2 posts from September 2007

Well it's all over the news this week that Trouble, the lucky Maltese that once shared a life with Leona Helmsley, has been named as the beneficiary of a $12,000,000 trust. It sounds a little over the top even to me, a lover of dogs beyond reason. But according to conservative calculations, that amount of capital could easily throw off over $500,000 per year which is a lot for such a little one. If we could measure love by money, then she truly loved Trouble. And who's to say what we should do with our worldly assests once we depart? It was her call, and she made her exit much like she lived her life: on her own terms.

If her heirs are unhappy, there may not be much they can do. According to slate.com:

If the heirs can't invalidate the will, they might still be able to get their hands on Trouble's money. If Helmsley provided for the dog under what's called a "statutory pet trust," then a court can rule that some of the $12 million should be redistributed.

In New York, a statutory pet trust can be challenged if it "substantially exceeds the amount required for the intended use." If a judge decides to shift money out of the trust, it's more likely to end up going to her charitable trust than to her relatives, since that's where the bulk of her property—worth a reputed $2.5 billion—went. On the other hand, if Helmsley set up a traditional pet trust for Trouble, the courts would be less likely to reduce its size.* (Statutory trusts provide more court supervision and can be very easy to draw up, but they're not available everywhere.)

Without a successful challenge, the $12 million trust can easily generate $600,000 a year in income for the dog. But what will happen to the money left over when Trouble finally joins Helmsley and her husband in their million-dollar mausoleum?

We can't know for sure, since the trust (unlike the will) isn't a public document. We do know from the will that the money in the trusts for her grandchildren and brother will go to her charitable trust after they die; the pet trust might be set up in the same way. In the meantime, Trouble joins the ranks of trust-fund pets like Rodeo, a Shar-Pei that received a $100,000 trust from tobacco heiress Doris Duke. British pop star Dusty Springfield provided for her cat Nicholas with a very specific set of instructions in her will. He was to be given baby food, a bed lined with her nightgown, and the opportunity to "marry" another cat. Her songs were also to be played to him each night.

A site that addresses the issue of caring for pets longterm is http://www.estateplanningforpets.org/  It's worth a visit. A quote they display on their home page says, "Many have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible forever for what you have tamed."  —Antoine de Saint-Exupery, from The Little Prince

Something to think about.

Anyway, the one really great thing that came out of all this is that my friend Robin got a call from her groomer (not HER groomer, but the groomer of Sparkle, her beautiful Maltese) who got a call from her agent (Sparkle's agent, Robin took the call) who got a call from the Ellen Degeneres show last Thursday and they were looking for a Maltese for a humorous sketch about all of the above. Long doggie short, she got the part! Down side, had to get up at 5:30am to primp for a 6:30am call. Up side, got to be on major tv show AND meet Hillary Clinton and Usher!

It airs Tuesday, September 4th, 2007.

Thank you, Trouble. Let's do lunch!