New York’s “Queen of Mean” has left her pet dog in the lap of luxury with a $12 million inheritance – more than she bequeathed her human descendants.

Leona Helmsley, the billionaire property tycoon who died last week at the age of 87, cut two of her four grandchildren out of her estate entirely but bestowed a fortune on her beloved fluffy white Maltese bitch, Trouble.

Trouble will get her paws on a $12 million (£6 million) trust – more than the $5 million in cash and $5 million in trusts that Mrs Helmsley willed to each of her other two grandchildren. Only her brother, Alvin Rosenthal, who will look after Trouble, could potentially get more: $5 million in cash and a $10 million trust, of which he can take 5 per cent a year.

The billionaire even made plans to spend her afterlife with her beloved pooch. “I direct that when my dog, Trouble, dies, her remains shall be buried next to my remains in the Helmsley Mausoleum,” she wrote.

Mrs Helmsley, the owner of the Helmsley hotel chain and a property portfolio that included an interest in the Empire State Building, earned notoriety as the “Queen of Mean” when she was jailed for tax evasion in 1989 after declaring: “Only the little people pay taxes.” Her will, however, leaves the bulk of her estate – estimated at $4 billion to $8 billion – to a charity named after her and her late husband, Harry, a legendary New York property magnate.

Mrs Helmsley’s only son, Jay Panzirer, died of a heart attack in 1982. She cut two of his children, Craig and Meegan Panzirer, out of her will entirely “for reasons which are known to them”. The other two grandchildren, David and Walter Panzirer, will be able to collect their money only if they visit their father’s grave “at least once each calendar year, preferably on the anniversary of my said son’s death”.

She directed that a visitors’ book should be placed at the Helmsley Mausoleum at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in the northern suburbs of New York to record their attendance. She set aside $3 million for the lavish mausoleum’s upkeep, directing that it should be “washed or steam-cleaned at least once a year”.

None of her 12 great-grandchildren is mentioned in the will. The only other person left money is her chauffeur, who gets $100,000.

Trouble lived with Mrs Helmsley in a 46th-floor flat at the top of her Park Lane hotel on Central Park South, Manhattan, feasting on a gourmet diet prepared by the hotel chefs.

Zamfira Sfara, a maid, filed a suit claiming that she suffered nerve damage after the dog repeatedly bit her as she followed the property queen’s orders to hand-feed it. Ms Sfara said that Trouble bit her every time she gave it a bath, while Mrs Helmsley cheered the animal on.

Diamond dogs

— Jasper, a mongrel rescued from Battersea Dogs Home, became Britain’s richest dog after tripling the £50,000 left by his owner on the stock market. He was left to a friend, who helps him to pick stocks

— Moose the dog actor made his £1.8 million fortune playing “Eddie” in the US sitcom Frasier at £6,000 an episode

— Frankie, a chihuahua, received a one-third share in a palatial San Diego residence worth £5 million when his owner died. His housemates are two cats

— A poodle in New York has a fortune estimated at £45 million. He is an heir of a dog left £15 million in 1931

— Drew Barrymore, the actor, placed a £3 million Beverly Hills mansion in trust for her dog, Flossie, in 2002 after it woke up her and her husband, Tom Green, in time to escape from a house fire

Source: www.dogsinthenews.com ; National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research; Times archives

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