ohmidog!

Contrary to her wishes, billions of dollars designated for dogs in Leona Helmsley’s will won’t go solely to canine causes.

The judge overseeing the probate of Helmsley’s will has ruled that the billions of dollars that will flow into the charitable trust she created do not have to be spent solely for the care and welfare of dogs.

The judge’s decision does not affect the $12 million Helmsley bequeathed to her Maltese, Trouble (above), who was the biggest named beneficiary in her will.

The judge, Troy K. Webber, said that the trustees who control the trust may distribute the money as they see fit. The ruling, dated last Thursday, was reported in today’s New York Times.

“The court finds that the trustees may apply trust funds for such charitable purposes and in such amounts as they may, in their sole discretion, determine,” Judge Webber wrote.

The trustees — Mrs. Helmsley’s brother, Alvin Rosenthal; two of her grandsons, Walter and David Panzirer; her lawyer Sandor Frankel; and her longtime friend John Codey — had filed a court motion arguing that the hotel mogul’s instructions did not limit use of the money to dog-related causes, and the New York attorney general’s office filed a similar argument.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Howard J. Rubenstein, a spokesman for the trustees, said they planned to begin making grants from the trust next month. “In the hope that this would be the court’s decision, the trustees have been diligently working to identify potential grantees so that the trust’s funds would be put to optimal use as soon as possible in such areas as health care, medical research, human services, education and various other areas.”

Animal lovers were thrilled when the terms of Helmsley’s will were reported last year, and many of them wrote the trustees with suggestions about which organizations and programs the trust might support.

Bernard Unti, senior policy adviser at the Humane Society of the United States, told the Times the judge’s decision was disappointing, though not entirely unexpected. “Whatever the legal status of the mission statement, it certainly signaled a clear intent on Mrs. Helmsley’s part to see the money used to help dogs,” he said. “The animal welfare sector in the United States and abroad is chronically underfunded, and just the annual interest thrown off by an estate this large could do a tremendous amount of good.”