A authorized battle has damaged over Jimmy Buffets $275 million property, together with his spouse and accountant initiating proceedings for management of the belief.
In a petition filed in Los Angeles Superior Court docket on Tuesday, Jane Buffett factors to an “unsolvable rift” with Rick Mozenter, the co-trustee of her husband’s property allegedly performing in opposition to her finest pursuits. She accuses Mozenter of mismanaging the belief, which is paying her roughly $2 million yearly at a price of return of lower than one p.c. Based mostly on the estimate, Mozenter instructed the late singer’s spouse to “contemplate changes” to her life-style or promote her personal belongings to make up the distinction, the lawsuit says.
The connection collapsed final month, with Jane Buffett telling Mozenter that she’d sue except he resigned by Monday. Mozenter, in flip, filed a petition in Florida state courtroom over the weekend to take away her as co-trustee and private consultant of the property.
Jimmy Buffett died in 2023 following a four-year battle with Merkel cell pores and skin most cancers. After initially pursuing a profession as a rustic singer, he discovered success within the early ’70s when he scored his first document contract and later adopted the laid-back beach-bum persona he’s most acknowledged for right now. Mainstream consideration adopted the discharge of his sixth album, which included hit monitor “Margaritaville,” which spawned a sprawling hospitality firm partially owned by the belief.
When Jimmy Buffett died, most of his belongings have been held in or transferred to a belief for his spouse. A month later, Jane Buffett requested Mozenter how a lot cash he anticipated her to obtain however was allegedly stonewalled for over a 12 months, the lawsuit alleges. She finally employed her personal counsel to press for the knowledge.
When Mozenter responded earlier this 12 months, Jane Buffett was instructed that the belief’s $275 million in belongings would web her lower than $2 million anually, she says. Mozenter allegedly acknowledged that Margaritaville, which the belief owns 20 p.c of, had paid out roughly $14 million over the prior 18 months however that he determined in opposition to together with any estimate of future distributions from the corporate in his evaluation of future earnings.
Margaritaville “continues to guage future enterprise opporutnities and the way they deploy current liquid belongings,” Mozenter instructed Jane Buffett, in line with the grievance.
If the estimates are appropriate, the lawsuit claims that Mozenter, whose agency is paid $1.7 million yearly to supervise the belief, is “both not competent to manage the belief or unwilling to behave in Mrs. Buffett’s finest pursuits.”
Additionally at challenge: Mozenter pushing Jane Buffett to approve his request that Jeffrey Smith be retained as counsel for cotrustees. She takes challenge with Smith accusing her of breaching her fiduciary responsibility to the belief by suggesting that it depend on Irvin Azoff, Jimmy Buffett’s longtime music supervisor, to barter an settlement with a manufacturing firm over a deliberate documentary concerning the singer. The tipping level got here when his agency despatched her a voluminous draft of the property’s tax returns and requested her to offer any feedback inside three days, the lawsuit alleges. Smith, who has since resigned as counsel for the belief, allegedly later threatened to research her for defaming Mozenter.
Moreover, the petition targets Mozenter transferring property that allegedly ought to’ve been left to Jane Buffett personally to the property. This contains properties in New York, Florida and St. Barthélemy island.
Mozenter didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.