It's no joke! Joan Rivers left a $150 million fortune which will all go to her daughter Melissa, beloved grandson Cooper... and her dogs, who were better than a husband 'because they didn't leave the toilet seat up'

• The comic genius raked in over $1 billion in sales at QVC
• Her Upper East Side apartment was valued at $35 million 
• Joan talked about cremating her dogs and wanting to be cremated herself and then having all their ashes mixed together in 'one big barking urn'
• No purebreds for Joan; she had four rescues who ate from crystal bowls, and called herself the 'Angelina Jolie of barkers' 
• In a letter to her mom read at the funeral, Melissa teased about Joan posting photos of her friends frolicking topless in LA hot tub
• Melissa will be sitting 'shiva' for her mother tonight and tomorrow in LA 
• Joan was meant to be in the UK next month for her tour, called Before They Close The Lid 

By Sara Nathan for MailOnline

Published: 07:13 EST, 11 September 2014 | Updated: 13:01 EST, 11 September 2014

Joan Rivers earned a fortune from her QVC business and non-stop, stand-up performances - and it's all going to her only daughter Melissa, the grandson she 'worshiped' - as well as her pet dogs.

The outspoken star, who died at age 81 last Thursday, is believed to have amassed a $150 million fortune, earning $40 million a year - and reportedly raked in over $1 billion in sales of clothing and jewelry in her partnership with home shopping network QVC over the last 24 years.

Her lavish apartment on Manhattan's Upper East side - bought through a family trust - was recently valued at $35 million. And, as Joan publicly stated, everything goes to Melissa Rivers.

However, the comedienne's goddaughter Tracie Hotchner has revealed that Joan also left  'clear provision' for her rescue dogs, Samantha and Teegan, who lived with her in New York, as well as a Jack Russell Terrier and a Border Collie in California. 

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Best friends: Joan Rivers' goddaughter Tracie Hotchner wrote: 'How could you not love a woman who, when push came to shove, called her doggies her best friends and in later years said they were better companions than a husband because 'They didn’t leave the seat up!'

Puppy love: Joan Rivers with Teegan earlier this year, she has left a chunk of her estimated $150 million fortune to her four rescue pups

'Only when you love dogs very much do you let them sit on $300-per-yard French fabric': Joan Rivers' dogs Samantha and Teegan are pictured at home in her lavish Manhattan apartment

Samantha and Teegan were by Joan's side at Manhattan's Mount Sinai hospital in her final days, her close friend New York Post columnist Cindy Adams revealed, saying they were allowed in 'for a moment to kiss mommy'.

Cindy said the dogs may now be cared for by Joan's longtime assistant, Jocelyn Pickett. 

And writing in an emotional blog, Tracie, 63, said: 'How could you not love a woman who, when push came to shove, called her doggies her best friends and in later years said they were better companions than a husband because 'They didn’t leave the seat up!' 

Tracie, the daughter of A. E. Hotchner, who founded Newman's Own Inc. with his friend and neighbor, actor Paul Newman, added: 'I knew she made sure to leave very clear provisions for all of them; it struck me that in our world today, dogs have become accepted as such essential family members that providing for them well in life, and after death, is considered quite normal, whereas not that many years ago it would have been considered eccentric to mention children, grandchildren and dogs in the same context. 

'She loved her dogs dearly, and they meant so much to her because with her hectic lifestyle of travel and performances, her pooches were her touchstone to normalcy and genuine affection - just as they are for the rest of us!'

Speaking to MailOnline today, Tracie, who attended Joan's bawdy funeral on Sunday, said: 'The people who spoke really knew Joan and spent time with her and the stories were full of Joan's vulgarity, even inside this temple. She wanted it to be a celebration - and honestly, it was. People captured Joan's verve.

'She loved Melissa, she loved her dogs and she worshiped her grandson Cooper, absolutely worshiped that little boy.' 

In a Wall Street Journal article in February, where the comic listed her favorite things, Joan's dogs were pictured at her sumptuous home, and she admitted: 'Only when you love dogs very much do you let them sit on $300-per-yard French fabric. Samantha is the little black-haired one and Teegan is my newest rescue. I've never been one of those Fifth Avenue ladies that have to have dogs that match. I am the Angelina Jolie of barkers.'

Tracie, who penned the script for the movie Mommie Dearest and is now a pet expert with her own radio show, said she had never mentioned her connection to Joan publicly before because 'it was the private person whom I loved and depended on for support, advice and encouragement.'

And she revealed that four years ago,Joan even talked about having cremated her dogs and wanting to be cremated herself  'and then having all their ashes mixed together in 'one big barking urn'.' 

