Leona Helmsley’s multibillion-dollar fortune doesn’t have to go to the dogs, a Manhattan judge has declared.
In a ruling made public yesterday, Manhattan Surrogate’s Court Judge Troy Webber said the administrators of Helmsley’s charitable trust – worth an estimated $5 billion – don’t have to follow her 2004 directive that the money go to her pet cause.
She died in 2007 at 87.
The March 1, 2004, “Mission Statement” for her massive charitable foundation provided that trustees were supposed to give grants “for purposes related to the provision of care for dogs, and such other charitable activities as the trustees shall determine,” court papers show.
The trustees – Helmsley’s brother, two grandchildren, a close friend and a lawyer – had been concerned the directive might keep their charitable giving on a tight leash.
In his ruling, Webber said the second part of the directive gives the trustees wide latitude.
“[T]he court finds that the trustees may apply trust funds for such charitable purposes and in such amounts as they may, in their sole discretion, determine,” the judge wrote.
The bad news for dogs is good news for people.
“In the hope that this would be the court’s decision, the trustees have been diligently working to identify potential grantees so the trust’s funds would be put to optimal use as soon as possible in such areas as health care, medical research, human services, education, and various other areas,” the Leona and Harry Helmsley Charitable Foundation said in a statement.
In her will, Helmsley left $12 million to take care of the pampered pooch, and directed that the dog be buried next to her and her husband.
A judge has reduced the amount of Trouble’s bequest to $2 million, and state law bars animals from being buried in human cemeteries for humans.
The brassy billionaire’s attempt to exclude two of her grandchildren from her will was also undone.
The hotelier had huffed that Craig Panzirer, 41, and Meegan Panzirer Wesolko, 38, would get nothing from her estate “for reasons which are known to them.”
The foundation said it hopes to begin announcing grants next month.