Buffett's Widow Wants to Boot Co-Trustee of $275M Estate

Jimmy Buffett's widow is trying to remove the co-trustee of her late husband's estate, alleging that accountant Richard Mozenter has been "openly hostile and adversarial" toward her, evasive with information, and not acting in her best interests. Per a court filing cited by Variety, Jane Buffett met with Mozenter a month after the "Margaritaville" singer-songwriter died in 2023 to ask for an estimate on what the trust would provide in income, so she could map out her future finances. Mozenter, the filing claims, instead spent the next 16 months "stonewalling" and "making excuses" over that information—until February of this year, when he informed Jane Buffett that the $275 million estate would generate less than $2 million annually.

Jane Buffett's filing calls that projection "shocking," considering that Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville company had paid out $14 million over the past year and a half. Mozenter "is either not competent to administer the trust or unwilling to act in [her] best interests," the court filing alleges. It also claims that Mozenter stymied Jane Buffett's request to sell a rarely used piece of property in the Bahamas that costs the estate $300,000 annually in upkeep—all while billing the estate more than $1.7 million for his services, per Billboard.

Jane Buffett's legal team now wants Mozenter booted over his "unprofessional and combative communications" with her, citing his complaint that he can't "have one productive conversation with [her] about any topic" and that his time is "wasted by her." A friend of the Buffett family tells People that the drama has roiled those close to Buffett. "Jimmy would never have wanted Jane to be treated like this," says the friend. "[I] know how close Jimmy and Jane were all these years, and how Jimmy relied upon and trusted Jane around so many of his important decisions in his life and career."