Estate Planning

Helmley's Dog Trouble Forced to Get by on Less

By Hull & Hull LLP

As I have blogged about before, when Leona Helmsley died, she left a $12 million trust for the benefit of her beloved Maltese, Trouble. 

After her death, Trouble’s guardians designated in Ms. Helmsley’s will declined to act, and the general manager from one of her hotels agreed to step up and fulfil the role.   

The trustees of Ms. Helmsley’s estate decided that a $12 million trust was a little rich, even for a dog as cute as Trouble and, over the summer, convinced a court to reduce the size of the trust to $2 million. 

In support of their request, the trustees submitted an affidavit sworn by Trouble’s legal guardian. In the affidavit, the guardian provided a breakdown of the $190,200 in expenses Trouble incurs each year:

• The guardian is paid $60,000.00 to watch Trouble;
• Full-time private security costs $100,000.00 per year;
• Grooming fees are $8,000.00 per year;
• Veterinary care costs $2,500 per year (although, apparently poor Trouble’s kidney’s are failing and the guardian anticipates the medical expenses increasing to $18,000.00 per year);
• Food costs approximately $1,200 per year; and
• Miscellaneous expenses were estimated at $3,000 per year (for vacations, perhaps?)

The guardian pointed out that, even uninvested, $2 million would be sufficient to pay Trouble’s expenses for the next ten years even though, given her health problems, she isn’t expected to live more than half that.

Still...just think about how many dog toys $12 million could have bought.

Have a great day,

Megan F. Connolly

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on September 02, 2008 (boomark / email).