Amanda Bynes' $16,000 Legal Bill Has Arrived

Attorney hired by Bynes before she was deemed incapable of hiring her own counsel has filed documents to get paid

Time is money, especially a lawyer's time.

Though she was eventually deemed incapable of hiring her own legal counsel, the attorney whom Amanda Bynes hired to represent her last year has filed court documents to obtain $16,000 in fees.

Artemio Santiago states in a filing obtained today by E! News that Bynes retained his services on Oct. 14, 2014, to represent her at a competency hearing, several days after she was placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold. Santiago says that he convinced the troubled star to start taking her prescribed medication, which she had previously refused to do.

He states in the filing that he visited her multiple times while she was hospitalized to make sure she was keeping up with her meds and otherwise advise her.

A judge appointed Bynes' mom, Lynn, her temporary conservator on Oct. 22, the filing continues, after which another attorney was appointed to represent Amanda. After she was released on Oct. 31, however, she contacted Santiago to ask him to represent her at an upcoming conservatorship hearing, he states. He was then removed as her counsel at said hearing.

Santiago further states that he sent an invoice for $12,320.47 to the Bynes family's attorney, Tamar Arminak, but to date he has not been paid. He's requesting that sum, plus reimbursement for the cost of filing this petition, for a total of $16,380.47.

A hearing is scheduled for March 10.

We've been told, meanwhile, that this sort of legal action is common in probate matters where the person who incurred legal fees isn't in charge of his or her own money because the payment has to first be approved by a judge. 

—Reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum