Jimmy Buffett’s widow, finance manager file dueling lawsuits for control of $275M estate

A war is raging over control of the multi-million-dollar estate left by the late “Margaritaville” crooner and Palm Beach resident Jimmy Buffett, according to a pair of competing lawsuits filed on opposite sides of the country.

Jane Buffett, the singer-songwriter’s widow, and Richard Mozenter, Buffett’s longtime friend and financial adviser, are going head-to-head for control of the singer’s trust, which Jane Buffett in her suit said is worth $275 million.

Mozenter’s petition was filed June 2 in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, and Buffett’s lawsuit was filed the next day in Los Angeles civil court, records show.

Both accuse the other of mismanaging the trust and ask judges in each jurisdiction to remove the other person as a co-trustee, records show.

The battle pulls into the spotlight the family and estate left behind by Jimmy Buffett, the longtime part-time Palm Beach resident who built his Margaritaville brand into a business empire, with resorts, housing developments, clothing and a cruise line that sails out of the Port of Palm Beach.

Co-trustee claims Buffett widow does not have best interest of trust in mind

Mozenter in his lawsuit said that Jimmy Buffett before his Sept. 1, 2023, death at age 76 established the trust with Mozenter as an independent trustee because he had concerns “regarding Jane’s ability to manage and control his assets.”

Jane Buffett was “very angry” about the way the trust was structured, and “has repeatedly acted in a hostile manner and has been completely uncooperative with Rick in his attempts to administer the Trust,” according to Mozenter’s lawsuit.

Since her husband’s death, Jane Buffett “has only acted on behalf of herself as a beneficiary and not as a co-trustee,” Mozenter said in the lawsuit.

He also alleged that Jane Buffett’s actions have cost the trust unnecessarily. As an example, Mozenter said that he was working toward a severance agreement with Jimmy Buffett’s former boat captain when Jane Buffett interfered and ended up costing the trust much more money than originally planned, according to the lawsuit.

Jane Buffett also refused to work with Mozenter as co-trustee on topics such as financial analysis, tax returns and managing her husband’s business interests, the lawsuit said.

The Buffetts’ three children are remainder beneficiaries of the trust, and Jane Buffett has tried to remove their eldest daughter, in opposition of Jimmy Buffett’s wishes, Mozenter claimed.

He said Jane Buffett has not taken responsibility as co-trustee, so Mozenter has had to fire 35 employees, sell three airplanes, sell or donate two boats, sell a property in Los Angeles and two in Palm Beach, and oversee various business and financial tasks, some of which should be completed by Jane Buffett, the lawsuit claimed.

Buffett owned three properties on Root Trail in Palm Beach. All three have sold since the singer’s death, with the third and final property selling for a recorded $4.2 million in April.

Jane Buffett says co-trustee’s management has been ‘deficient’

In her lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Jane Buffett said that Mozenter has been “plainly deficient” as a trustee.

Mozenter and Jeffrey Smith, the attorney hired by Mozenter to represent the trustees, have been hostile toward Jane Buffett and worked against her best interests, she claimed in her lawsuit.

Mozenter will not provide Jane Buffett with updates and information about the trust, leaving her “in the dark” about her finances while belittling and disrespecting her, the lawsuit said.

The trust pays Mozenter and his firm “enormous fees,” which the lawsuit said amounted to $1.7 million last year, even while his communications with her have been “unprofessional and combative.”

Jane Buffett claimed that since her husband died, she has struggled to get detailed financial information, including how much money she should expect in income from the trust on a regular basis. When she pushed him for detailed financial reports for the trust in April 2024, her lawsuit claimed that Mozenter sent what appeared to be a collection of bank statements downloaded from a bank’s website.

“This was not the work product Mrs. Buffett expected to receive from a handsomely paid professional accountant after months of delay,” her lawsuit said.

When Mozenter did provide annual income projections, it fell shockingly short of what Jane Buffett expected, with an estimated $2 million in net income, the lawsuit said, calling it “a remarkably poor return for a Trust with an estimated $275 million in assets.”

More: Final Jimmy Buffett Palm Beach house is sold: 7 of the Parrothead’s ties to island

That estimate did not include income from Margaritaville, which is a primary holding of the trust, the lawsuit said. That income was in flux, Mozenter said, according to the lawsuit. When Jane Buffett and her attorneys continued to push for an updated statement that included that Margaritaville money, Mozenter responded by hiring his own attorneys and accusing Jane Buffett of trying to mischaracterize his work for the trust, her lawsuit said.

Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at [email protected]. Subscribe today to support our journalism.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Lawsuits battle for control of Jimmy Buffett’s $275 million estate