What was the Amanda Bynes conservatorship, and how did it end?

A short note before you start

This guide is general information for the United States, not legal, tax, financial or medical advice. It describes one well-documented, publicly reported case, not Amanda Bynes's current life or medical status, and it is not commentary on her private affairs beyond what courts and news organizations have made public. For the general legal process her case followed, see meaning of conservatorship and how to obtain a conservatorship.

What was the Amanda Bynes conservatorship?

The Amanda Bynes conservatorship was a California probate court case that gave her mother, Lynn Bynes, legal authority to manage Amanda Bynes's finances and personal care after a court found she could not safely do so herself. It ran from August 2013 to March 2022, one of the longest-running celebrity conservatorships to draw public attention, alongside the Britney Spears case that ended a few months earlier⁸. A conservatorship (guardianship in most other states) is a court order, not a family agreement; it starts only when a judge signs it and ends only when a judge lifts it.

Why was Amanda Bynes placed under a conservatorship?

Bynes's parents asked the Ventura County court for a conservatorship in 2013 after a period of erratic public behavior, including a DUI arrest. She was placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold after allegedly starting a small fire in the driveway of a home near her parents' house in Thousand Oaks¹. A judge granted her mother a temporary conservatorship that August, later made permanent¹⁰. The following year, Bynes said publicly she had been diagnosed as bipolar and was seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist weekly³.

What kind of conservatorship did Amanda Bynes have?

Bynes's case was a general probate conservatorship of the person and estate, filed in Ventura County's probate court under California's Probate Code, not a Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) conservatorship. That surprises many people, since her case started right after a psychiatric hold, the same kind of event that can lead to an LPS case. The difference is who can file and what the conservator can do:

See LPS conservatorship for how that separate California process actually works.

Timeline of the Amanda Bynes conservatorship

How did the Amanda Bynes conservatorship end?

Bynes ended her own conservatorship by petitioning the court, with her parents' agreement rather than their objection. Her attorney told the court she had "done very well" in a structured setting and could "live on her own independently and free of the conservatorship"¹. Her parents' attorney, Tamar Arminak, said "the parents are happy, thrilled to get this good news...They 100 percent support her decision to end the conservatorship"³. At the March 22, 2022 hearing, Judge Lund found that "the conservatorship is no longer required and that grounds for establishment of a conservatorship of the person no longer exist"¹. No party objected, which disability rights attorneys say is unusual. ACLU attorney Zoe Brennan-Krohn said she knows of cases "where the court is, essentially the holdout, that...the conservator and conservatee agree they want it to end, and the court chooses not to end it anyway," calling Bynes's smooth outcome "more an anomaly in the system than the norm"³.

What did the conservatorship cost, and who paid?

Court records on the specific fees paid in the Bynes case are not public, but conservatorship costs generally come out of the conservatee's own estate, not the family's pocket. California's statewide fee to file a general conservatorship petition is $435, plus a separate investigation fee, before any attorney, accountant or bond costs¹¹. A conservator of the estate is often required to buy a surety bond sized to the assets managed, with premiums continuing as long as the case stays open, and any ongoing conservator's fee must be approved by the court as reasonable¹⁴. For a case open nearly nine years, those recurring costs, not the filing fee, are typically what add up.

How typical is a case like this?

Bynes's case is unusual in ways disability rights advocates have pointed out. Most people under conservatorship are older adults with dementia or another age-related condition, not a 27-year-old with a psychiatric diagnosis and an active career³. Judy Mark, president of Disability Voices United, said "probate conservatorships in California are notoriously difficult to terminate," part of why advocates flagged how quickly hers ended once she and her parents agreed³. Nationally, the scale is hard to pin down precisely: figures cited by Justice in Aging put around 1.3 million adults under guardianship or conservatorship, controlling roughly $50 billion in assets, though the group notes data collection across states is inconsistent¹⁵.

How this varies by state

California uses "conservatorship" for adults and reserves "guardianship" mostly for minors; most other states use "guardianship" for both. If a similar case happened elsewhere, the same basic pattern, petition, evaluation, hearing, would apply, but forms, evidence standards and fees are set separately by each state. See probate courts by state for a specific state's self-help page, and how to obtain a conservatorship for a state-by-state comparison table.

What to record in a family guide

Whether a conservatorship is already open in your family or only a possibility you are watching for, a family guide is the kind of place to keep this information together so no one has to reconstruct it during a crisis:

• Whether a petition has been filed, in which county's court, and the case number
• Who was appointed conservator, and their contact information
• Whether the conservatorship covers the person, the estate, or both
• Any attorney representing the conservator or the conservatee, with contact information
• Where the certified letters of conservatorship and the court order are kept
• The date of the next required court review or accounting
• Any diagnosis, treatment plan or medication schedule relevant to the case, and who to call in a mental health crisis

Checklist: how a case like this typically moves through court

• A crisis or pattern of concern leads a relative to consider filing

• Less restrictive options, such as a power of attorney or supported decision-making, are ruled out

• A petition is filed with the probate or trial court where the person lives

• The court orders a medical or capacity evaluation

• Notice is served on the proposed conservatee and close relatives

• A hearing is held; a judge decides whether to grant the petition

• If granted, letters of conservatorship are issued and any required bond is posted

• The court schedules a first-year review, then periodic reviews after that

• The conservatee, the conservator, or another interested party can later petition to end it

• A hearing on that petition decides whether the conservatorship is still needed

Common mistakes people make about the Amanda Bynes case

• Assuming it was an LPS mental-health conservatorship because it followed a psychiatric hold. It was a general probate conservatorship, a different legal track¹¹.
• Treating her case as a typical example of who ends up under conservatorship. Most conservatees are much older adults with dementia or a similar condition³.
• Assuming a conservatorship automatically renews or automatically expires. A general conservatorship continues until a court ends it; it does not lapse on its own the way an LPS conservatorship can¹¹,¹¹.
• Assuming termination means a conservatorship can never happen again for the same person. Courts can consider a new petition at any time if circumstances change.
• Repeating unsourced numbers about the cost or size of her estate. None of the sources checked for this page confirm a specific dollar figure for her case.

When to get professional help

If a family is considering or facing a conservatorship, talk to a probate or elder law attorney before filing or responding; notice rules and local practice vary even within a state. Get an attorney immediately if any family member objects, if the proposed conservatee wants to contest it, or if a less restrictive option like a power of attorney might work instead. If the concern is a mental health crisis rather than gradual decline, ask the county's Public Guardian about the separate process in LPS conservatorship. To find a lawyer, see conservatorship attorney and lawyer for conservatorship.