Amanda Bynes Regains Financial Independence From The Courts

During an extended time away from the spotlight, Amanda Bynes has been slowly making progress with her personal mental health struggles and involvement with the law. Amanda has been working on herself, dealing with improving her relationship with her parents and continuing her studies at fashion and design at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Irvine, California. In fact, she’s been doing so well that the courts, who had previously placed Amanda’s financial affairs in conservatorship, restored control over her personal finances to her and her parents. Amanda’s attorney, Nyree Kolanjian, who worked as the conservatorship attorney, told People magazine that Amanda’s mother Lynn petitioned the courts for this move in October of 2016.

“…after providing a detailed accounting of the estate and accounting for every ependiture and receipt, Lynn petitioned the court to terminate the conservatorship of the estate. Then after several hearings and detailed presentations to the judge regarding her progress and plans moving forward, the court approved the petition and handed control over her estate back to Amanda and her parents to handle privately outside of the courts.”

Apparently, Amanda and her parents’ relationship has improved drastically in the past four years. So much so that the courts based their decision not only on Amanda’s personal progress, but also that relationship. Kolanjian continued, “based on Amanda’s progress and her great relationship with her parents, there was no longer a need for court supervision of Amanda’s money and she and her family can handle her financial affairs privately.”

Amanda Bynes’ Fall From Grace

Amanda Bynes was once on Hollywood’s hot list; a child actor since the age of 10, she grew up in the spotlight, helming high profile kid’s shows like The Amanda Show and All That. She was named to Teen People’s “25 Hottest Stars Under 25” in 2006 and appeared to be on the rise. In 2007, Bynes had two critical and commercial successes: Hairspray, which went on to get a Grammy nod, and Sydney White.

After Hairspray 2 was canceled, Bynes sent out a mysterious tweet stating that “I don’t love acting anymore, so I’ve stopped doing it.” A few weeks later, she recanted and said that she was just taking some time off. After that, she started having numerous legal woes.

In 2012, Amanda Bynes was stopped by police for talking on her cell phone while driving. A month later, in April of 2012, she side-swiped a police car in West Hollywood. She was arrested and charged with driving under the influence for that incident. A scant five months later, she was charged for two hit and run incidents which were alleged to occur in April and August of 2012.

She was able to settle the hit and run charges out of court with an undisclosed financial settlement and had the DUI dropped as part of a plea bargain. Bynes got three years of probation for reckless driving when the case was settled in 2014. During this time, Amanda was arrested in New York for possession, reckless endangerment, and attempting to tamper with evidence as she threw a bong from her 36th-floor apartment. She was given a psychiatric evaluation before being processed, which eventually lead to the charges being dismissed. On July 22, 2013, Bynes was placed in an involuntary 72-hour psychiatric hold after she started a small fire in front of a stranger’s home in Thousand Oaks, California.

It was after this incident that her parents filed for conservatorship of Amanda and a judge agreed that their daughter had a “lack of capacity to give informed consent.”

Bynes received treatment at The Canyon in Malibu afterward and was released to her parent’s care in December of 2013. In 2014, she was placed in psychiatric care once again after making accusations that her father had sexually abused her. She later recanted these statements, saying that he had implanted a microchip in her brain that made her say that.

Since then, Amanda has been living away from the spotlight, surrounded by her close friends and family, working toward personal recovery. The removal of her finances from conservatorship is a milestone that shows how much progress the former child star has made in the past three years. With her recent announcement that she would like to pursue acting again, her parents remain hopeful that she is well on the road to a full recovery

[Featured Image by Peter Kramer/AP Images File]