Ellen Frey-Wouters, who died at 88 as a widow and with no children to inherit her $3 million estate in an exclusive section of the Bronx, left the money so her cats, Troy and Tiger, would be well taken care of. According to the New York Post, the Bronx widow left instructions that the funds be used to make sure the felines would “never be caged” and would always be cared for.
Frey-Wauters worked for the United Nations and died in 2015, while her husband, a Brooklyn College Professor, passed away in 1989. The couple’s only child died in infancy so the cats were like her babies.
Dahlia Grizzle, one of the former home health aid is now responsible for taking care of Tiger, who was a former alley cat now living the good life in Ocala, Florida. “He deserves it,” Grizzle said. “He’s a wonderful cat.” Troy lives with Rita Pohila, another one of Frey-Wouters’ former home health aides, who received her own $50,000 from her ex-employer. Pohila declined to discuss Troy with The Post to respect the feline’s “privacy” rights.
When the cats die, the balance of their trust will go to Frey-Wouters’ sister in the Netherlands, who is her only living family member. The rest of her $3 million estate was split between two other home health aides, charities and her lawyer.
The felines aren’t the only beloved pets that were left a fortune when their owner passed, back in 2013, a Tennessee man named Leon Sheppard Sr. left $250,000 and his 4,270 square foot home to his cats, Frisco and Jake, instead of his five children, 12 grand children and six great-grandchildren. Back in 2007, when Leona Helmsley died, she left her dog Trouble, $12 million!
Is your pet in your will?