'Hollywood all the way': Joan Rivers' last wishes

Opulent: The drawing room in Joan Rivers's Upper East Side condo is a sea of pink and gold velvet, with a piano in the corner, lit by three glittering chandeliers

Shattered: Melissa Rivers leaves her mother's Upper East side home and is greeted by bouquets of flowers from well wishers

A pillar of show business: Like Joan Rivers, who died last week at 81, the New York apartment lined with pillars and mirrors is a star of the city. It is now valued at around $35million

Joan Rivers remembered at star-studded funeral

'Although she left many instructions about her funeral and beyond, I don’t believe that the concept of a big cremation urn actually wound up as her final wish, but she didn’t want to be separated from them, that’s for sure', Tracie said. 

'Parting from them when she went away on work was sweet sorrow for her, and I will always remember the joy in Joan’s voice when she would come home and be greeted by balls of flying fur. Joan said, 'Hello my darlings, my little darlings' and I think she knew she was with her greatest fans of all.' 

Melissa will now be sitting Shiva for her mother in Los Angeles tonight and tomorrow night, a Jewish mourning period where Joan's California-based friends can pay their respects.

It's up to Melissa where Joan's ashes will be scattered, but Tracie recalled how the entertainer took her late husband Edgar Rosenburg's ashes to his favorite spots in New York following his death in 1987, saying: 'She carried them  to all the places he loved best. She took him to Dunhill on 5th Avenue and she made Mel come along.

'But there were pieces of bone and it was terrible and a bit ghoulish, all a bit difficult. She went to Tiffanys too I recall!'

As Joan's close friend Deborah Norville reminisced in her eulogy, Joan also took the ashes of her dear friend Tommy Corcoran to Buckingham Palace where she said 'cover me!' and sprinkled some in an urn before pouring the rest over a rose bush in the gardens - telling a startled Prince Charles exactly what she had just done. 

And Tracie added: 'Knowing Joan, she may have asked for Buckingham Palace, she'll find a way to get back in.' 

After clawing her way back to the top after a few years in the showbiz wilderness, Joan worked tirelessly up until the end - performing the night before an ill-fated throat procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic on Wednesday, that led to her death. 

Indeed, Joan managed to sell over $1 billion in merchandise, according to QVC. 

In the year before her death, Fortune reported the star sold an impressive 1.2 million products through the shopping channel. 

Over time, her line included over 6,000 items including brooches, scarves and dresses.

Joan was due to make her next QVC appearance on Friday and again on September 26.

During an interview with Bloomberg in March, Joan said that QVC 'has been so amazing to me'. In typical sarcastic style, she spoke about the importance of the web for selling her products.

'We now do 27 per cent through the Internet. No longer direct sales – which amazes me. They’re not even listening to me to say this is fabulous. They’re just going on there and finding it for themselves.' 

Right up until her death, Joan was working - and planned to travel to the UK next month for a tour called Before They Close The Lid. As Tracie said: 'She loved England so much, she couldn't wait to go. She was very respectful of her relationship with Prince Charles and Camilla and would never say one peep about them.

'Joan delighted in all of the trappings of royalty, of elegance and money, she loved to live beautifully, it was something she embraced, she had ironed linen, her dogs ate out of crystal bowls and only ate chicken and home cooked meals.' 

Melissa Rivers, son Cooper somber after Joan Rivers' funeral

Elegant: The bedroom, complete with a four poster bed and lacy drapes and a permanent stock of fresh lilies, is 'as elegant and beautiful as she was', the realtor said

Backstage: Joan Rivers prepared for every day as if she was going to perform, starting in this bulb-lined bathroom which resembled backstage at a theater

Meanwhile, Celebrity Net Worth values Joan's entire fortune at $150 million.

In between her various hosting duties and QVC royalties, Joan was known to earn as much as $50 million per year.

In 2013, Joan sold her country house in Connecticut for $4.4 million. 

That same year she also listed her opulent 500 square-foot NYC penthouse for $29.5 million. 

The apartment that she bought in the 1980s and once described as 'where Marie Antoinette would have lived if she had the money' was recently valued as much as $35 million.  

The star had tried to sell the property, bought under the Rosenberg Family Trust, a number of times. Her goddaughter told how Joan insisted on being called Mrs Rosenberg, her married name, while at home.

She first listed it on the market in 2009, when she planned to move to the West Coast to be closer to her daughter and grandson Cooper, 13.

The latest attempt was in 2012 when it as listed with an asking price of $29.5 million before being taken off the market.

Now, it may be worth considerably more, with similar-sized apartments in the area on sale for $35 million. 

