Jimmy Buffett Estate Lawsuit: The $275M Trust and Decanting Fight

The Jimmy Buffett estate lawsuit is a pair of dueling trust-removal cases between the singer’s widow, Jane Buffett, and his longtime financial adviser, Richard “Rick” Mozenter, each seeking to oust the other as co-trustee of a marital trust reported to hold roughly $275 million in assets. Buffett died on September 1, 2023, at age 76, from Merkel cell carcinoma. The fight broke open in June 2025, has already drawn in all three Buffett children on different sides, and is set for a non-jury trial on January 19, 2027, before Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Charles Burton.¹

How the Trust Was Set Up

Buffett created his trust on December 28, 1990, rewrote it on April 27, 2017, and amended it a final time on July 21, 2023, about six weeks before he died.² Jane is the sole lifetime beneficiary of the marital trust. She is entitled to all income it earns, paid at least annually, plus additional distributions for health care, living expenses, and other purposes if the independent trustee approves them. When she dies, she holds a power of appointment to direct what is left to Buffett’s descendants and charities.³

The headline assets include an $85 million equity stake in the Margaritaville brand (restaurants, hotels, vacation clubs, casinos, cruise ships, and merchandise), more than $34 million in real estate, a $15 million interest in Strange Bird Inc., which holds aircraft, $12 million in other investments, $5 million in vehicles, and $2 million in musical equipment.⁴⁵ Each of Buffett’s three children also received a separate $2 million trust.⁶

Buffett’s structure required at least one independent trustee at all times and installed Mozenter — a CPA and managing director at Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman who had handled Buffett’s finances for 30 years — alongside Jane.⁷ Mozenter’s filings claim Buffett deliberately kept Jane as a “non-controlling trustee” because he was concerned about her “ability to manage and control his assets after his death.”⁸ The trust gave Mozenter alone the right to change independent trustees and name his successor, and provided no simple mechanism for Jane to remove him. Legal commentators have identified that gap as the central problem driving the current litigation.⁹

What Jane Buffett Alleges

Jane’s lawyers sent Mozenter a draft petition on May 30, 2025, demanding his resignation by June 2. He refused, filed his own petition in Palm Beach County that day to remove her, and Jane filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 3 alleging breach of fiduciary duty.¹⁰¹¹ She later agreed to consolidate the fight in Florida.

Her petition calls Mozenter “openly hostile and adversarial” and says he withheld basic financial information about trust assets for 16 months.¹² She says he projected income of less than $2 million a year on a $275 million trust — a figure she called “shocking” given that the 20% Margaritaville stake alone had paid out $14 million in the prior 18 months — and told her to sell personal real estate and cut expenses rather than fix the trust’s underperformance.⁷

She also attacks the fees. Mozenter and his firm collected roughly $1.7 million in 2024, which Jane’s filing calls “enormous” and “excessive” against the trust’s reported returns.⁹ Her petition further questions his decision to keep a Bahamas vacation property costing $300,000 a year to operate, a call she says he justified based on a single phone call with a yacht club executive.¹²

What Mozenter Alleges

Mozenter’s Florida complaint describes Jane as “completely uncooperative,” refusing to meet about financial analyses and tax returns and acting in her own interest rather than as a fiduciary.² He claims she interfered with the separation of Buffett’s longtime boat captain, leading to a harassment claim and a “significant” trust-funded settlement, then violated the non-disparagement clause in that deal, exposing the trust to further liability.

He also alleges Jane forced out Buffett’s longtime law firm, Greenberg Traurig, causing delays and added legal costs, and pressured Jeff Smith — the successor trustee Buffett had named for Mozenter — to decline the role. The complaint says she instructed family members not to repay loans owed to the trust and has repeatedly threatened to disinherit her eldest daughter, Savannah.²

The Decanting Attempt

In July 2025, Mozenter created a new trust and started “decanting” assets from the existing marital trust into it. He said the move was within his powers under the original instrument and was meant to streamline administration by removing Jane as co-trustee and to “mitigate her repeated threats to disinherit her children” by altering her power of appointment.¹³ Jane’s lawyers called it an “unconscionable power-grab” and “a functional license to steal,” and sought an emergency injunction.¹⁴ Mozenter eventually agreed to pause the decanting until the court ruled on objections.

