Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Trouble the Dog - $12 million . . . Flesh and blood - $0


I won't even mention you know who's name here, but I thought some of you might find this interesting.

So Leona Helmsley, the "Queen of Mean," passed away recently. The reason I find this interesting is because in her will, she left $12 million to her dog, Trouble, and left nothing for two of her four grandkids - who got cut out "for reasons known to them." Ouch.

Her brother and her charitable trust will receive millions. The two other grandkids stand to receive $ 5 million - on the condition that they visit their grandfather's grave site once a year. Even the chauffeur got a hundred grand.

But Trouble the dog made out like a bandit. He got his $12 million, unconditionally. And this despite having bitten a maid before.

Maybe you know who would have been better off had it been humans rather than dogs.

3 comments:

NegativeMode said...

I thought you can't leave money to a pet, but have to leave money to a person for the "care and maintenance" of the pet. No?

Unknown said...

Ummm, wait a minute...how is this sports related?

Negativemode, if my wills, trusts & estates memory is correct, i think you're partially right...you can leave $$ to a pet in a trust, but a trustee would have to administer the funds (if the settlor does not designate a trustee the court will pick one), seeing as though fido would be nary the wiser. There's a statutory limit to that though, I think in NY it's 21 years...

Pleats 'n Cleats said...

I think Naki answered your question, negativemode. Technically, though, you can leave the money to anyone you want . . . how the court deals with your bequest is another story. . .

To Naki, I tried not to use the name of a certain athlete because I'm tired of talking about him and his dog issues. This article just drives home the point that some people really do care about dogs more than people. The last link in the post will shed more light on this.