The Renaissance-themed bedroom has a four poster bed draped in white lace, surrounded by vases of white lilies and demure paintings.

But the soft style is vamped up in one of the numerous living spaces, which has leopard-print carpet and deep red chairs.

Taking her mind off it: Melissa Rivers went for a stroll down Madison Avenue on Monday - the day after her mother Joan's funeral

Retail therapy: Looking tired, Melissa went shopping in Manhattan after a fraught few weeks

Fans pay tribute to Joan Rivers at the walk of fame in Hollywood

And the gregarious performer treated every day like a show as her bathroom looks like the backstage of a theater.  

In her 2012 book, I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me, Joan directed a passage to her daughter, regarding her funeral, writing: 'When I die (and, yes, Melissa, that day will come; and, yes, Melissa, everything's in your name), I want my funeral to be a huge showbiz affair with lights, cameras, action … I want Craft services, I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene! I want it to be Hollywood all the way," she wrote, adding, "I wantcrying, in five different accents … I want a wind machine so that even in the casket my hair is blowing just like Beyonce's.'

The funeral in New York on Sunday was a star-studded affair, as Joan requested, and today, the Hollywood Reporter revealed how Melissa's eulogy brought the house down.

In recent years, Joan had been staying in a room at Melissa's L.A. home when, once a week, she flew in from New York to tape E!'s Fashion Police. 

And apparently - according to correspondence Melissa wrote before Joan died and read at her mother's funeral, printed in its entirety below - Joan had some issues with the accommodations. 

The letter that Melissa read out said: 'Mom: I received the note that you slipped under my bedroom door last night. I was very excited to read it, thinking that it would contain amazing, loving advice that you wanted to share with me. Imagine my surprise when I opened it and saw that it began with the salutation, 'Dear Landlord'. 

New Yorkers remember Joan Rivers outside her home

Paws for thought: Joan Rivers with her goddaughter Tracie Hotchner (center), several years ago, at  a dog-friendly book party for The Dog Bible at the Museum of Arts & Design, Tracie's sister Holly (left) holds her Brussels Griffon puppy, Lulu

Love you, mean it: In 24 years of working with shopping network QVC, Joan Rivers, her with QVC queen Lisa Robertson, reportedly amassed $1billion

Sweeping: To get up to the glittering penthouse, next door to Bette Midler's home, the star would have to scale this vast marble staircase helped by a carved iron rail

'I have reviewed your complaints and address them below:

'1. While I appreciate your desire to "upgrade" your accommodations to a larger space, I cannot, in good conscience, move [my 13-year-old son] Cooper into the laundry room. I do agree that it will teach him a life lesson about fluffing and folding, but since I don't foresee him having a future in dry cleaning, I must say no.

'Also, I know you are a true creative genius (and I am in awe of the depth of your instincts), but breaking down a wall without my permission is not an appropriate way to express that creativity. It is not only a boundary violation but a building-code violation as well. Additionally, the repairman can't get here until next week, so your expansion plan will have to be put on hold.

2. Re: Your fellow "tenant" (your word), Cooper. While I trust you with him, it is not OK for you to undermine my rules. It is not OK that you let him have chips and ice cream for dinner. It is not OK that you let him skip school to go to the movies. And it is really not OK that the movie was Last Tango in Paris.

'As for your taking his friends to a "gentlemen's club," I accepted your rationale that it was an educational experience for the boys — and you are right, he is the most popular kid in school right now — but I'd prefer he not learn biology from those "gentlemen" and their ladies, Bambi, Trixie and Kitten. And just because I yelled at you, I do not appreciate your claim that I have created a hostile living environment.' 

Cosy: Touches, like a teddy bear on the couch, turned Joan's sumptuous apartment into a home

As guests including Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer and Sara Jessica Parker laughed, Melissa continued: '3. While I'm glad to see you're socializing, you must refill the hot tub after your parties. In fact, you need to tone down the parties altogether. Imagine my surprise when I saw the photos you posted on Facebook of your friends frolicking topless in the hot tub.

'I think it's great that you're entertaining more often, but I can't keep fielding complaints from the neighbors about your noisy party games like Ring Around the Walker or naked Duck, Duck Caregiver.

'I'm more than happy to have you use the house for social gatherings, but you cannot rent it out, advertise as "party central" or hand out T-shirts that say "F— Jimmy Buffett."

'In closing, I hope I have satisfactorily answered your complaints and queries. I love having you live with me, and I am grateful for every minute Cooper and I have with you. You are an inspiration. You are also 30 days late with the rent. Much love, Melissa.' 

Family love: Joan placed pictures of her loved ones on top of a black baby grand piano

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