Where the Children Stand

All three Buffett children have taken different positions. At a February 12, 2026, hearing, Savannah’s attorney, Jared Gelles, told the court she opposes her mother’s effort to remove Mozenter, wants “Jimmy’s wishes to be honored,” and values Mozenter’s “longstanding and institutional knowledge.”¹⁵ Savannah has also said she fears being disinherited. That concern tracks to August 2025 filings in which Mozenter’s attorneys produced screenshots of text messages purportedly from Jane, including one telling Savannah to “say good bye to that 75mil.” At an August 2025 hearing, Jane’s counsel said she had never taken action to disinherit any child and had no intention to do so, while acknowledging she would be legally entitled to under the trust’s terms.

Cameron and Delaney, represented separately by Peter Sachs, have not aligned with either parent. Sachs said they are “neither team Rick nor team Jane” and are focused on liquidity, noting that “despite the big numbers you hear, this is not a terribly liquid trust.”¹⁵

Key Rulings and the Trust Paying Its Own Legal Bills

On August 27, 2025, Judge Burton denied Jane’s request to immediately suspend Mozenter and ordered the parties to mediation, which failed to resolve the dispute.¹⁴ Coral Gables Trust Co., appointed by Mozenter as an additional co-trustee, has been allowed to remain for now, subject to Jane’s right to challenge it.¹⁶

On February 18, 2026, Judge Burton authorized Mozenter to pay “reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs” from the trust and denied Jane’s cross-motion to block that spending and recover the $2 million she alleged he had already drawn for legal fees.¹⁷ On February 26, he denied her motion to stay the order, and she appealed to Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeals in West Palm Beach. Mozenter’s attorneys moved to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction; as of March 2026 the appellate court had not ruled.¹⁸

On April 6, 2026, Jane filed a new lawsuit in Palm Beach County accusing Mozenter of improperly using trust funds and refusing to sign a tolling agreement that would have paused the statute of limitations on certain claims. The complaint says that as of late November 2025, Mozenter had paid $6.4 million from the trust to himself, his firm, and his attorneys. His counsel disputed that characterization and said the tolling agreement had been signed by all other parties before the suit was filed.¹

What Happens Next

The non-jury trial is set for January 19, 2027. The court is weighing whether to consolidate the April 2026 lawsuit with the existing estate litigation, and the removal petitions, the decanting dispute, and the newest spending claims are expected to be resolved at or before trial.¹ Jane’s appeal of the fee-authorization order remains pending.

Legal commentators cited in the coverage have suggested that if the co-trustees cannot work together, Judge Burton may ultimately remove both and appoint a professional corporate fiduciary to run the trust, which would sideline both Jane and the adviser Buffett trusted for three decades.⁹

1
Palm Beach Daily News. Jimmy Buffetts Widow Files New Lawsuit as Trust Battle Escalates
2
ALM Media. Mozenter Complaint
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WBOY. Legal Wrangling Over Jimmy Buffetts Estate Turns Widows Inheritance Into Cautionary Tale
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Great Plains Trust. Getting Salty in Margaritaville: The Legal Battle Between Jimmy Buffetts Widow and Trustee
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Comerica. Jimmy Buffett Estate Conflict Lessons
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GS Trust Co. Lessons From Jimmy Buffetts Estate
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Variety. Jimmy Buffett Widow Files to Remove Co-Trustee of Estate
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New York Times. Jimmy Buffett Estate Lawsuit
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CNBC. Jimmy Buffett Estate Family Trusts
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NBC Miami. Jimmy Buffetts Widow Accuses Financial Adviser of Breaching Fiduciary Duty in $275M Trust Battle
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Palm Beach Daily News. Jimmy Buffett Lawsuits: Widow Response in $275 Million Estate Battle
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CDN / The Conversation. Jane Buffett Trustee Removal Petition
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Palm Beach Daily News. Jimmy Buffett $275M Estate Adviser Says Moving Assets to New Trust Necessary
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Yahoo Finance. Jimmy Buffett Estate Lawsuit: Judge Orders Mediation
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People. Jimmy Buffett Children Stake Out Different Positions in $275M Trust Fight
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Mediate.com. Jimmy Buffett Estate Lawsuit: Judge Orders Mediation in Battle Between Widow, Adviser
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People. Jimmy Buffett Widow Appeals Order Granting Co-Trustee Access to $275 Million Trust
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Palm Beach Post. Battle Over $275 Million Jimmy Buffett Estate Reaches Florida Appeals Court