The Maltese named Trouble, inheritor of US$12 million from hotel mogul Leona Helmsley, has died, heading to the hunting grounds in the sky and leaving behind a trail of financial and legal disputes.

The pampered pooch with a diamond-studded collar and snow-white coat died on Dec 13, but news only emerged this week of her death by spokesperson Eileen Sullivan.

She was 12 in human years, or 84 in “doggie years”, just shy of the 87 years at which her eccentric mistress and benefactor Helmsley died in 2007. ‘She was cremated, and her remains are being privately retained,’ Ms Sullivan said. The remaining funds held in trust for Trouble have gone to The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

When Helmsley died, she left her adored companion US$12 million, but a New York judge agreed she had been mentally incompetent and knocked down that fortune to a mere US$2 million, while boosting the inheritance left to Helmsley’s human family and to charity.

Trouble, known for snapping nastily at just about anyone except Helmsley, retired to Florida, living and finally dying in luxury at the Helmsley Sandcastle hotel in Sarasota. According to the New York Daily News, which broke the story, Trouble wolfed down US$100,000 a year, with US$8,000 for grooming, US$1,200 for food—and the rest for security against dozens of annual kidnapping and death threats.

Via [AFP]