Wendy Williams’ Guardianship Explained By A Professional Guardian

TV personality Wendy Williams, 57, guardianship case is sealed. So, no one really knows’ what the details are. However, here is what we know.

Wendy Williams’ case is in New York, is a legal arrangement she called Financial Guardianship. In Florida, this is referred to as Guardianship of the Property.

1. Allegedly Wendy Williams, requested her bank statements from Wells Fargo at the start of the year. She found that the financial institution had restricted her from accessing them, but it had frozen her bank accounts and petitioned the court for temporary financial guardianship. This is called Emergency Temporary Guardian in Florida.
2. Wells Fargo Bank, said this was done to protect Williams’ finances, because Williams’ Wells Fargo financial adviser, Lori Schiller, had notified the bank that the former talk show host was of “unsound mind.”
3. Williams, who denies this claim, and is fighting to regain access to her bank accounts and end the guardianship.

Williams’ highly publicized dispute with Wells Fargo comes on the heels of the controversial Britney Spears’ conservatorship case, which was the subject of the “Free Britney” movement and culminated in the termination of the 13-year conservatorship in 2021. While both cases have come under public scrutiny and spotlighted the harm and ethics violations that could result from an unwarranted conservatorship or conservatorship abuse, there are many instances in which conservatorships are not only necessary but can greatly benefit the person they were enacted to protect. 

That said, did Wells Fargo have a right to freeze Wendy Williams’ bank accounts? Is Wendy Williams’ guardianship warranted? Is the Wendy Williams vs. Wells Fargo dispute likely to end in the star’s favor? Could Wells Fargo or another bank freeze your accounts for similar reasons? It is difficult to tell at this point as the case files are sealed and not available for public view.