Trouble, a white Maltese dog that inherited $12 million (£6 million) from billionaire Leona Helmsley, will have to get by on a little less, after a judge gave $10 million of the bequest to charity and two Helmsley grandchildren.

Judge Reena Roth ruled that Helmsley was mentally incompetent when she made her will, and gave $4 million to an undisclosed charity, and $6 million to Craig and Meegan Panzirer, who were cut out of the will, it was reported on Monday.

Helmsley, 87, who earned the sobriquet “the Queen of Mean”, left the lion’s share of her $2.5 billion fortune to unnamed causes through a charitable trust after she died on August 20, 2007.

Trouble will now have to live on just two million dollars at an undisclosed location in Florida, where she was taken in December after receiving numerous death threats.

Helmsley married the real estate magnate Harry Helmsley in 1972, helping him build a company managing some of New York’s most prestigious addresses, including the Empire State Building. (AFP)

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