An Open Letter To Wendy Williams' Guardian
. . .and why we'll never get answers.
February 25, 2024
Dear Ms. Morrissey:
I read your impressive firm bio and would like to educate myself and my tens of readers about the machinations of Guardianship, without violating anyone’s privacy.
What is your hourly fee as an attorney?
What is your hourly fee as a Guardian?
In charging any client - do you use your own firm for legal work?
A. If the answer is yes, then there are two different bills that the client (or ward) is paying that you have an interest in. Correct?
B. If a Guardian is represented by their own firm, is there any other oversight other than the court that the Guardian is charging accordingly?
How does a professional Guardian get chosen for a potential client?
A. Is there a rotation process in NY?
B. Does the professional Guardian have a relationship with the person or entity that reported a possibly incapacitated person?
Does Morrissey & Morrisey have an account with Wells-Fargo?
Can Wells-Fargo make a recommendation as to who is chosen as financial Guardian?
A. How are you made aware that a person is in need?
B. Who actually set up that Williams go before a three-person committee to determine capacity? Which law firm?
How many people do you personally represent as a Guardian?
A. Does NY have a legal limit?
B. Is it public record to see how many people are represented under one Guardian?
C. If the answer is that one cannot know how many people / wards a Guardian represents, do you have any idea - as a highy-rated elder and estates attorney - why that would be?
As a guardian, how much time did you meet with Ms. Williams in person?
A. How necessary did you believe this to be?
B. How much time did you talk with her? Would she agree on this time frame?
Under a guardianship in NY - what is the average number of bills that are paid, in addition to electric, water, mortgages, monthly condo fees?
A. Do you fly to Florida to check in on her? Or contact the health proxy (of course at a charge to Williams’ estate)?
B. How much does the health proxy charge? Who appointed the health proxy?
C. We are aware that every phone call, every email is charged at the Guardian’s rate. Is it over $100.00/hr? We refer back to Question #2. (A Florida attorney, now Judge, referred to this as Secretarial work, for which this exorbitant, yet legal, hourly rate is getting paid.)
D. Since the Guardianship of Williams, how many additional entities - from individuals to businesses - have been put on her ‘payroll’?
Williams was seen in her documentary “Where is Wendy Williams?” as wanting to sell off her clothes and items to get more money. Was / Is her allowance in keeping to the quality of life she was used to and earned?
Also seen in the Documentary, Williams said she wanted her son to get money. Is her wish for him being fulfilled to (a) be provided for or (b) have an allowance on her expenditures?
A. Past proof of payments on behest of her son, including a six-figure birthday party, as well as her own words, would appear that he get a monthly stipend.
B. Allegations of family exploitation run rampant in guardianship cases, yet family members are usually not charged with a crime. Should family members still be considered for a guardianship, if no crime has been committed? Why are the accusations stopped after a non-family member does not get guardianship?
Was it Williams’ wishes that A & E / Lifetime be sued so the two-night special would not be shown? How much did that lawsuit cost Williams and go to the guardian and law firm? She appeared to have told her niece that she wanted her entire story told, that she wanted to own it. That is the history of Williams.
In most (if not all states), the laws read that Guardianships are a last resort. It also states that family members should be considered first. Why is a Power of Attorney, designated by the person, so easily dismissed?
A. In the Documentary, Williams said she would like her son to be removed from the hearing. At that point, she was already declared incapacitated. If Williams knew Morrissey & Morrissey were to take control of her finances, would she have answered that they be removed as well? Was she informed of this and asked this question at the closed court hearing?
If a person isn’t allowed to enter into a contract as an incapacitated person, how is a verbal outburst - one that could also be fueled by drugs or alcohol - supercede legal documents signed when they were of sound mind?
How long does “temporary” last and can you be made the permanent Guardian?
A. If the answer is no, can a guardian, who your firm represents, still be appointed?
Here’s the deal. If this actual letter were sent to Ms. Morrissey, she would get paid to read and reply to this letter. She would then refer to the legal side to see what would be permissible to answer. I would guess that this letter could cost Williams in the $400.00 range.
There is no question that her firm Morrissey & Morrissey is receiving e-mails in the hundreds. How much is that costing Williams? How much would it cost Williams’ estate to answer letters if her son, the designated POA was named Guardian? He could just make a public statement and it would be done.
Opinion: The tragedy in a stranger taking over the life of a person is that they don’t know (or a lot of times, care) how a person lived their entire lives. The professional guardian will usually go by a rote set of rules. In example, if a person lived a holistic lifestyle, they would be forced to take all recommended prescription drugs. (Lest we forget, Britney Spears was forced to have an IUD inserted in her body.)
If an elder ate healthy, in some cases under a Guardianship, a Meals on Wheels would be set up as their only food source. They no longer have the right to decide what they want to eat. They may also be told that they can’t afford it. If the person became incommunicative, a family member would know what the person wanted to eat. A guardian would not.
It doesn’t matter if a pet is a lifeline to the incapacitated person in many cases.
The optics of having a white woman control the purse strings of an African-American has the optics of an era long gone.
Family members stated that a ‘wall’ went up during the process of selecting a Guardian for Williams.
It would be fascinating to know how much Williams paid for this guardianship and the bills paid during this time. However, those records will be sealed.
I believe it is a small percentage of people’s wishes that the bulk of their life savings go to attorneys. If a family member tries to convey this on behalf of the loved one, then the Guardian’s attorney claims that the family member is all about the ‘money grab’. To the family member, this is projection.
Wills that clearly state the division of assets to family members is usually used up by the Guardianship entity before it ever gets to that point.
If there was no money involved, one could rest assured that POA’s would be observed and accounted for. Williams shouldn’t have to pay out 100’s of thousands of dollars - maybe even in the millions - to protect her assets. It’s contradictory, isn’t it? The system needs an overhaul.
We wish Ms. Williams well in the healing process and hope additionally that her own family can hire Doctors to get a second medical opinion. Second opinions are always good.
Part II of the Docu-series “Where is Wendy Williams?” airs tonight (Feb. 25) on Lifetime at 8:00pm.