Helmsley billions may go to the dogs
Leona Helmsley, the late widow of New York hotelier and real estate magnate Harry, did not just leave $12m (€7.6m) in her will to her dog. She also specified that the entire trust, valued at $5bn to $8bn, be used for the care and welfare of dogs.
According to The New York Times, Mrs Helmsley signed a two-page “mission statement” in 2003 to establish goals for the trust that would disburse assets after her death. It said two individuals who had seen this statement stated that the first goal was to help indigent people and the second to provide for the care and welfare of dogs. A year later, they said, she deleted the first goal. These directions were not incorporated into Mrs Helmsley’s will or the trust documents and her trustees may also use their discretion in distributing the money. But her mission statement is the only clear expression of her charitable intentions. A spokesman for the executors of Helmsley’s estate told The New York Times they did not want to comment on the statement because they were still working to determine the direction of the trust. It is understood her trustees recently hired a philanthropic advisory service to help them identify a way to satisfy Mrs Helmsley’s intentions while at the same time pursuing broader charitable goals. Mrs Helmsley, who died last year at 87, exchanged celebrity for notoriety when she was convicted in 1989 of evading $1.2m in federal income tax, for which she was sent to prison. She was branded the “Queen of Mean”. Perhaps not surprisingly, given her apparent misanthropy, the biggest named beneficiary in Mrs Helmsley’s will was “Trouble”, her Maltese dog, which picked up $12m. It subsequently received death threats and requires security costing $100,000 a year. But a court in Manhattan recently cut the size of Trouble’s trust fund to $2m and ordered that the difference be added to the pending charitable trust. The Court also agreed to a settlement between the trustees and two of Mrs Helmsley’s grandchildren who were explicitly left out of her will. The agreement gave those grandchildren $6m apiece.
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