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“[S]ome of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic but I had a good life all the way.”
Jimmy Buffett, He Went to Paris (1973)
Jimmy Buffett, by all accounts, lived a good life. He was a wildly popular and prolific singer/song writer, a best-selling author, a playwright, founder and CEO of Margaritaville Holdings, environmental advocate, and overall cultural icon (and the list goes on). But he didn’t do any of it alone. Standing beside him for 46 years was his wife and life-long partner, Jane Buffett, with whom he raised three children. When Jimmy died from cancer on September 1, 2023 at the age of 76, Jane was by his side.
At the time of his death, Jimmy Buffett’s estate was valued at $275 million. Its assets include an interest in Margaritaville Holdings, song royalties, investment and other assets. His estate plan left his assets in a marital trust for his wife Jane, with the remainder to go to their children following Jane’s death. Jane is entitled to receive all the income from the trust assets and trust principal as needed. The co-trustees of the trust are Jimmy’s long-time business advisor, Richard (“Rick”) Mozenter, and Jane. The structure of the estate plan is relatively standard for larger estates and appears straightforward in its design.
Cue the music ...
“Can’t you feel ’em circlin’, honey? Can’t you feel ’em swimmin’ around? You got fins to the left, fins to the right, And you’re the only bait in town.”
Jimmy Buffett, Fins (1979)
On May 30, 2025, after months of fraught relations, Jane’s attorneys sent Rick a written demand that he resign as co-trustee by June 2, 2025, or she would file a lawsuit to remove him. Jane’s claims include, among other things, that Rick withheld financial information, mismanaged the trust, and took excessive fees.
Rather than resign, on June 2, 2025, Rick filed his own lawsuit in Florida. In his complaint, he seeks Jane’s removal as co-trustee, asserts that Jane has been uncooperative and disruptive, and has interfered with his management of assets. He also claims that Jimmy Buffett intentionally limited Jane’s control over his estate because of concerns regarding her financial management. On June 3, 2025, Jane filed a competing complaint in California seeking Rick’s removal.
On July 21, 2025, rather than fight a bi-coastal battle, Jane refiled her claims as a counterclaim in the Florida action. Soon thereafter, on July 28, 2025, Jane filed an emergency motion to prevent Rick from decanting the trust assets into a new trust, and seeking the appointment of a court-appointed fiduciary to oversee the trust during the pendency of the lawsuit. Rick contends that his efforts to transfer the assets to a new trust are perfectly legal, in keeping with Jimmy’s intent, and necessary to protect the assets.
On August 27, 2025, the court ordered the parties to attend mediation and reported that Rick will not proceed with the planned decanting until objections to that process are resolved. The court declined to remove Rick as a co-trustee or appoint a special fiduciary. As of this writing, there have been no further reported court proceedings.
“Haul the sheet in as we ride the wind.”
Jimmy Buffett, Son of a Sailor (1978)
While the interested parties in this dispute might not agree on much, they can both certainly agree that this was not how Jimmy Buffett’s estate plan was supposed to work. So why did the plan go awry?
Even though the trust document itself is not part of the public record, it appears that Jimmy Buffett took great care to establish his estate plan, revising it more than once in the years prior to his death. Moreover, a marital trust is not an exotic, difficult to understand theoretical construct; it is a commonly used planning vehicle for people in the Buffetts’ tax bracket.
Despite apparent careful planning, the parties have differing expectations about how the trust should operate. Aligned expectations can go a long way toward avoiding disputes and can be significantly bolstered by pre-mortem communication. Discussions concerning the trust’s purpose, the roles of the interested parties, why the trustees were chosen, and the rationale for the trust structure allow the interested parties to hear directly from the grantor and provide an opportunity to ask questions. Such communication is certainly not a salve for all injuries and will not refute contradictory language in the trust itself, but it can be a powerful advance measure to smooth relations and prevent later mistrust once the trust is in effect.
The trust document itself can also provide procedures for resolving disputes and can define each party’s role with particularity. Building in structured communication protocols and differentiating among roles can help to foster greater understanding and lessen ambiguity. It is difficult, if not impossible, to foresee all situations that might arise when drafting a trust, but provisions designed to create greater clarity and foster communication can help to ameliorate future disputes.
Choosing a progressive trust code and situs can also be very helpful. For example, the New Hampshire Trust Code and a New Hampshire situs provide an excellent framework to prevent and resolve similar disputes. The trust code, among other things, allows for clearly defined fiduciary roles, strong trust protector mechanisms, and clear trust resolution and modification pathways. All of these tools can provide a dispute off-ramp or avoid a dispute in the first place.
What’s more, if court intervention is required, New Hampshire has a specially designated trust docket. The trust docket is staffed by judges experienced in trust and estate matters and is specifically designed to address complex trust, estate and probate cases efficiently. These attributes serve to streamline litigation and provide well-reasoned and timely resolutions.
Ultimately, even the best-made estate plans can run aground. To provide protection against unintended results, grantors are wise to communicate intentions clearly, define responsibilities, and incorporate mechanisms for course correction. The selection of a modern trust jurisdiction (think New Hampshire and its 13 miles of coastline) augments a grantor’s efforts, providing statutory and judicial mechanisms to right a listing ship.
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