Photo Credit: Jimmy Buffett and Jane Slagsvol / Jimmybuffett.com
Jimmy Buffett’s widow and his former business manager sue each other to remove one another from the administration of the late star’s estate.
Jane Buffett (née Slagsvol), Jimmy Buffett’s wife of 46 years, and Rick Mozenter, his former business manager, are seeking to remove one another from the administration of the late singer-songwriter’s estate. Both parties have launched court actions against each other, each accusing the other of hostility and mismanagement of a trust containing $275 million worth of assets.
Buffett’s wife became the sole beneficiary of a marital trust holding the bulk of the legendary hitmaker’s assets upon his death in September 2023. Her court filing says these assets, which include real estate and a 20% stake in his island-themed hospitality company, Margaritaville, are worth around $275 million.
She was made a co-trustee of the marital trust alongside Rick Mozenter, an account at the business management firm Gelfand Rennert & Feldman. However, the relationship between the two parties has soured, with both pursuing litigation to remove the other from their administration roles tied to the estate.
Mozenter’s petition, filed on Monday (June 2) in Florida, claims he was Jimmy Buffett’s “trusted financial advisor” for over 30 years. He further asserts that Buffett intentionally limited Jane Buffett’s control of the trust out of concern over his wife’s “ability to manage and control his assets.”
“Other than serving as a non-controlling trustee, Jane has no ability to manage the trust,” write Mozenter’s attorneys. “This fact has made Jane very angry. As a result, Jane has repeatedly acted in a hostile manner toward Rick and has been completely uncooperative with Rick in his attempts to administer the trust.”
Attorneys for Mozenter, from the law firm Comiter Singer, say Jane has refused to meet with him or otherwise assist him with “key duties” involved in managing the trust. Instead, Mozenter claims she has interfered with his work, namely by ousting her husband’s longtime law firm and harassing his former boat captain to such a degree that the trust was forced to pay a large settlement.
But Jane tells a different story. Her court petition, filed in California on Tuesday (June 3), alleges that Mozenter has been “openly hostile and adversarial” while blocking her access to key information about the late singer’s financial portfolio.
“Mr. Mozenter has failed to perform even the most basic tasks required of him in his role as co-trustee, including providing Mrs. Buffett with information concerning trust assets and finances, which has left Mrs. Buffett in the dark with regard to the state of her own finances,” write her attorneys, from the firm Sullivan & Cromwell. “Mr. Mozenter has belittled, disrespected, and condescended to Mrs. Buffett in response to her reasonable requests for information she undoubtedly was entitled to receive.”
Jane Buffett’s court filing says she met with Mozenter a month after Jimmy’s death in October 2023, asking how much income she should expect to receive annually from the trust. According to Jane’s filing, Mozenter “dragged his feet” for 16 months, repeatedly ignoring her requests for an answer.
In February 2025, Mozenter finally provided the requested estimate, but the results were “shocking.” Jane was told she would see less than $2 million in annual income, which her lawyers argue is not enough to cover her expenses and is “a remarkably poor return for a trust with an estimated $275 million in assets.”
According to Jane’s lawyers, that estimate is even more surprising given that the trust had received over $14 million in distributions from Margaritaville over the previous 18 months. As a result, Jane became concerned that Mozenter was mismanaging the trust. She requested additional financial information from him, and claims he once again stonewalled.
Further, Jane’s filing claims that in addition to being “unprofessional and combative” toward her, he refused her request to sell a piece of real estate in the Bahamas—despite the Buffett family rarely using the property, and the fact that it costs over $300,000 a year to operate.
Both Jane Buffett and Rick Mozenter are seeking to nix the other from the marital trust’s administration and have a new co-trustee appointed. Mozenter’s petition also asks that the court remove Jane as the personal representative of Jimmy Buffett’s estate.
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