Have you ever speculate about how much it costs to live like a illustrious pop starlet in the late stages of a public breakdown?

The answer, as exposed in court papers filed by Britney Spears yesterday, is $353,217 (£169,000) a month.

The documents, which itemized Spears’s earnings and expenses on a monthly, line-by-line basis, were filed as part of the long-running custody dispute with her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, one of her former dancers.

The couple has two children, Sean, 1, and Jayden, 2, who were sent to live with their father after Spears drove without a valid license.

Spears’s two big monthly expenses are partying, and medical bills. The former apparently costs $102,000 per month (on the 25-year-old’s expenses sheet, it is filed under “entertainment, gifts and vacations”). The latter, as represented by health insurance premiums and other medical costs, adds up to $86,397.

For someone who spends $1,036,764 a year on keeping herself healthy – including regular stints in rehab – it could be argued that Spears, who is often photographed looking bleary-eyed, disoriented and upset, appears to be getting a bad deal.

But no one should be worrying about the financial wellbeing of Spears, who this week released Blackout, her first album in four years, but refused to promote it. She spends only half of her monthly income of $732,868. The singer gives only $500 (or 0.0682 per cent) a month to charity, yet spends $16,000 on clothes. She is also thought to hold about $33 million in six high-interest accounts and owns a forest in Louisiana worth $6 million, plus investments in a number of properties.

Blackout, which has been given cautiously good reviews by critics, looks likely to add to her estimated $100 million fortune.
Still, Spears has hefty mortgage payments: $61,271 per month, including Los Angeles’s notoriously steep property taxes. Also included in her monthly overheads are $35,000 of payments to Federline, $20,000 of which is “spousal support” that will reportedly end on November 15.

Federline’s accounts, which were also submitted to the court, reveal that over the course of last year he managed to earn barely 1 per cent of what his ex-wife earned in a single month.

Mr Federline’s accounts stated that he earned more than $500,000 in 2006, mainly from entertainment and endorsement deals, but after business expenses he was left with only $7,436. His biggest monthly expenses were $7,500 in rent and $6,000 in security, with $2,000 going on clothes, $5,000 on entertainment, gifts and holidays, and $1,500 on eating out (barely one-third of his ex-wife’s restaurant bills).

The documents also revealed that Spears lost custody of her children primarily because she defied a court order to obtain a driver’s licence and insurance policy before driving her sons anywhere. Spears was photographed in her car with the children only a few day later. She has since obtained a temporary licence.

Rich tastes

• $49,267 mortgages
• $16,000 clothes
• $102,000 entertainment, gifts and vacations
• $4,758 dining out
• $35,000 for child and spousal support
• $ 0savings and investments (all figures monthly spending)