Abraham “A.B.” Quintanilla III filed the Selena Quintanilla estate lawsuit ab SuZette in Nueces County on Sept. 10, seeking more than $1 million in damages. The filing turns a family accounting dispute into a formal contract case, with the plaintiff asking a court to sort out years of alleged unpaid proceeds tied to Selena-related entertainment properties.
25% and the 2016 books
25% is the share Quintanilla III says an agreement gives him from the net proceeds of certain entertainment properties connected to Selena Quintanilla. He is also asking for an accounting of assets, revenue, expenses and distributions from Jan. 1, 2016 through the date of judgment, a request that pushes the dispute far beyond a single payment and into the books behind the business.
In the spring of 2025, he said he discovered he had not received all the proceeds he says he was entitled to. That is the factual center of the case: not just whether money moved, but whether the records match the split he says the family agreed to after Selena Quintanilla’s death.
Q Productions and Nueces County
Quintanilla III sued Suzette Quintanilla Arriaga and Q Productions after posting a lengthy statement on Instagram a week earlier. He said the move came after “years of accumulated situations, decisions, and circumstances that he says he kept silent about for years,” a line that shows how long the dispute sat below the surface before it reached court.
The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty and says Suzette Quintanilla Arriaga and Q Productions failed or refused to provide a complete accounting of assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, transactions, distributions and net profits associated with the entertainment properties and their management. For a reader watching family-controlled Selena-related finances, the practical issue is whether the records will now be opened line by line in court.
Suzette Quintanilla Arriaga and Marcella Quintanilla
On Sept. 2, Suzette Quintanilla Arriaga and Marcella Quintanilla responded with a statement rejecting the accusation of theft. They said, “There was no theft by Suzette. Suzette has not stolen, misappropriated, or improperly taken money or property belonging to A.B., Abraham, Marcella, Chris, Selena’s estate, or any family-owned or jointly-owned business,” directly pushing back on the implication behind Quintanilla III’s accusations.
That response matters because it frames the case as more than a demand for money: one side says the accounting is incomplete, while the other says no theft occurred. The dispute now turns on what the agreement covers, which properties sit inside that arrangement, and whether the numbers from Jan. 1, 2016 forward support a claim for more than $1 million. For now, the suit has drawn a hard line around the financial records themselves.
