Key Takeaways
- A judge froze distributions from D’Wayne Wiggins’ reported $700,000 estate and trust, including donations, scholarships, and grants, while his family fights over his final wishes.
- Wiggins’ cousin Veleta Savannah says he was medically deemed “alert” before putting her in charge and disinheriting his children, but daughter Ilahn Wiggins argues end-of-life treatment and heavy medication left him unable to make binding decisions.
- The Tony! Toni! Toné! co-founder, whose catalog includes “Feels Good” and “Anniversary,” died from cancer in Oakland on March 7, 2025.
A judge has temporarily frozen distributions from D’Wayne Wiggins’ estate as the fight over the late Tony! Toni! Toné! singer’s reported $700,000 fortune grows increasingly contentious.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, money from Wiggins’ estate and trust cannot currently be distributed to third parties while his family battles over his final wishes. The order extends beyond potential inheritances: it also blocks payments for donations, scholarships, and grants connected to Wiggins’ charitable work.
At the center of the dispute is Veleta Savannah, Wiggins’ niece, who says the musician placed her in control of his trust and estate before his March 2025 death. Savannah is pushing back against claims that Wiggins lacked the mental capacity to make that decision, pointing to a medical evaluation conducted shortly before he signed new estate documents.
Savannah claims a doctor examined Wiggins and found him “alert” and capable of handling his affairs or instructing others to act for him. She says Wiggins executed a new will and trust the following day — timing that has become crucial to the increasingly bitter case. Savannah maintains that Wiggins deliberately put her in charge and intended to disinherit his children.
Wiggins’ daughter Ilahn Wiggins and other relatives dispute that version of events. They contend that the Tony! Toni! Toné! co-founder was receiving end-of-life treatment and taking heavy medication when the documents were signed, raising questions about whether he was capable of making binding financial decisions.
Ilahn previously estimated her father’s estate at approximately $700,000 and said Savannah informed Wiggins’ children after his death that she was trustee.
She has also alleged that Savannah used a power of attorney to withdraw roughly $20,000 from one of Wiggins’ bank accounts. Savannah has denied the family’s broader claims that Wiggins was incapable of directing his affairs.
Wiggins formed Tony! Toni! Toné! in Oakland with his brother Raphael Saadiq and cousin Timothy Christian Riley, helping build one of R&B’s defining groups of the late 1980s and ’90s.
Albums including The Revival and Sons of Soul produced staples such as “Feels Good,” “It Never Rains (In Southern California)” and “Anniversary,” while the trio’s live instrumentation and deep grounding in classic soul helped anticipate the neo-soul movement that followed.
Wiggins also worked with artists including D’Angelo, En Vogue, and Tevin Campbell during his career.
Wiggins died from cancer in Oakland on March 7, 2025.
