Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Trust Dispute, Explained

Who controls the trust?

A trustee manages property according to the trust document and the law. A beneficiary is someone the trust is meant to benefit. One person can hold both roles, as Jane does, without having the power to make every decision alone.

Her June 2025 petition describes a marital trust worth approximately $275 million, created to support her during her lifetime. It says she is entitled to the trust's income and shares management with an independent co-trustee. That arrangement makes the trustee's responsibilities, and the limits on each person's authority, central to the case.

Why Jane and Mozenter went to court

Jane's June 2025 petition alleges that she waited about 16 months for an income estimate. She says the February 2025 projection showed less than $2 million in annual net income and left out future payments from the trust's roughly 20% Margaritaville interest. She also questions more than $1.7 million paid to Mozenter and his firm in 2024.

Mozenter disputes her account. The Associated Press reported that his lawsuit described the independent trustee's role as a deliberate limit on Jane's control. He sought her removal in Florida on June 2, 2025. She filed against him in California the next day and later brought her claims in Florida.

Both sides are making claims the court must assess. A petition is a request for court action, and its accusations aren't findings that someone did something wrong.

Where the case stands

The reporting reviewed for this article on October 19, 2026, describes an unresolved dispute. Attorney Connie Phelps's September 18 report says trial is scheduled for January 2027 in Palm Beach County, Florida.

The children have expressed different concerns. PEOPLE reported in March 2026 that Savannah supports keeping Mozenter and raised alleged threats of disinheritance. Jane's lawyer said she had not disinherited her children and did not intend to. Cameron and Delaney's lawyer emphasized having cash available and preserving trust assets, without taking either side.

Those are separate positions. They don't support describing the case as all the children against their mother.

A trust's value is not its spending money

A statement showing what trust property is worth doesn't tell you how much money is available to pay a beneficiary. The property itself is called principal. Income is what that property produces, and the trust's terms help determine what can be paid out.

Florida's trust-accounting law separates asset values, money received, expenses, and allocations between income and principal. For a family trying to understand the finances, ask which of those figures you're looking at. A valuation, an income forecast, and an actual payment answer different questions.

What to ask for in your own family

Under Florida Statutes section 736.0813, trustees must keep qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed. That is a legal category based on a person's interest in the trust, not a label for every relative. It includes rights to request the trust document and relevant financial information. Accounting duties have exceptions, so the details of the trust matter.

Section 736.08135 describes the financial information an accounting must provide, including transactions, asset values, and payments to trustees and their agents. Use specific questions to work through anything you don't understand:

• Which dates does this accounting cover?
• How were the trustee's fees calculated?
• Which trust provision governs this payment or refusal to pay?
• What records explain this expense or change in value?

When to bring in a lawyer

Keep your requests and the replies together. If records remain missing, someone contests who has authority, or you receive a proposed trust change or court papers, take them to a trust lawyer. Bring the complete trust, amendments, accountings, and correspondence. Ask about response deadlines first.

Florida Statutes section 736.0706 permits a court to remove a trustee on specified grounds. These include a serious breach of trust or a failure to cooperate that substantially impairs administration. A disagreement alone doesn't establish either ground. Your family's options depend on the evidence, the trust, and the law that governs it.

If you're choosing trustees for your own plan, ask your drafting attorney how disagreements will be resolved, how fees will be reviewed, and how a replacement can take over. Work through those questions while you can explain what you want.