A vicious legal battle has erupted over Jimmy Buffett’s $275 million estate, with his widow and his accountant filing lawsuits this week seeking to remove each other as co-trustees of a trust containing the “Margaritaville” singer’s sprawling holdings.
The widow, Jane Buffett, is angry with the way her husband’s estate has been managed since his death nearly two years ago and has filed a petition seeking to oust her co-trustee, accountant Richard Mozenter. She complains that the marital trust set up by the singer — who built a musical empire off his laid-back, beach-bum persona and infectious, often self-deprecating country-rock and calypso-inflected songs — is producing far too little income.
Jane Buffett asked a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday to appoint an independent third party to replace Mozenter. Her petition accused Mozenter of failing to provide her with basic information about the trust’s assets and finances, keeping her “in the dark with regard to the state of her own finances.” The complaint also said that Mozenter had “belittled, disrespected and condescended to Mrs. Buffett.”
“As a result, the majority of Mrs. Buffett’s net worth is controlled by someone she does not trust, and to whom the trust for her benefit must pay enormous fees — more than $1.7 million in 2024 to him and his firm — no matter how badly he treats her,” the petition said.
Mozenter filed his own lawsuit in Palm Beach County, Florida, this week, asking the court to remove Jane Buffett as co-trustee. His suit said that he was a “trusted financial adviser” to Jimmy Buffett for more than 30 years and that he was also the singer’s business manager.
He claimed that during their partnership, Jimmy Buffett expressed concerns about his wife’s ability to manage and control his assets after his death. The singer was careful to set up the trust “in a manner that precluded Jane from having actual control” over it, the lawsuit said. “Other than serving as a noncontrolling trustee, Jane has no ability to manage the trust,” the filing said. “This fact has made Jane very angry.”
A lawyer for Mozenter declined to comment Thursday, adding that the pleadings speak for themselves.
Matthew Porpora, Jane Buffett’s attorney from Sullivan and Cromwell, said in a statement that it was Jimmy Buffett’s desire for his wife to be the sole beneficiary of his trust. Porpora said it was alarming that Mozenter had taken funds intended for Jane Buffett to cover his legal fees “in a brazen and baseless attempt to have her removed from the very trust that was established to protect her,” he said. “Mr. Mozenter is replaceable — Jane is not.”
A hearing on Jane Buffett’s petition is scheduled for August.
Jimmy Buffett’s breakthrough hit, “Margaritaville,” came in 1977, the same year he married his second wife, Jane Slagsvol. He built an ardent fan base — known as Parrotheads — over the years, as well as a tropical-themed business empire including restaurants, hotels, tequila and footwear.
In 1990, he set up a trust and an estate plan that was amended in April 2017 and again in July 2023, just months before he died at 76 from Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer that he had lived with for four years. His will appointed his wife as executor of his estate.
After his death, all the assets in the first trust were transferred out, the complaint said. Some money went into trusts for the couple’s three children, with each receiving $2 million.
The rest of the assets were transferred to a marital trust with Jane Buffett as the sole beneficiary, according to her petition. In addition to several houses, those assets included her husband’s 20% interest in Margaritaville Holdings LLC — a large hospitality company that includes vacation clubs, dozens of restaurants, casinos, cruise ships and more than 20 hotels, including one in Times Square in New York City.
One month after Jimmy Buffett died, Jane Buffett met with Mozenter to request an analysis of the projected income she could expect to receive from the marital trust, according to the complaint. It did not go well, she claimed.
“Rather than help his recently widowed client understand her finances, Mr. Mozenter spent the next 16 months stonewalling and making excuses for why he could not yet provide the requested information,” the complaint said.
In February, their relationship worsened when Mozenter finally did provide an income estimate that would not cover Jane Buffett’s expenses. The marital trust’s $275 million in assets would generate less than $2 million in net income for her annually, he informed her, a figure her lawyers called “a remarkably poor return” given the trust’s investments in Margaritaville.
With a projected shortfall, Mozenter advised that Jane Buffett “consider adjustments” to her expenses or sell her real estate to cover the difference.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2025 The New York Times
