Animal Charities ask for Helmsley’s Billions

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

A petition that concerns Leona Helmsley’s will is claiming that the office of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issues incorrect analysis and a surrogate judge has used faulty reasoning before millions in grants were paid out by the estate’s trustees.

First of all, the major beneficiary in her will (worth $12 million) is her beloved Maltese named Trouble.  However, the dog was mentioned only once in the petition and then another in the supporting documents.

Three animal protection groups filed the petition saying that the money of Mrs. Helmsley is not being spent on dogs as mentioned in her will.  These three groups are Maddie’s Fund, American Society for Prevention of Animal Cruelty, and Humane Society.  They accused the estate trustees of Mrs. Helmsley of a “scheme to deprive welfare charities to dogs.”  Her fortune is estimated to be around $5 billion but only $1 million were earmarked for organizations taking care of animals.

A professor of law and philanthropy at New York University, Harvey Dale, said that this lawsuit may face significant hurdles since donors, beneficiaries, and potential beneficiaries don’t have any standing to intervene.  Maddie’s Fund president, Rick Avanzino, acknowledged that there’s difficulty in challenging trustees because their organization was not even named in the will of Mrs. Helmsley.  But still, they will push through with this lawsuit to penalize the trustees who chose to ignore the wishes and direction of their benefactor.

Tags: American Society for Prevention of Animal Cruelty, Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General, estate, Harvey Dale, Humane Society, law, lawsuit, Leona Helmsley, Maddie's Fund, petition, Rick Avanzino, Trouble, trustees, will
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