After hearing allegations of elder abuse, a state judge took speedy action on Brooke Astor’s behalf this July, appointing guardians to tend to the beauty needs of the 104-year-old philanthropist, hire her a new cook, buy her new nightgowns, and make sure her two dogs, Boysie and Girlsie, are walked daily and kept near her for comfort, according to court papers released yesterday.

The long list of things the judge, John Stackhouse of state Supreme Court in Manhattan, authorized came in response to the claims of a grandson of Mrs. Astor, who alleged that she was being neglected in extreme old age.

The grandson, Philip Marshall, accused his 82-year-old father, Anthony Marshall, Mrs. Astor’s only child, of neglecting her to the point that she spent winter nights dressed in a torn nightgown and sleeping on a “filthy couch that smells, probably from dog urine,” according to the original complaint.

On July 21, no more than a day after first hearing those allegations, Judge Stackhouse authorized the old couch located in Mrs. Astor’s blue room — as the den in her Park Avenue apartment is called— replaced.

These prompt marching orders suggest that Judge Stackhouse took the allegations seriously. He moved at once to put Mrs. Astor’s care in new hands.

Sources close to the case were not sure yesterday whether all the judge’s orders had been carried out more than a month later.

A spokesman for Philip Marshall’s faction, Fraser Seitel, said he was not aware of the status of the couch that Mrs. Astor allegedly spent her nights on when her bedroom was too cold in the winter.

A lawyer for the son, Kenneth Warner, also said he did not know what had become of the couch.

“That there was a urine-smelling couch is beyond preposterous and completely outrageous and false and we’ve been to the apartment — the lawyers went to the apartment. It’s a lovely couch, the couch in the blue room,” Mr. Warner said yesterday.

Judge Stackhouse’s order suggests that he does not feel that extreme old age should require Mrs. Astor to part with any of her past amenities.

“Item F” on his list of instructions reads: “Pay for any personal items or personal services for Brooke Astor including, but not limited to beautician’s appointments and manicures, as are reasonable given Brooke Astor’s assets and past lifestyle.”

When the allegations surrounding Mrs. Astor’s care first became public, a professor of elder law who has no connection to the case questioned whether some of the grandson’s accusations failed to take into account Mrs. Astor’s extreme old age. For instance, Philip Marshall accuses his father of firing Mrs. Astor’s French chef and providing her a “tasteless weekday diet.”

In his affidavit dated July 18, the grandson writes, “Why should my grandmother, who was first accustomed to dining with world leaders and frequented 21 and the Knickerbocker Club, be forced to eat oatmeal and pureed carrots, pureed peas and pureed liver every day, Monday through Friday, months on end?”

The elder-law professor, Peter Strauss of New York Law School, said in an interview a month ago that soft foods may be the appropriate, if not the only, fare a person of 104 could eat.

A source close to the case said Mrs. Astor is spending significant time outside at her Westchester estate in Holly Hill and is able to walk with attendants on both sides of her. She was brought to Holly Hill following a hospitalization for unknown reasons.

Mrs. Astor’s temporary court-appointed guardians are J.P. Morgan Chase Bank and a long-time friend, Annette de la Renta, wife of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.

The documents released yesterday also provide a small peek inside one of America’s most famous fortunes. Deutsche Bank documents released yesterday show that the Vincent Astor Trust for Brooke Astor is now worth slightly more than $62 million. The banking documents show Mrs. Astor to be conservative investor, with nearly $44 million of the account stashed away in government bonds.

Mr. Warner said the $62 million represents just a part of Mrs. Astor’s funds. He said she also has in excess of $80 million of personal funds at her immediate disposal. Although the $62 million trust is hers to disburse as she wishes in her will, she currently can receive only a $2 million income each year from it, Mr. Warner said.

Mr. Warner said that Anthony Marshall had greatly increased his mother’s assets since receiving power of attorney sometime around 1980. He said that when Mr. Marshall took over, the Vincent Astor Trust was valued at $29 million and her personal funds were about $20 million.

For acting as his mother’s guardian, Anthony Marshall received $2.4 million in 2005, according to a W-2 form he filed as Mrs. Astor’s employee. He paid $298,098 in federal and state taxes on that salary.

At issue in the guardianship proceeding before Judge Stackhouse is who will be responsible for caring for Mrs. Astor’s health and finances.

Judge Stackhouse’s order indicates that a substantial portion of upcoming proceedings will be devoted to investigating how Mrs. Astor’s money has been spent in recent years. In his order, he forbids Anthony Marshall or his wife, Charlene Marshall, from destroying any documents or firing any accountants and bookkeepers.