Death of Leona Helmsley’s dog “Trouble” is disclosed

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2011:
NEW YORK CITY–Trouble, 12, the Maltese dog to whom hotel
heiress Leona Helmsley left $12 million in 2007, died in December
2010, “following a series of health setbacks that left her blind
and infirm,” Joanna Malloy and Barbara Ross of the New York Daily
News revealed on June 9, 2011. Trouble’s death was not disclosed
while litigation continued over the Helmsley estate.

Helmsley reportedly left most of her estate, estimated at $5
to $8 billion, to help dog charities, but Manhattan Surrogate’s
Court Judge Troy K. Webber in February 2009 reduced the sum left to
Trouble to $2 million, and ruled that the Leona M. and Harry B.
Helmsley Charitable Trust could fund any charitable projects it
wishes. The Humane Society of the U.S., Maddie’s Fund, and the
American SPCA in August 2009 asked the Manhattan Surrogate Court to
overturn the Webber ruling. The ASPCA had received $100,000 of the
first $450 million the trust distributed, while no other animal
welfare charity had received anything. The Manhattan Surrogate Court
ruled in May 2011 that the plaintiffs had no standing to bring the
case.