A.B. Quintanilla III has taken his family dispute to court, filing a lawsuit against his sister Suzette Quintanilla Arriaga and her company, Q Productions, over profits tied to the late Selena Quintanilla’s music and other estate assets.
The complaint, filed Thursday, Sept. 10, accuses Suzette and Q Productions of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. A.B. is seeking unspecified financial damages, though he believes the amount owed to him exceeds $1 million.
The lawsuit follows A.B.’s public statement on Instagram last week, when he said he intended to sue his sister over “years of accumulated situations, decisions and circumstances.” The court filing makes clear that the conflict centers on how proceeds connected to Selena’s estate — including music and other intellectual property rights — have been handled and distributed among family members.
At the heart of A.B.’s claim is an agreement signed by the Quintanilla family after Selena’s death in 1995. According to the lawsuit, that agreement organized the estate’s finances and entitled A.B. to a 25% share of proceeds from Q Productions, the company founded by his late father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., and now run by Suzette.
A.B. alleges that he learned in spring 2025, just months before Abraham’s death, that he had not been receiving the full profits he says he was owed under the 1995 deal. The complaint says he requested Q Productions’ balance sheet and a complete accounting of royalties and licensing fees from Suzette, but that she allegedly refused to provide them.
“The amount due to Plaintiff cannot be fully determined without an accounting because Defendants possess or control material information concerning the entertainment properties, the income generated from them, expenses attributed to them, and distributions made from their net profits,” the lawsuit states.
The filing continues: “Plaintiff seeks recovery of actual damages in an amount within the jurisdictional limits of this Court, including unpaid distributions, net profits, proceeds, interest, and other damages established through discovery and accounting.”
A family business dispute over Selena’s legacy
The legal action places Q Productions, Selena’s music rights and broader estate income at the center of a dispute between two of the late Tejano star’s siblings. A.B.’s position, as laid out in the complaint, is not only that he is a beneficiary of the estate, but that he is entitled to information about how revenue connected to the entertainment properties has been collected, spent and distributed.
His attorney, Jeff Lehrman, addressed the issue in a video posted to Instagram last week, saying that A.B. was a producer and songwriter on “some of the most iconic music that she ever made.”
“Unfortunately, he has not gotten credit for that financially and has not received what he should as a result of his contributions,” Lehrman said. “In addition to that, he’s also a beneficiary of the estate. So regardless of his role as a producer, he’s entitled to income, and he’s entitled to very basic accounting.”
Suzette and her lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit Thursday. However, Suzette and her mother, Marcella Quintanilla, previously addressed the dispute in an Instagram statement, denying wrongdoing.
“There was no theft by Suzette,” the statement said.
The statement continued: “We love A.B. He is our son and brother. But loving someone does not require us to accept false accusations or remain silent while the reputations of Suzette, Abraham and our family are called into question. We will continue to protect our family, Abraham’s memory, Selena’s memory and the truth.”
What happens next?
Because A.B.’s lawsuit says the exact amount allegedly owed cannot be determined without access to financial records, the case now appears poised to focus heavily on accounting, discovery and documentation related to Q Productions, Selena-related entertainment properties, royalties, licensing fees, expenses and net-profit distributions.
For now, the financial damages remain unspecified in the complaint, while A.B. maintains that the amount at issue is more than $1 million.