Billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley left a $12 million trust fund to her Maltese Trouble, according to the terms of her will, made public Tuesday in surrogate court.
The bequeath means the dog, who once reportedly bit a housekeeper, will inherit more than anyone in Helmsley’s family.
Alvin Rosenthal, Helmsley’s brother, was named Trouble’s guardian and will receive several million. Two of four grandchildren from late son Jay Panzirer will receive $5 million each, and two other grandchildren from Panzirer will receive nothing “for reasons that are known to them,” wrote Helmsley.
Trouble, who appeared in ads for Helmsley hotels, will live out her final days with Rosenthal, then be buried alongside Helmsley and her late husband Harry Helmsley in a Westchester County mausoleum.
“I direct that when my dog, Trouble, dies, her remains shall be buried next to my remains in the Helmsley mausoleum,” Helmsley wrote in her will.
Helmsley left $3 million to maintain the mausoleum, which, she directed, must be “washed or steam-cleaned at least once a year.”
The majority of Helmsley’s estate – said to be worth several billion – will go to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Helmsley died earlier this month at her Connecticut home.
Helmsley gained infamy – and her nickname, the “Queen of Mean” – after being convicted for tax evasion in 1988.