Amanda Bynes Has Filed A Petition To End Her Conservatorship

The former Nickelodeon and She's the Man star has been living under the legal arrangement since 2013.

Amanda Bynes has filed paperwork to terminate her conservatorship after living under the court-mandated arrangement for more than eight years.

The 35-year-old former Nickelodeon and She's the Man star petitioned the Ventura County Superior Court in California to end her conservatorship on Wednesday, according to online court records. Her attorney David Esquibias did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment, but in a statement to People he said Bynes believes that "her condition is improved and protection of the court is no longer necessary."

A judge is expected to consider the petition at a hearing on March 22.

Bynes was first placed under the conservatorship in 2013 after a series of legal issues and an apparent mental health crisis. In 2012, she was charged with driving under the influence after allegedly clipping a sheriff deputy's cruiser in West Hollywood. The following year, she was arrested in New York City after police said they caught her throwing a bong out the window of her apartment.

Then in July 2013, Bynes was involuntarily hospitalized for a mental health evaluation after authorities said she set a fire in front of a home in Thousand Oaks. It was during that stay when her parents petitioned the court to place her under a conservatorship, saying their daughter appeared to have a substance abuse problem and had grown "extremely paranoid."

BuzzFeed News uncovered abuse, neglect, and death across the US guardianship industry. Read our investigative series "Beyond Britney" here.

Bynes' mother, Lynn Bynes, was ultimately named temporary conservator of the actor's finances and personal life in August 2013. She was again appointed to be her daughter's conservator in October 2014 and has served in that role ever since.

Lynn Bynes' attorney, Tamar Arminak, told BuzzFeed News that her client supports the petition and is "very proud of Amanda and the progress she has made."

Arminak said in an email that Amanda Bynes' petition was "based on professionals’ opinion and assessment of the situation."

"[Lynn] looks forward to seeing the next chapter in Amanda’s life as her mother, not her conservator," she said.

Last year, during Britney Spears' fight to be freed from her nearly 14-year conservatorship, Bynes' case received renewed attention. In the past, Bynes had criticized her parents and even publicly accused her father of sexual and verbal abuse. She later recanted those statements, claiming that a microchip her father had put in her brain made her say them.

When asked about her case in September, Esquibias told the Daily Beast that there was "no comparison" between Bynes' and Spears' conservatorships.

"Amanda understands the benefits of her conservatorship and is content with the arrangement for now," he said.

Known for the All That spinoff The Amanda Show and a series of hit teen comedies, Bynes has largely stayed out of the public eye over the last eight years. In a 2018 interview with Paper magazine, Bynes talked about enrolling in classes at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in downtown Los Angeles and wanting to get back into acting.

"I have no fear of the future," she told the magazine. "I've been through the worst and came out the other end and survived it so I just feel like it's only up from here."

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