8.29.2007

How would this work?

Helmsley's Dog Gets $12 Million in Will
The Associated Press
August 29, 2007

Leona Helmsley's dog will continue to live an opulent life, and then be buried alongside her in a mausoleum. But two of Helmsley's grandchildren got nothing from the late luxury hotelier and real estate billionaire's estate.

Helmsley left her beloved white Maltese, named Trouble, a $12 million trust fund, according to her will, which was made public Tuesday in surrogate court.

She also left millions for her brother, Alvin Rosenthal, who was named to care for Trouble in her absence, as well as two of four grandchildren from her late son Jay Panzirer - so long as they visit their father's grave site once each calendar year.

Otherwise, she wrote, neither will get a penny of the $5 million she left for each. Helmsley left nothing to two of Jay Panzirer's other children - Craig and Meegan Panzirer - for 'reasons that are known to them,' she wrote.

But 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.

Helmsley died earlier this month at her Connecticut home. She became known as a symbol of 1980s greed and earned the nickname 'the Queen of Mean' after her 1988 indictment and subsequent conviction for tax evasion. One employee had quoted her as snarling, 'Only the little people pay taxes.'

4 comments:

Iris Took said...

I posted about this today too. Crazy!

Traci said...

the woman must have been nuts.

if i were a family member, i'd contest the will.

$12 million to a dog?

i mean, i love my dogs too...but geez.

total nut job.

Ky • twopretzels.com said...

I don't even want to start about how there are kids in China...

Anonymous said...

I guess this proves the old saying, "Money can't buy everything." Like a cure for uglyness, for example. Gah!