at issue.”

Phillips becomes Spears’s fourth lawyer in her ongoing battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline. Her first attorney, Laura Wasser, resigned from her case last September shortly after Spears’s divorce from Federline was finalized.

Spears then hired the firm Freid & Goldsman, but their relationship ended within days, before retaining Trope, who sought to leave the case, come back, then filed papers again to depart, this time for good.

Source: People Magazine

Attorneys for Britney Spears return to court Tuesday morning for the first scheduled custody hearing since the pop star’s most recent hospitalization.

Insiders doubt there will be any major change from the current custody arrangement, which bars Spears from visiting her sons Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1. (She is, however, allowed telephone contact.) Still, it’s possible the 26-year-old singer – who hasn’t seen the boys since her Jan. 3 standoff with police – could be awarded some temporary physical access.

Tuesday’s court session – which was scheduled after Spears’s stay in the psych ward at the UCLA Medical Center – sets the stage for more major hearings in the coming weeks, as Spears and Kevin Federline seek to reevaluate their custody agreement. (Her former husband and backup dancer is seeking full physical custody.)

The judge may also hear arguments from Federline’s attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, who has asked for a full psychological evaluation of the troubled pop star.

But the biggest news out of today’s hearing could be a change in representation for Spears. Los Angeles attorney Sorrell Trope has asked – for the second time – to be released from the case. (The law firm of Trope & Trope filed similar papers in January, but later withdrew the request.

Possible replacements include Laura Wasser, who resigned from Spears’s case in September. At the time, she denied “dumping” Spears, telling PEOPLE the singer’s legal team simply needed “fresh blood.” But Wasser appears to be back in the picture, after reportedly visiting Spears during her UCLA stay.

Source: People Magazine