History Main / APlotInDeed

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* One ComicBook/RocketRaccoon comic has Rocket hired to steal a deed from an unscrupulous land developer. Justified as the planet in question requires physical possession of the deed at all times and they just need to delay construction.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': The plot of season 5 episodes 9 and 10, ''Basic Story'' and ''Basic Sandwich'', revolves around them trying to save their school from being bought out by Subway sandwiches. It is revealed that [[spoiler: Richard Borchart, the founder of the school living in the now sealed-off basement, has a deed of land that allows them to prevent the purchase from happening]].

* ''VideoGame/WallaceAndGromitsGrandAdventures'', episode 4: Shortly after Wallace is inducted into the Prickly Thicket golf club, the club is announced to be shut down because it doesn't have a golf course. The club ''does'' have a golf course, but the deed to it has been rendered inaccessible due to a complex security system, prompting Wallace to take on the task of cracking the security and recovering the deed. The deed troubles don't end once the deed is found, though: [[spoiler:it turns out that the golf course covers much of town, including Wallace's own home-- forcing Wallace to run for chairman in order to gain the right to destroy the deed and save the town.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode [[Recap/AmericanDadS7E6ThereWillBeBadBlood "There Will Be Bad Blood"]], Stan and his half-brother Rusty are given their inheritance from their grandfather while visiting him in the hospital -- a choice between $20,000 in cash, and the deed to a plot of land in Arizona that Stan's great great grandfather won in a kickball game. Stan saw more value in the immediate cash and tricked Rusty into taking the deed, but Stan ended up losing it by forgetting it on the bus on the way home from the hospital. Stan thinks that he was always the better, more successful brother, until he learns that Rusty pulls of tens of millions in copper mining every year on the land he owns.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BackToTheFutureTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/BackToTheFutureTheAnimatedSeriesS2E3AFriendInDeed A Friend in Deed]]", Biff finds a property deed entitling the Tannens to the land on which the Parker Ranch is built. Marty takes the time train back to the 1800s to fix the situation. Outlaw Thaddeus Tannen still succeeds in coercing Mr. Parker to sign over the land to him, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory but the signature disappears in Biff's hand]] because [[GuileHero Marty]] gave Thaddeus a pen with invisible ink.

* In the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Lil Gideon attempts to steal the deed to the Mystery Shack from Grunkle Stan. First, Gideon summons [[EldritchAbomination Bill Cipher]] to enter Stan's dreams and steal the code to his safe, and when that fails, Gideon uses dynamite. WordOfGod gets around the obvious ArtisticLicenseLaw involved by explaining that the town's founder, [[CloudCuckooLander Quentin Trembley]], passed a law the basically legalized 'finder's keeper's'.
* The premise of ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' is that Baloo's Air Service went into foreclosure, and the bank seized his property, including his beloved airplane, the ''Sea Duck''. Young entrepreneur Rebecca bought the property from the bank, renamed the business Higher For Hire, and holds the deed to the ''Sea Duck'', conflating the deed to the small pier where the office is located with the ownership papers to the Sea Duck. Since Baloo is the only one with a pilot's license, he can still fly that plane, but only at Rebecca's discretion as his boss.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': Marvin Acme's last will and testament includes who inherits the deed for ownership of Toontown. Several parties try to steal the will for their own ends after Acme is murdered. [[spoiler: In the end, it turns out it was the 'blank' paper Rodger wrote an impromptu love letter to Jessica on - Marvin wrote it in disappearing-reappering ink]].

* The ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' franchise, being crime thrillers, inevitably had a few stories involving land deals:
** ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'''s plot revolves around the "Empty Lot", as a massive conspiracy and body count bafflingly builds up over the deed to a few miserable meters of dirt surrounded by urban decay. [[spoiler:As it turns out, whoever owns the Lot could essentially acquire the whole area for a massive profit, enough to become the next leader of the Tojo Clan, which explains all the subterfuge.]]
** The plot of ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'' kicks off when criminals steal the deed to the land Kiryu's orphanage sits on, as the entire beachside is potentially ripe for conversion into a resort or military base. Either way, it forces Kiryu to go SavingTheOrphanage.

