Wearing a brown polka-dot dress and white sweater, a somber Spears entered the courtroom flanked by a handful of people, including her parents and attorneys. Ex-husband Kevin Federline arrived about 15 minutes later in a beige pinstriped suit with attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan and spokesman Elliot Mintz.

Moments after Commissioner Scott Gordon swore them in, Spears attorney Stacy Phillips asked that the hearing be closed, and Gordon ordered reporters to leave.

It's been three months since Spears left a psychiatric ward a week ahead of schedule and stirred up a paparazzi car chase, a scene that looked like the beginning of even more erratic behavior. But in the weeks that followed, she lay low and largely avoided the cameras, spent time with family members and even found success in a cameo appearance on on CBS' "How I Met Your Mother."