Nearly one year after his death, a war has erupted inside the family of D’Wayne Wiggins, the beloved guitarist and co-founder of the iconic R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné! Court documents reveal a bitter dispute over the singer’s estate, with his children claiming they have been cut out of a $700,000 inheritance by a will signed while he was receiving end-of-life care.
The legal battle pits Wiggins’ three children against his niece, Veleta Savannah, who has been named as the trustee of the estate. The conflict threatens to tear apart the family of the Oakland music legend, who passed away on March 7, 2025, after a private battle with bladder cancer.
According to court filings, Wiggins’ daughter Ilahn claims that her father’s final will was drafted and executed during the final months of his life, when he was heavily medicated and possibly not in his right mind. She alleges that the singer was ingesting heavy pain medications as part of his cancer treatment, which may have altered his mental state when he signed away his children’s inheritance.
Ilahn, along with her two brothers, maintains that their father always had a loving relationship with his children throughout his life. The idea that he would intentionally disinherit them simply doesn’t align with the man they knew. Adding another layer of complexity, Wiggins married a woman named Dori Wiggins just months before his death, though her role in the estate remains unclear.
At the center of the controversy stands Veleta Savannah, Wiggins’ niece, who is listed as the person on his death certificate. After the singer’s passing, Veleta allegedly informed all of D’Wayne’s children that she was now the trustee of the estate and directed them to stay out of his home.
Ilahn’s filing goes further, claiming that Veleta used a Power of Attorney document to withdraw $20,000 from D’Wayne’s bank account. The children dispute the validity of their cousin’s authority, arguing that no true administrator has been properly established. They do not believe their father intended to change his will in his final months to exclude them.
Veleta has fired back, disputing any claim that D’Wayne was not in full command of his faculties when he made the decision. Her position is clear: the singer made a deliberate, conscious choice to disinherit his children, and she stands behind the validity of the document and her role as rightful trustee.
The dispute is not a matter of minor interpretation. One side argues a dying man was taken advantage of in his final weeks. The other maintains he made a painful but purposeful decision about his legacy. A judge will ultimately determine which version of events the evidence supports.
A trial has been set for September, nearly 18 months after D’Wayne’s passing. Until then, the estate remains in legal limbo and the family’s relationship with Veleta stays adversarial.
For a musician whose career was built around harmony, the litigation is a stark departure from the warmth that defined his public image. Wiggins and his bandmates helped shape the sound of 1990s R&B, influencing the genre well beyond the group’s commercial peak. His death at 64 closed a chapter. The legal fight over what he left behind is now writing a different kind of final act.
