Wendy Williams’ Guardianship Issue And What We Learn From Her Legal Battle

Today’s topic: Wendy Williams guardianship issue!

Wendy ‍Williams is a leading lady of the American media landscape. Her multiple talents as a radio personality, talk show host, actress, and author are well-known. 

Her radio career success helped her rise to fame. She was well-known for her provocative and unabashed style. 

In 2008, she came out with the famous “The Wendy Williams Show,” a show that guests popular celebrities and reviews the pop culture through her eyes. She also starred in “Think Like a Man” and “Think Like a Man 2”. 

Nonetheless, something changed in her life lately. In May 2022, the court put her under legal guardianship after her bank, Wells Fargo, froze her accounts and initiated the guardianship process. 

The bank raised concerns about financial exploitation, undue influence, and her ability to make decisions. The Probate Court appointed Sabrina E. Morrissey, a New York attorney specializing in Guardianship, to look after William’s welfare and ‍finances. 

In this article, we will break down the following things: 

• What is the Wendy Williams guardianship case? 

• Understanding the legal concept of guardianship. 

• The latest update in the Wendy Williams guardianship case. 

• Challenges in the case. 

• Importance of the issue. 

Therefore, if these are a few things that you want to know, keep on reading this blog till the end… 

Wendy Williams Guardianship: Background To The Incident & Legal Battle

In ‍January 2022, Wells Fargo put a hold on Williams’ bank accounts. The bank stated that it was because they suspected she might be an “incapacitated person” and that she was a victim of “undue influence and financial exploitation”. 

The bank’s move came after the complaint of her financial adviser at the time, Lori Schiller. He had claimed that Williams was of “unsound mind”. 

Williams had at one time given her son, Kevin Hunter Jr., the power of attorney. Looking at some “unusual and disturbing events,” Wells Fargo challenged the validity of this POA, among which were major purchases by the son when she was in his care in Florida.

As per JD Supra, even though the court documents are not public, it is assumed from public statements and the fact that a few family members have been allowed access that Wendy is under plenary guardianship, i.e., her guardian has full legal authority. They state: 

“Media reports of Wendy Williams’ erratic behavior, combined with her health issues, including Graves’ disease and lymphedema, which led to her stepping down from her talk show in 2021, likely heightened Wells Fargo’s concerns about her decision-making and potential undue influence.” 

Following these, along with the uncertainty about her mental capacity, the court appointed lawyer Sabrina Morrissey as Wendy’s temporary guardian in May ‍‌2022. 

Understanding Guardianship & Its Importance

Guardianship ‍often comes into play when the individual has a cognitive impairment or mental illness that prevents their understanding of the situation, managing their affairs, and hence making well-informed decisions. 

Generally, the guardian the court has appointed will have the power to make decisions concerning the individual’s legal, financial, and healthcare matters. 

Nevertheless, the court’s ultimate goal is to determine the least restrictive type of guardianship that will allow the ward the greatest degree of freedom, i.e., the decision-making rights that the ward can keep may include voting or making choices in social and religious activities. 

Nevertheless, the guardian cannot have complete control over the ward’s life. Rather, the guardian should be a helper. The court, even in situations where the guardian has extensive powers, will insist on giving due regard to the ward’s preferences. 

In fact, the guardian should always aim at promoting the ward’s dignity, privacy, and self-direction to the greatest extent ‍possible. 

What Is The Wendy Williams’ Guardianship Update?

In July 2025, Williams had hired Joe Tacopina to represent her in court. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tacopina stated: “She’s lucid and in control of her faculties…What’s happening here is not normal.” 

However, ‍there is just one thing: the judge in charge of Williams’ guardianship has appointed a set of three attorneys. And only those attorneys will have the power to represent her interests in court. However, Tacopina is not one of them, as per court documents.

According to THR, this suggests that the complications stem from the interwoven lawsuits regarding the former TV personality’s well-being.

However, he is convinced that he will be part of the fight that is becoming more and more hostile to break the agreement if and when the proper moment comes. 

