In This Story
When hotelier Leona Helmsley left her dog Trouble $12 million, in 2007 – while leaving two of her grandchildren with nothing – the newly wealthy Maltese terrier became the subject of international headlines as well as some anger.
Trouble received an estimated 30 death and kidnapping threats, while a judge eventually reduced the dog’s inheritance down to $2 million. Nearly two decades later, however, it appears that Helmsley may have been ahead of the curve when it comes to pet inheritances.
“The legal system is only recently catching up to the fact that animals have legal interests,” Christopher Berry, managing attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, told the Washington Post. “But to take advantage of this development, people should engage in some planning to provide care for their companion animals.”
While animals cannot legally inherit money, it is becoming increasingly common for individuals to carve out provisions in their wills for their furry (or feathery or scaly) family members. Some people, like Helmsley, choose to leave money in pet trusts that provide for the animal’s care after their owners’ deaths. The idea may seem eccentric on its face, but some experts emphasize that it’s really no different than any other kind of money left in a trust.
“All 50 states recognize some form of a pet trust, thanks, in part, to the Uniform Trust Code, which has a provision recognizing and enforcing pet trusts,” Berry told the Washington Post.
Like with human cases, when a (furry) beneficiary of a trust dies, it’s up to the trustee to follow the next steps – whether that’s dissolving the trust or following instructions on where to distribute the funds.
It is also becoming increasingly common for people to explicitly state where they want their pets to live – in an effort to avoid family disputes and ensure animals don’t end up in shelters.
Experts recommend creating explicit provisions about wills during estate planning to ensure the animal doesn’t languish for months or even years, while humans work out their ownership disputes.
“Most people think that their family members will do the right thing and care for these animals, but our experience shows it’s just not true,” Eldad Hagar, co-founder of the Los Angeles pet rescue charity Hope for Paws, told the Wall Street Journal. “So many times they end up at the shelter to be euthanized.”
Continue reading to learn more about animals who received inheritances from their owners.
Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette is almost as iconic and perhaps even more chic than her late owner. The blue-cream Birman cat made such a mark on pop culture that both Doja Cat and Jared Leto wore Choupette-inspired costumes to the 2023 Met Gala. Lagerfeld made it clear that he would leave part of his fortune to Choupette – referring to her as a “little heiress.” While it’s unclear exactly how much she inherited, Choupette was already independently a millionaire from her life as a kitty-influencer.
After her 2015 death, Manhattan entrepreneur Leslie Ann Mandel left $100,000 to her 32 cockatiels, along with a request that the birds continue to reside in her Hamptons home. Mandel asked that her stepson Matthew Herzog, the son of science fiction writer Arthur Herzog, oversee the birds’ trust and ensure that the cockatiels continued to live in the lifestyle to which they were accustomed.
Tommaso the cat had a feline Cinderella story: as a stray kitten he wandered onto the grounds of elderly Italian property magnate Maria Assunta. Assunta bequeathed $13 million to the cat or whomever would look after him. When she died in 2011, at age 94, her nurse took responsibility for both the cat and his vast fortune.
When a black cat – rather aptly named Blackie – lost her owner in 1988, she gained a place in the record books. Reclusive British antiques dealer Ben Rea left his feline friend $12.5 million and split the remainder of his fortune between cat charities, employees, and one close friend. For years after Rea’s death, Blackie was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s wealthiest cat.
Miami heiress Gail Posner left her three dogs a $3 million trust and the right to continue living in her mansion – sparking a massive legal dispute in the process. Posner’s will provided for her animals as well as her staff, with her bequests to employees totaling $26 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Posner’s son disputed the will in court, arguing that his mother was taken advantage of by her staff while she was dying. He also alleged that staff members convinced his mother to push a media narrative that her chihuahua, Conchita, was spoiled, in an effort to justify leaving a fortune to her pets.
This story originally appeared on Quartz, our sister site, on Monday, August 12.
