Leona Helmsley loses her final court battle. Good!

[RandomGuy]

This was not what she wanted done with her money. I am somewhat troubled by the fact that her will was essentially overruled, but given the circumstances...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7912042.stm

US fortune 'not solely for dogs'


A judge reduced the $12m Leona Helmsley left to her dog Trouble
The fortune left by late real estate tycoon Leona Helmsley can go to charities other than those solely related to dogs, a US court has ruled.

A New York City judge said that Helmsley's legal documents allowed her estate's trustees "sole discretion" in donating the money to charity.

When Helmsley died in 2007 it was widely reported that she wanted her $8bn fortune spent only on canines.

She was dubbed the "Queen of Mean" during a trial in 1989 for tax evasion.

Manhattan probate court judge Troy Webber ruled that Helmsley's legal documents allowed the trustees to "apply trust funds for such charitable purposes and in such amounts as they may, in their sole discretion, determine".

The spokesman for the trustees said that they would announce the first grants in March.

"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," Howard Rubenstein said.

Animal rights groups had reacted gleefully at the reports last year that all of Helmsley's fortune would go to the care of dogs.

Charities had said the money could be used to rescue dogs from disaster zones and to tackle dog fighting, rabies in China and India as well as the canine over-population problem.

It is not clear now if any dog-welfare organisations will receive any of the funds.

Helmsley also left $12m to her pet dog, Trouble, while explicitly leaving out two of her grandchildren.

A Manhattan judge later reduced the trust fund for the nine-year-old Maltese to $2m and the grandchildren received $6m each.

[resistanze]

Just kill her dog.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

...or set it loose in chinatown

[SpursStalker]

What a fuckin waste ...

:rolleyes

[I.R.S.]

Agreed.

[mrsmaalox]

I know she wasn't a nice lady, but it was her money and unless she wrote the will under any kind of duress, I think it should be executed exactly as she wanted. The article doesn't quote the will, only says things like "widely reported" about the money to dog charities, so that may well just be rumor/gossip. But I don't know why anyone has the right to gift money to the grandchildren she excluded. Or why anyone could change what she left for the care of her own dog. I seem to recall hearing something recently about the brother who is in charge of the dog's care squandering the money on things other than the dog.

[Strike]

I know she wasn't a nice lady, but it was her money and unless she wrote the will under any kind of duress, I think it should be executed exactly as she wanted. The article doesn't quote the will, only says things like "widely reported" about the money to dog charities, so that may well just be rumor/gossip. But I don't know why anyone has the right to gift money to the grandchildren she excluded. Or why anyone could change what she left for the care of her own dog. I seem to recall hearing something recently about the brother who is in charge of the dog's care squandering the money on things other than the dog.

+1

What's the point of having a last will and testament if your wishes will not be carried out? As long as she was of sound mind and not coerced, her will should be carried out verbatim. Whether or not she was a royal cunt is irrelevant. If she didn't want two of her grandchildren to have any of her money, they shouldn't get shit.

[SAhoops]

Her money should have gone to whatever was in her will, its absurd that the government can change a persons last will and testament.

[iminlakerland]

I concur...if her will stated she wanted all her money to go to her dog, those are her wishes, and her money, a court should not be able to overule that. But if she gave her estate trustees discrecion on how to disperse it, then that's a whole nother opera.

[CuckingFunt]

Every time I hear Leona Helmsley's name, I can't help but think of the SNL sketch in which she (played by Nora Dunn) and Jim Bakker (Rick Moranis) broke out of jail together.

It was called "The Big Bitch Bull Dyke Bust Out of '89" and was one of the funniest things ever.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/89/89bbustout.phtml

[TwAnKiEs]

Helmsley also left $12m to her pet dog, Trouble, while explicitly leaving out two of her grandchildren.



:owned:lmao

[MiamiHeat]

she explicitly left out her grandchildren but they ignored her after her death and still gave them her money?

wow that judge is a piece of shit.