The Battle for Jimmy Buffett's $275M Estate Continues

Jimmy Buffett's widow has accused her late husband's financial adviser of failing to administer the singer's multimillion-dollar trust in good faith and ignoring what she believes are her best interests for the $275 million estate. As the AP reports, Jane Buffett on Monday asked a judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, to stop Richard Mozenter from trying to remove her as a trustee and instead sought an order removing him from overseeing the estate. Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock and created a "Margaritaville" empire, died Sept. 1, 2023, at 76. His widow and Mozenter have since been embroiled in a battle over who controls the trust, with each accusing the other of mishandling funds in lawsuits filed in California and Florida.

Jane Buffett's filing on Monday accuses Mozenter of "repeatedly" breaching his fiduciary duty by failing to provide her with basic information about the trust's assets and its investments while taking "unreasonable fees and costs in the context of the services provided." On May 30, Jane Buffett's lawyers provided Mozenter's lawyers with a copy of a petition they planned to file in Los Angeles Superior Court if he didn't resign as co-trustee by June 2. Mozenter's counsel instead filed a petition on June 2 in West Palm Beach, seeking Buffett's removal as co-trustee. Jane Buffett's complaint was filed June 3 in Los Angeles, where Mozenter is managing director at Gelfand, Rennert, and Feldman LLC.

"Notably, Mr. Mozenter only brought this [and his other] retaliatory, baseless action after Mrs. Buffett had informed him that, absent his resignation, she would initiate litigation against him to seek his removal as co-trustee," the complaint said. Mozenter claimed in his lawsuit that Jimmy Buffett established the trust with Mozenter as an independent trustee because he was concerned about his wife's "ability to manage and control his assets." The complaint filed Monday asks the judge to remove Mozenter as co-trustee. "Jane will not play into Mr. Mozenter's hands by litigating this dispute in two separate courts across the country, which would drain the very trust money that Jimmy specifically set aside for her care," said attorney Matt Porpora.