Additionally, it seems that three different groups of people around Williams have formed factions. 

One faction consists of Tacopina, who was invited by Williams’ niece, Alex Finnie, to be the TV personality’s personal lawyer. 

Another faction is Sabrina Morrissey, whom the court appointed as Williams’ guardian in 2022. 

The last one is Kevin Hunter, Williams’ ex-husband, who filed a $250 million lawsuit against Morrissey in June. Each party claims to have the best interests of the TV personality at ‍heart. 

Challenges In The Wendy Williams Guardianship Case

Wendy ‍Williams’ guardian is a lawyer whom the court appointed. Someone who didn’t know her before. 

After a bank requested that there be a guardian for Williams due to concerns about her finances, the court appointed her. Such a situation must make it difficult for Ms. Williams to develop a good relationship with her guardian. 

The guardian may be protecting Williams from people who were trying to take advantage of her financially. However, she has legitimately questioned some aspects of the guardianship. 

One of her examples was the request to see her father on his 94th birthday. However, this was at first refused but later allowed, states Mandelbaum Barrett P.C. 

Such a request is an example of a self-directed activity, and normally, guardians should allow those who are in the ward’s best interests. 

1. Conflicted Medical Diagnosis

Williams was first diagnosed in 2023 with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). However, at the end of 2025, a leading neurologist performed fresh tests. According to JD Supra, they revealed that Williams did not have any symptoms of FTD. 

Her lawyer, Joe Tacopina, believes that the cognitive problems that Williams had in the past were probably because of her alcohol consumption. Additionally, he points out that she has had remarkable neurological resilience since she stopped drinking. 

2. Restrictions On Personal Liberty

Williams has publicly said that living in a memory care unit in Manhattan is like being in “prison”. She states that she faces severe restrictions on her access to her phone, internet, and family members. 

She needs to ask for permission to leave her place of care, even for very simple things. And she has said that it upsets her that she is being made to stay with very old people who “don’t remember anything,” whereas she does. 

3. Financial And Legal Management Disputes

Finally, experts have raised concerns about why the estate of Williams has been so rapidly depleted, the monthly charge of $25,800 for her facility, as mentioned in a report, and the payment of a large sum in legal fees to the guardian. 

Moreover, in 2025, Adult Protective Services allegedly looked into the guardianship after hearing that there had been elder abuse and financial mismanagement, one of the facts being that a caregiver had given Williams a credit card with no money on it. 

Additionally, her former spouse, Kevin Hunter, lodged a $250 million action against the guardian and Wells Fargo, charging them with “civil death” and abuse. However, Williams was distancing herself from ‍it following the court’s dismissal of the case. 

Importance Of The Wendy Williams Guardianship Case

The ‍guardianship of Wendy Williams has become more than just a celebrity news story. It has uncovered a whole range of legal issues about mental health, personal liberty, and financial control. 

Their case gives us a chance to look at how the legal system handles certain situations. For example, in situations where there are severe limitations on people’s rights, such as through a guardianship or conservatorship, especially in the case of a public figure. 

Moreover, it raises the question of whether the system can fail even though its intent is to protect. 

According to Butler Law, there are several significant legal aspects to note in Wendy Williams’s guardianship case.

It appears that a New York Court made a decision to place a guardian to control her finances, allegedly without her full consent, and the public still does not know what evidence was presented to the court to justify this decision.

This, in turn, opens the issue of how transparent and fair the procedure was. 

What sort of medical evidence did they provide? Was the court aware of any alternatives that would have permitted her to retain more autonomy in her life? 

These are the issues that attorneys and legislators should focus on, not only with this case but also with the application of guardianship in general. 

What truly stands out in Wendy Williams’ case is that it could very well be that the courts’ method of determining whether a person requires a guardian and who the guardian should be is due for a change. 

A growing number of people are demanding better solutions that do not deprive a person of their freedom. 

Those are the kind of solutions that would help people remain as independent and self-determined as possible while also getting the necessary support.