* Towards the end of ''VideoGame/DotsHome'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:Grandma Mavis had been planning to pass the deed of her old house down to Dot. She would've passed it to Hank or Georgia, but the former moved to Florida while the latter already settled with Alma. Mavis then gives Dot one final decision on what to do with it: either she sells the house and moves out to start a new and better life, or she stays in it despite the rising maintenance costs.]]

Overlaps with ArtisticLicenseLaw when it's portrayed as though someone automatically becomes the rightful owner of the property as soon as they get the deed in their possession -- it's not always that simple in RealLife.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': The plot of the first movie is set in motion when Lord Farquaad dumps a bunch of fairy tale creatures in the middle of the swamp where Shrek lives. When Shrek goes to Duloc Castle to complain, Farquaad offers Shrek the deed to the swamp (and therefore the right to evict his unwelcome guests) in exchange for rescuing Princess Fiona on Farquaad's behalf.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats'' episode "All Wrong in Hong Kong" has an evil industrialist plan to attain a deed to all of Asia, scribed by the mighty conqueror Genghis Khan. His factory encompasses an ancient temple that houses the deed. The Pussycats, by mischance, happen to have a rare coin that can access this deed, so the villain plots to capture them to reacquire this coin.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats'' episode "All Wrong in Hong Kong" has an evil industrialist plan to attain a deed to all of Asia, scribed by the mighty conqueror Genghis Khan. His factory encompasses an ancient temple that houses the deed. The Pussycats, by mischance, happen to have a rare coin that can access this deed, so TheVillain plots to capture them to reacquire this coin.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

* The premise of ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' is that Baloo's Air Service went into foreclosure, and the bank seized his property, including his beloved airplane, the ''Sea Duck''. Young entrepreneur Rebecca bought the property from the bank, renamed the business Higher For Hire, and holds the deed to the ''Sea Duck''. Since Baloo is the only one with a pilot's license, he can still fly that plane, but only at Rebecca's discretion.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' has Timmy Turner going back in time to the Wild West to find the deed to his dad's childhood hometown in order to prevent it from being bulldozed by Doug Dimmadome (the deed's reveal is the trope image above). [[spoiler:[[AllForNothing Upon getting the deed, Timmy's dad sells it to Doug Dimmadome for pocket change, having since decided that his childhood was better off forgotten.]]]]

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': Marvin Acme's last will and testament acts as a deed for ownership of Toontown. Several parties try to steal the will for their own ends after Acme is murdered. [[spoiler: In the end, it turns out it was the 'blank' paper Rodger wrote an impromptu love letter to Jessica on - Marvin wrote it in disappearing-reappering ink]].

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': Marvin Acme's last will and testament acts as a deed for ownership of Toontown. Several parties try to steal the will for their own ends after Acme is murdered. [[spoiler: In the end, it turns out it was the 'blank' paper Rodger wrote an impromptu love letter to Jessica on - Marvin wrote it in dissapearing-reappering ink]].

Overlaps with ArtisticLicenseLaw when it's portrayed as though someone automatically becomes the rightful owner of the property as soon as they get the deed in their possession.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': Marvin Acme's last will and testament acts as a deed for ownership of Toontown. Several parties try to steal the will for their own ends after Acme is murdered.

* In ''Literature/TwoLittleSavages'' by Ernest Thompson-Seton, Caleb gave a deed to his farm to his son-in-law, Dick, and was thrown out at once. So, with some help from newfound friends, he comes to said son-in-law and says he also has some money to leave him, but he'll need to rewrite the deed for that. Once he gets his hands on the paper, he throws it into the hearth and holds off Dick at gunpoint until it burns up. Since it is stated that "these were the days before registration in Canada; possession of the deed was possession of the farm, and to lose the deed was to lose the land.", and Caleb does have an older deed of his own safely locked away, that means within seconds, he has the full right to throw Dick off his property.

* In the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Lil Gideon attempts to steal the deed to the Mystery Shack from Grunkle Stan. First, Gideon summons [[EldritchAbomination Bill Cipher]] to enter Stan's dreams and steal the code to his safe, and when that fails, Gideon uses dynamite.