Britney SpearsBritney Spears has gained more weekly visitation sessions with her sons Sean and Jayden after a court hearing yesterday - but ex-husband Kevin Federline still has full custody of the pair.

The couple shared joint custody of the two toddlers until last autumn when Britney was deemed to be in violation of several conditions of the agreement. Her access was reduced to just monitored visitation sessions, which were then suspended entirely in January after she refused to hand over younger son Jayden following an afternoon together at her Studio City home.

After her brief hospitalisation at the start of February followed by the introduction of a controlling conservatorship, she was allowed twice weekly supervised sessions but now that is believed to have been increased to three - and sources close to the case believe that could be amended to include an overnight stay within a month. Britney is also said to have been given permission to spend Mother’s Day (this Sunday in the US) with the boys.

Speaking after yesterday’s closed door session at Los Angeles Superior Court, Kevin’s lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan refused to go into details about what Britney had been granted but described it as “an expansion of time”: “We are pleased with the progress that seems to be coming and cautiously are going down that track.

“The timeshare is more than it had been. It’s a step in the right direction.

“The order that was in place has remained in place with the exception that there has been some graduated expansion of the time for visitation.

“We are seeing signs of [Britney’s] progress, and consistency over time is something welcome by Kevin. What was a seemingly daily situation in extreme flux has been stabilized.

“The children are doing really great. Kevin’s eventual goal is that his children with have the benefit of both parents who are participating actively in their lives.”

Britney’s parents Lynne and Jamie Spears also issued a statement after the hearing explaining that they “are so pleased with Britney’s progress, and we are appreciative of the court’s recognition of this progress.”

Both parties are expected to return to the court on 15th July. The conservatorship over Britney is currently set to expire on 31st July.