- Barbara Thorpe left most of her $200,000 inheritance as a trust to care for the abandoned cats of Dixfield, Maine
- But locals who have been caring for the strays claim the trustees have been withholding money for 13 years
- One carer spends $9,000 a year on cats, but says the trust pays out just $300 a year, on average
- The suit also alleges that one trustee upped her housekeeping charges from $8 to $100 an hour after Thorpe was placed in care
Cat
lovers in Dixfield, Maine, have teamed up with the town itself to take
a local woman's estate trustees to court as part of a 13-year dispute
over money that she left to local abandoned cats.
Although
Barbara Thorpe wished to leave the lion's share of her $200,000 estate
to pay for food, shelter and veterinary care for the stray cats of
Dixfield when she died in 2002, plaintiffs in the case — including the
town itself — claim that her trustees are refusing to put money in the
kitty.
Thorpe's
will named her friend, Gertrude Crosby, as her sole representative, and
requested that she give money to a number of friends and institutions,
including $5,000 to a Shriners Hospital for children. Once that was
done, and estate expenses were paid, the remaining $147,978.63 plus life
insurance proceeds were to be used to create a memorial trust to care
for local strays.
Brenda Jarvis is one of five Dixfield,
Maine locals who are suing the trustees of Barbara Thorpe's estate,
accusing them of refusing to pay the money that Thorpe left to local
cats in her will. Thorpe left almost $150,000 to the strays of Dixfield,
hoping it would be used to pay for their food, shelter and care
But
a group of local cat carers — Noreen Clarke, Brenda Jarvis, Caroline
Smith, Valerie Warriner and Donna Weston — say they've struggled to get
the money they need to act out Thorpe's wishes, and the town of Dixfield
backed them in a suit filed last week.
Jarvis told The Sun Journal that the trustees had paid out about $300 a year to care for the cats, including a check for $2,500.
But,
she says, the cost of caring for the animals is considerably higher —
she spends most of each day at outdoor shelters and a trailer she bought
to house cats, where she feeds, grooms and cares for them, and costs
can run to around $9,000 a year.
'I spend darn close to my entire Social Security check,' she said to The Sun Journal.
Caroline Smith, Jarvis's sister, has
been caring for local strays since 1974, and continues to dedicate money
and time to their upkeep - but in court she and the other carers say
that their expenses are not being met by Thorpe's trustees, whom they
say are reluctant to part with money, and are taking it for themselves
Other
members care for these animals or run their own shelters, including
Warriner, who keeps 40 cats and estimates that she spends $800 a month
on their upkeep.
They
plan to move the animals to a dedicated three-bedroom farmhouse donated
by a friend of Jarvis's, but say it will require a major renovation.
The
suit claims that the trustees — named as Gertrude Crosby, Bentley
Crosby and Charlotte Mesko, and attorney David Austin, who drafted
Thorpe's will and began representing the Crosbys after she died — have
billed excessive amounts for maintaining the trust, and have failed to
properly invest the money in it.
Valerie Warriner looks after 40 cats
and claims to spend around $800 a month on her charges, but the court
papers filed by her group say that on average Thorpe's trust pays out
just $300 per year
The
complaint also alleges that the Crosbys have taken money intended for
the cats for themselves, claiming that when Thorpe moved to a nursing
home in 2001 Gertrude upped her charges for housekeeping from $8 an hour
to $100 an hour, and paid her husband Bentley $40 to help.
They continued charging these fees after Thorpe died.
It
adds that Austin conspired with the Crosbys to stop Thorpe's bequest
to the cats from being enacted, and charged more than $13,000 in fees.
The suit claims
that as well as restricting the money given to cat carers in Dixfield,
those overseeing the trust have billed unreasonable amounts, with one
charging $100 an hour for housekeeping after Thorpe's death
Representatives of Dixfield have
chosen to side with Jarvis and her friends, saying that their continuing
care of stray cats was in the interests of the town
Dixfield's
cat carers have been joined in their fight by the town itself, after a
Board of Selectmen unanimously agreed that it was in the town's
interests to deal with the area's abandoned cats.
Town
manager Carlo Puiia told The Sun Journal that they agreed that Thorpe
had intended for the money to go towards Dixfield's cat enthusiasts,
some of whom had been helping cats there for decades.
Jarvis and sister Caroline Smith, in particular, have been caring for local strays since 1974.
This
isn't the first time the case has seen the inside of a court: in 2004, a
complaint was filed to a probate court, with the same charges. The
judge at that time ruled that Austin had invoiced fairly but that the
trustees' fees were unreasonable, and capped their fees at 10 percent of
the total trust.
The trustees' attorney, Neal Pratt, told The Sun Journal on Sunday that his clients 'vehemently deny any wrongdoing.'
The court case remains ongoing, but
the catwomen of Dixfield continue to keep their work ongoing — and the
cats are keeping their chins up
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