Jimmy Buffett's Estate Co-Trustees FightYou can make the best plans possible, but they can be spoiled when co-trustees fight.
Jimmy Buffett left a $275 million estate when he passed away in 2023. In his Will, he provided for a marital trust with his wife (Jane Buffett) as income-beneficiary & his children as remainder-asset-beneficiaries (Savannah, Delaney and Cameron). He designated his wife and his business manager/financial advisor (Richard Mozenter) as co-trustees.
Now, co-trustees are fighting accusing each other of noncooperation and not sharing financial information.
It seems that RM is managing the Trust for very low current income ($2 million only) and is charging high fees ($1.7 million). This looks like an asset preservation strategy, but it became contentious when co-trustee RM told co-trustee wife Jane that there wasn't enough trust income to support her living expenses.
Something looks very fishy. Even Bengen's 4% initial w/COLA can produce $11+ million/yr from $275 million to keep everyone happy. In fact, many marital trusts specify that income-beneficiary may get 5% as income and additional 5% of principal, if needed, and the trustees should manage the trust assets accordingly. That would make wife eligible for $13.75-27.5 million per year. Most living trusts spell this out. But maybe, the Will just mentioned the marital trust without including much details.
These lawsuits may take a long time to resolve - now, 2 lawsuits are filed in different states and have to consolidated first. If the court decides that the current co-trustees have an unworkable relationship, then it may replace one of the co-trustees, or both co-trustees.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/13/jimmy-buffett-estate-family-trusts.htmlFor more estate information, see
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/thread/654/estate-planning-general
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