Four months after 1990s pop icon Britney Spears was freed from a 13-year conservatorship, a judge gave another former child star of that area the right to manage her own affairs.
Now Amanda Bynes, who rose to fame through 1990s Nickelodeon shows like "All That" and "The Amanda Show," has been released from a nearly nine-year conservatorship by a California judge on Tuesday.
What Exactly Is A Conservatorship?
The term conservatorship (called a guardianship in many states) has been in the news a lot lately in large part due to Spears and the #FreeBritney movement.
Under U.S. law, a court can assign a third person to manage the financial and everyday affairs of a person who has been incapacitated due to deteriorating physical or mental health.
An adult would then not be able to access their money or do things like change residences, get on a plane or, in some cases, even get food or see another person without permission from the conservator.
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"Sometimes it’s ALL of that person’s civil rights and civil liberties, and sometimes it’s partial," Zoe Brennan-Krohn, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's Disability Rights Project, said in a blog post at the height of the Spears coverage.
"But it is the court weighing into the person's life and saying you, as a person with a disability, are no longer able to make decisions about yourself and livelihood — such as where you live, and how you support and feed yourself — and we are putting someone else in charge of making those decisions."
Who Is Typically Assigned As Conservator?
While a conservator can be anyone assigned by the court, it is almost always a relative or someone with a close relationship to the person.
In Spears' case, her conservators were her father Jamie Spears and lawyer Andrew M. Wallet. In Bynes' case, it was her mother, Lynn Organ.
Why Does It Happen?
High-profile conservatorship cases often focus on celebrities who are at risk of squandering a large estate due to reckless behavior.
Bynes was placed under a conservatorship in 2013 after starting a fire in her parents' driveway and getting involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
In most people's minds, this is something that is used as a last resort when a person becomes a danger to themselves or others.
But as recent coverage of Spears' and Bynes' cases have illuminated, it can severely limit a person's everyday freedoms and can be administered fairly rapidly and with little oversight.
Due to the legal red tape that comes with taking the case back to court, a conservatorship can also remain in place for years after the person has overcome the challenges that led to its placement.
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Why Has The Outrage Been So Strong?
Spears' and Bynes' plights — Spears once described not being allowed to remove a birth control device — have brought increased attention to California's conservatorship laws.
The state currently has two types: Probate versions, for people whose mental health has deteriorated; and the Lanterman-Petris-Short conservatorship, for those whose are disabled to the point of permanently not being able to provide basic food and life necessities for themselves.
As the first is more likely to severely limit a person who is undergoing treatable problems, many have been calling for a review of who gets placed on each and how often.
"The judge should ask a person seeking conservatorship, 'What else have you tried? Have you tried supported decision-making? Have you tried joint bank accounts or money management classes? Have you tried a system of text reminders to make sure the person gets to their medical appointments?'" Brennan-Krohn wrote.
"And if the person seeking conservatorship hasn't tried these options, the judge should deny the conservatorship."
