Tommaso the black cat inherits $8.5 million from his Italian owner

NY Daily News ^ | December 10 2011, | Kevin Deutsch

[Beowulf9]

Rags to riches tale of kitty who went from living on the streets to lap of luxury

once down-on-his-luck stray cat has become the world’s richest kitty — thanks to a childless widow who left him $8.5 million in her will.

Tommaso the black cat, who once scoured the streets of Rome for food, can now afford a gilded litter box with the inheritance.

In a handwritten will penned shortly before her death last month, Maria Assunta, 94, ordered that the money from her real estate empire should keep the green-eyed feline she rescued in the lap of luxury.

Animals are prohibited from direct inheritance under Italian law, so Assunta tasked her lawyers with finding "the animal welfare body or association to which to leave the inheritance and the task of looking after the cat Tommaso,” according to The Guardian newspaper.

They searched far and wide for the right organization, but none could guarantee Tommaso the princely life envisioned for him by Assunta.

So she willed her beloved feline — and the riches — to a fellow cat-lover she met in a park weeks before she died.

"Sometimes I'd go to her house so my cat could play with Tommaso," the woman, identified only as Stefania, told The Guardian.

Stefania, a nurse, also cared for Assunta until the end.

"I had no idea the signora had such wealth,” Stefania said.

She and Tommaso are now living in an “undisclosed location” outside Rome, The Guardian reported.

Tommaso is not the first lucky pet to receive a massive payday.

"Queen of Mean" Leona Helmsley famously left $12 million in 2007 for the care of her tiny dog, Trouble.

The hotel heiress’s will was later challenged and recast.

[Beowulf9]

any catfood you want, baby!

[Doogle]

"Heyz kid,wez gotta pizza shop in da Bronx dat needz finachal suzport, yu'd intressed?"

[JRandomFreeper]

As I look over at Sky, and wonder where the other hacking hairball factory is.... I spend $9.48USD/mo. on those two. They should get jobs.

Meh... my catz (und kinder) get nothing. I'm spending it all.

Ok... maybe the kidz get the house.

/johnny

[Texas Gal]

I favor raising taxes on all rich acts and dogs.

[Texas Gal]

Oops... cats. Not acts.

[Slings and Arrows]

[Beowulf9]

Lol!

[To Hell With Poverty]

Aw, no pics of the actual Fat Cat. Wonder if he’ll ever be undisclosed.

[Daffynition]

[Slings and Arrows]

He’s getting pointers from Dick Cheney.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

What is wrong with stupid old biddies who leave millions to their pets whilst there are plenty of human charities that could do with the money?

[Fresh Wind]

There’s nothing wrong with people doing what they want with their own money.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

People have the freedom to do whatever they want. But I do not have to respect them for making the choices they make. I wiki’d that ‘Queen of Mean’ woman and apparently when her own son died, she evicted his widow and her own grandchildren a few days after the funeral. No wonder she died sad, lonely and so embitterdly misanthropic that she gave all her money to a dog. I often wonder whether she or other people like her ever sat and reflected on why she had a poor relationship with other human beings...

[TheOldLady]

That's misleading. She could not legally bequeath her estate to a cat, so in reality, she left it to her friend with the provision of caring for Tommaso.

It's nice that kitteh will not have to return to his former homeless life.

[exnavy]

We live in strange times, indeed.

[Dr. Sivana]

What is wrong with stupid old biddies who leave millions to their pets whilst there are plenty of human charities that could do with the money?

I used to feel the same way, but now it doesn't bother me so much. It seems that most fat cats who leave their money to charity don't pick "Food for the Poor" or the Sisters of Charity, cancer research or even their local food pantry. They leave the money to Ivy League colleges, population control organizations like Planned Parenthood (see Warren Buffet), avant garde art institutes that sponsor Mapplethorpe and Annie Sprinkle and NPR (see Joan Kroc, McDonald's tycoon Ray Kroc's widow).

The money for the cat goes into an investment fund, which winds up feeding the overall economy. Some will go to lawyers challenging the will, which is sad. The money actually spent on kitty will provide an income for a small staff, and maintain a nice house. In no more than a decade and change, kitty will use up his last life. Cats' appetites are significant, but not infinite. They don't typically drink booze. They don't take illegal drugs on purpose. Heck, pampered house cats are normally forced into celibacy, so there won't even be heirs! This will probably leave at least $7 million of the $8.5 million untouched. Unless two or more sides of lawyers get particularly randy.

There are worse things to do with the money, and they have been done by the Joan Krocs of this world.

[varon]

This will probably leave at least $7 million of the $8.5 million untouched. Unless two or more sides of lawyers get particularly randy.

No question in my mind that the lawyers will get more of the money than the kitty and its caregiver.

[Fiji Hill]

In 1946, H. Allen Smith wrote a novel entltled Rhubarb (Garden City, NY: Doubleday) about a cat who inherits a major league baseball team. It was made into a movie in 1951.

[ladyjane]

Why do you care what a total stranger does with her money?