Leona Helmsley caused a stir before she died and is sparking controversy even after her death. The lawyer managing Helmsley’s trust said that nearly $5 to $8 billion dollars will be used exclusively for the welfare of dogs.
The late hotelier and real estate magnate Leona Helmsley prepared a mission statement in 2003 and established two main goals to manage her multi-billion dollar trust after her death. The first goal was to help the poor and the second goal was to provide for the care and welfare of the dogs.
But later she amended the statement and crossed out the first and left all the funds to take care of the dogs. Neither her relatives nor the poor will receive any of her money.
She did a similar thing in her personal will: she left about $12 million to her favorite dog “Trouble”, while her two grandchildren received nothing. But
recently the New York Judge ruled against the will of Leona Helmsley by reducing it from $12 million to $2 million for the dog. The difference was supposed to go to Helmsley's other charities.
William Josephson, a lawyer who is the former head of the Charities Bureau in the New York state attorney general's office, confirmed to
The New York Times that Helmsley specified in her final mission statement that all the money be used for canine welfare. Josephson said this statement however was "not necessarily legally binding".
Howard J. Rubenstein, a spokesman for the executors of Helmsley’s estate, said the executors will not comment on this issue directly to the Times. They are still working on implementing Helmsley’s conditions.
Helmsley could have given part of the funds to the poor or used for educational purposes instead of giving it all to dogs, in my opinion.
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Helmsley's remaining billions also goes to the dogs
