"Most states really try to honor whatever you put in your will," said Elizabeth Schwartz, a Florida lawyer who focuses on probate. Stories abound of monied eccentrics who speak from the great beyond with their will.Īt her death at 105 in 2007, the philanthropic Brooke Astor left $250,000 to the Animal Medical Center in New York City - specifically for the veterinary care of the pets of poor and old people. Probate lawyers say the will is a person's last chance to seek revenge or reward the living, even if that means a beloved pet. Her cremated remains will be "privately retained," spokeswoman Eileen Sullivan told the New York Daily News.įunds held in the dog's trust will revert to the Helmsley family trust, which supports charities, she said. Trouble, who had faced 20 to 30 death and kidnapping threats, also retained a full-time security guard, according to news reports. Her caretaker, Carl Lekic spent $100,000 annually on her care - including $8,000 for grooming and $1,200 for dog food.
The dog was blind and stricken with health issues before her death. Trouble lived the equivalent of 84 human years and was tended to around the clock at the Helmsley Sandcastle hotel in Sarasota. The dirt-hating Helmsley ordered that the mausoleum be "washed or steam-cleaned at least once a year," for which she left $3 million. The will also stipulated that when the Maltese went to the big kennel in the sky, she would lie beside her in the 12,000-square-foot Helmsley family mausoleum in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Westchester County, N.Y. But when her brother refused to care for the dog after Helmsley's death, Trouble was flown by private jet to Florida.
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