After quite a few setbacks affecting both his personal and his professional life, former American Pickers star Frank Fritz seems to have landed a bit of positive news regarding his ongoing conservatorship. The antique-hunting entertainer suffered a stroke in July 2022 that left him reportedly unable to care for himself in various ways, with a longtime friend stepping in to serve as a guardian. Some information about Fritz’s current situation went public in the months since MidWestOne Bank became his conservator, including key details about his financial troubles and property locations. The latest update involves the financial institution’s attempt to bring a halt to that particular information remaining in the public sphere.
As the conservator in this situation, MidWestOne Bank filed paperwork specifically requesting that the court seal off the inventory of Frank Fritz’s financial assets and properties.The request noted that his status as a celebrity who collects antiques were important factors in the attempt to remove such information from the public eye, as reported by The U.S. Sun. Thankfully for all involved on Fritz’s side of things, the judge who was assigned to the case gave his approval for those records to be sealed off.
The request filed in court can be read below:
- The Protected Person is a well-known celebrity and collector of antiques and other diverse items. The inventory and related documents contain sensitive and private information regarding the Protected Person’s assets and liabilities as well as their whereabouts. The Conservator requests that the court allow the inventory and associated documents to be filed under seal to protect the Protected Person’s privacy and estate.
It’s not clear how lengthy a decision it was for the judge to make, but it doesn’t seem like there were any big hiccups.
Which is possibly a great sign in and of itself, since it was just on June 2 when a Notice of Delinquency for Conservatorships was filed, due to a lack of an inventory report being filed before the agreed-upon due date of December 12, 2022. There’s a 60-day timeframe from the point when that notice was filed, at which point things would be taken up a notch from a legal standpoint. It’s possible that the record-sealing request was part of the eventual inventory filing, but that’s also not clear.
Here’s hoping this is a step forward among many more in the near future for Frank Fritz, who almost surprisingly reunited with Mike Wolfe over Memorial Day weekend, despite reports over the past couple of years about feuding strife happening between the two. While some of that may have been legit in small bites, their recent reunion made it sound like a lot of that friction stemmed from working together so closely for so long ahead of a big drastic change. It was previously reported in early 2023 that Wolfe and the American Pickers team would be up for having Fritz back on the show in the future, but that doesn’t seem wholly likely at the moment, at least not until his health situation takes a major upward turn.
Fans can stream past episodes of American Pickers with a Peacock subscription, as well as on streaming sites such as Pluto and Roku Channel.