What the Jimmy Buffett Estate Battle Teaches About Trust Planning in Nebraska
Celebrity estate disputes grab headlines, but they also offer valuable lessons for any family putting together an estate plan—whether your estate is worth $275 million or a fraction of that. Right now, a very public fight has erupted over Jimmy Buffett’s $275 million estate, and it underscores how careful trust planning and trustee selection can make all the difference.
At the heart of this battle is a marital trust that wasn’t created after Buffett’s passing—it was established back in 1990 and updated in 2017 and again in 2023. Upon his death, the bulk of his assets were transferred into this trust to benefit his wife, Jane Buffett. The trust holds several homes and a roughly 20% interest in Margaritaville Holdings LLC, a hospitality powerhouse that includes vacation clubs, restaurants, casinos, cruise ships, and more than 20 hotels.
The trust is co-managed by Jane Buffett and Jimmy Buffett’s longtime accountant, Richard Mozenter. Now, the two co-trustees are suing to remove each other. Jane Buffett has asked a Los Angeles court to appoint an independent trustee, citing a lack of transparency, disrespect, and inadequate income from the trust. She also alleges that Mozenter and his firm are collecting over $1.7 million in fees this year alone—while the trust is generating less than $2 million in net income annually. On top of that, she claims Mozenter’s financial projections exclude potential future distributions from Margaritaville Holdings.
A hearing is set for August, and the court’s ruling will be closely watched. But even before that happens, this case highlights several key estate planning lessons that apply to families right here in Lincoln and across Nebraska.
First, trustee selection is critical. Co-trustees who don’t trust or respect one another can grind the entire process to a halt and end up in costly, drawn-out litigation. Second, transparency is non-negotiable. Beneficiaries need access to clear information about the trust’s assets and finances, and trustees have a legal duty to act in the beneficiaries’ best interests. And third, trustee compensation must be reasonable, transparent, and clearly spelled out in the trust document. High fees, lack of transparency, and poor communication are at the center of this dispute—and they’re problems I see far too often when trusts aren’t set up with care.
You don’t need to have a celebrity-sized estate for these issues to affect your family. Whether you’re considering a new trust or reviewing an existing one, it’s worth asking: have we chosen the right trustees? Are the beneficiaries protected and informed? Are compensation terms clear and reasonable? Are the mechanisms in place to prevent the kind of conflict we’re seeing in this case?
As an estate planning attorney in Lincoln, Nebraska, I help families think through these exact questions every day. The Jimmy Buffett case is a timely reminder that a trust can provide tremendous security—but only if it’s designed thoughtfully, with the right people and protections in place.
If you’d like to take a closer look at your current plan or discuss creating one that truly protects your loved ones, I’d be happy to help. You can reach me at 402-259-0059 or zach@zandersonlaw.com.