Updated: March 23rd, 2022
After being placed in a conservatorship in 2013 following a series of incidents related to her addiction and mental health, former child-star Amanda Bynes is set to be released from the legal hold after several years of continuous good health and positive endeavours.
Amanda first started petitioning for the conservatorship to end in February, filing official documentation with her lawyer for the court-ordered restrictions to be lifted. On Monday, the judge made a tentative ruling that the conservatorship was “no longer required.” Amanda’s mother and father, the conservators, are in complete support of this.
Since being in the conservatorship, Amanda has achieved a degree from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, has gotten engaged, and plans to move and live with her fiance after the conservatorship is dissolved.
No one has objected to Amanda Bynes’ petition to end her conservatorship, and she is said to have full support from her mother and father. pic.twitter.com/rSTm64lfI0
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) March 21, 2022
One day after the tentative ruling, the judge officially ended her conservatorship. “The conservatorship is no longer needed or required, and therefore the petition for termination is granted,” said Ventura County Judge Roger Lund.
What is a conservatorship?
A conservatorship is a unique court ruling that is meant to protect someone who is vulnerable and aims to ensure that the person’s estate is taken care of. Typically a conservatorship is used when someone is older and not able to look after their estate by themself anymore.
Conservatorship is also used in cases when the person is not in the mental state to take care of themself or their estate, and someone is nominated to take over on their behalf.
The ‘conservator’ is granted access to whatever the court allows them to, from complete financial control to being in control of the person’s health access and personal scheduling.
Recently, the word “conservatorship” has been in the public zeitgeist, thanks to last year’s very public removal of Britney Spears’ abusive conservatorship. After many years of struggle, Britney managed to free herself from her extremely restrictive conservatorship placed by the courts in 2009, with her father James Parnell Spears and his accountant being removed from their role as conservators.
Why is Amanda Bynes in a conservatorship?
Amanda was placed in a conservatorship in 2013 after a series of negative incidents that placed her and the people around her in danger of being hurt.
In July of 2013 Amanda was hospitalised and held in the hospital for 72 hours after setting her neighbours driveway on fire. She also reportedly poured gasoline on her dog on the same night.
Since then we have learned that at the time Amanda was struggling with her mental health and was abusing substances. Amanda’s parents were placed as her legal conservators to protect her and her estate, and has been attending AA and rehab during her conservatorship.