conservatorships

Amanda Bynes’s Conservatorship Is Officially Over

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Update, Tuesday, March 22, 2022, at 2:31 p.m.: Amanda Bynes is officially free from the conservatorship that presided over her life for nearly nine years. Bynes will now regain control over her finances and her day-to-day responsibilities, and she will be able to choose where to live. The decision comes after a tentative ruling on Monday in which the judge asserted “that grounds for the establishment of a conservatorship of the person no longer exist.” Bynes was not present in court on March 22, but her attorney told Variety earlier this week that they were “looking forward to Amanda living a life as a private and normal citizen.”

Update, Wednesday, March 9, 2022, at 12:28 p.m.: Amanda Bynes is back on Instagram ahead of her March 22 court date, where she will seek to end her conservatorship. In an Instagram video posted March 8, the actress thanked her fans for their support. “What’s up, Instagram,” she told the camera. “Amanda Bynes here. My court date is coming up in two weeks. I want to thank you all for your love and support. Peace out.” She tagged “@enews @people @usweekly” in the caption. Bynes is backed by both of her parents to end her conservatorship, which has been tapering off over the course of nine years.

Original story follows.

Following the high-profile legal battle that successfully ended Britney Spears’s conservatorship, Amanda Bynes has submitted filings to Ventura County Superior Court to terminate her own conservatorship. On Tuesday, February 22, court records show that Bynes filed a Capacity Declaration, a form used in California court conservatorship cases in which a physician attests to a subject’s mental and cognitive capacity. The next day, Bynes filed a Petition for Termination of Conservatorship of Person and Estate, and the court scheduled a hearing for March 22.

The actor’s parents, Lynn (why are they always named Lynn?) and Rick Bynes, first filed for conservatorship over Bynes in 2013 after she was put on an involuntary mental-health evaluation hold. In August 2013, Lynn was granted legal control over her daughter’s financial, personal, and medical affairs. People reported in 2017 that Lynn successfully petitioned the court to terminate the conservatorship, but it was reinstated after Bynes suffered a “relapse” in 2019. In February 2020, Lynn used her conservator status to prevent Bynes’s marriage to her fiancé, Paul Michael. The two announced on Instagram that they were having a baby, but a lawyer denied the claims. In September 2021, Bynes’s attorney told “Page Six that the status of Bynes’s conservatorship “is open day to day” and it “will terminate when it is no longer convenient for Amanda.”

Amanda Bynes’ Conservatorship Is Over