Trusts & Estates
Helmsley Will: Dog Gets $12 Million
Posted Aug 29, 2007, 08:55 am CST
By Martha Neil
Leona Helmsley's dog, a Maltese named Trouble, is to get the benefit of $12 million under the luxury hotel queen's will. The money is to be in trust, of course, since animals can't directly hold funds.
Helmsley, who died last week at age 87, also left $10 million to her brother and $5 million each to two of her four grandchildren out of her $4 billion estate, according to a will that was made public yesterday in Manhattan Surrogate's Court, reports the New York Daily News. She also made substantial bequests to charity.
However, she left two other grandchildren nothing, "for reasons that are known to them," reports the Associated Press.
Helmsley also left $100,000 to her chauffeur. But, among the individuals who benefited, AP notes, "no one made out better than Trouble, who once appeared in ads for the Helmsley Hotels, and lived up to her name by biting a housekeeper." There's no word on whether other heirs might contend that the canine exercised undue influence in getting her paws on the $12 million.