History Main / FinancialAbuse

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Kobeni's parents pressured her into paying for her brother's tuition by taking an [[HighTurnoverRate absurdly dangerous]] job as a [[DemonSlaying Devil Hunter]], which she's not remotely prepared for. To add salt to the wound, they only thought of the job [[TheUnfavorite because her brother was offered it, but he was accepted to college]]. Kobeni [[GallowsHumor grimly jokes]] her other option was prostitution.

A SubTrope of AbusiveParents and DomesticAbuse; see also ElderAbuse. A sister trope would be FosteringForProfit and TakingTheKids. Overlaps with HoardingTheProfits if the abuser is also making money.

A SubTrope of AbusiveParents and DomesticAbuse; see also ElderAbuse. A sister trope would be FosteringForProfit and TakingTheKids. Overlaps with HoardingTheProfits.

A SubTrope of AbusiveParents and DomesticAbuse; see also ElderAbuse. A sister trope would be FosteringForProfit and TakingTheKids.

* ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'': Not only did [[AbusiveParents Gabriel]] force his son to work as a model for his company, he prevented him from being able to access his own earnings. In fact, the only money Adrien ''could'' access was an "emergency account". Being such a ControlFreak wound up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard biting Gabriel on the backside]] in several ways: Adrien grew up RichInDollarsPoorInSense, not understanding the ''value'' of money since the Agrestes seemed to have a [[Fiction500 limitless supply]], with him never having to handle his own budgeting or anything of the sort. This makes him careless with the emergency account, blissfully unaware that [[spoiler:said account's ''existence'' was hidden from authorities... until he reveals its existence while reporting how Lila cleared it out.
Which prevents both Gabriel ''and'' Nathalie from being able to use that money to find any of their evil schemes]].

* ''Series/ShamelessUS'': Frank Gallagher often fraudulently opens up credit cards in his kids' names. His oldest daughter, Fiona, confronts him about opening a credit card in the toddler's name.

** In the series finale [[spoiler: Lois ensures Malcolm won't get a very high-paying job without having to go to college.]] It is only when Malcolm is alone with his parents and he demands an explanation that they reveal [[spoiler: throughout his life, Malcolm's parents have sought his limit and had never found one. They feel he will one day become President of the United States. Knowing this, they are forcing him to struggle and work his way through college so that he has an understanding of the financial struggles that most people face. Selfish? Yes, but for a greater cause than themselves... unless you realize that his family's financial problems are largely self-inflicted]].

* Mariana in ''Series/TheFosters'' has been selling her brother's ADHD meds to give money to their biological mother who she later complains "treats her like an ATM".
* In a case of Series/OneThousandWaysToDie, an old Physics schoolteacher is sent to a nursing home by his greedy children. (The opening narration to the case scathingly lampshades the trope). [[spoiler: The old man is... ''not'' the victim of the case! The [[JerkAss mean head caretaker]], on the other hand...]]

* PlayedForLaughs in an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}''. Frasier attempts to reintroduce prickly fellow psyciatrist Dr. Nora to her estranged mother, thinking this estrangement was the cause of Nora being such a Jerkass to her callers. Nope. Turns out the estrangement was because said mother was financially abusing her daughter and the "estrangement" was actually because Nora had ''escaped'' her. Whoops.
* Taken to an extreme in ''Series/{{Extracurricular}}''. Ji-soo's irresponsible deadbeat father stumbles across the $90,000 Ji-soo has hidden in his apartment. (Despite being 18 and still in school, Ji-soo is a pimp running a prostitution ring.) What does Dad do? Steals the money, that's what.
* ''Series/TheMentalist'': Jane's father, Alex. While traveling the carnival circuit, dear ol' dad took all of a $10,000 payday (that Patrick brought in by selling a con) and gave Patrick a mere pittance while he gambled the rest away with poker buddies.

* Blu Cantrell's song "Hit 'Em Up Style" is about a woman who goes on an expensive shopping spree at Neiman-Marcus with her friends, in order to clean out her soon-to-be-ex before she dumps him because she found out he cheated on her.

-->''She tries to hide her pregnancy from her family who really didn't care to see or give a damn if she went out and had a church of kids, as long as when the check came they got first dibs''.

* Mikwa of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' stands on the verge of this. A ChildMage-in training, she spends all her time practicing magic because their ruler highly values his magicians, and one of her parents wants to take advantage of this as soon as possible. Her other parent isn't so sure, but isn't able to convince their partner that they should ease up and let Mikwa be a child... [[spoiler: until she's nearly incinerated alive by a passing wizard ForTheEvulz.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SonicBattle'', Rouge planned to use Emerl to help her steal jewels.
* In ''VideoGame/EnigmaAnIllusionNamedFamily'', Yoo Minho has been blocking all of his siblings' efforts to get their inheritances after their father's passing, and wants full control of the family fortune in order to 'keep them in line'. He's convinced that this is the only way to keep their family together: ''forcing'' them to stay and do as he commands.

* When you first arrive in ''VideoGame/LakeviewValley'', you're completely broke. The Sheriff arranges for you to receive a week of Valley Aid from the local bank; however, how much money (if any) you get is completely dependent upon how much the locals like you. If you don't court their favor by doing various tasks, or they simply dislike you for one reason or another, you won't get ''any'' assistance from the bank despite being signed up for that program.
** Alternately, you can seek help from a MysteriousBenefactor who likes lurking in tree hollows and the sewers with [[TheDarknessGazesBack only their glowing eyes visible]]. They comment on how manipulative it is for the townsfolk to put you in that position, and offer a way out in the form of paying you generous amounts of cash every day... provided, of course, [[DealWithTheDevil you're willing to do something in return]]. In other words, they're attempting to use the promise of money as a way to manipulate you as well.

* In ''Webcomic/FreakingRomance'', this is one of the many ways Zylith's father abuses her. He completely empties her bank account in order to force her to apply to the universities he wants her to attend.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Parodied in "Blame it on Lisa", where an orphan TV star happily explains that his money "remains unstolen" because he has no parents.
** In another episode we found Homer spent all the money Bart earned as a baby from commercials to cover evidence of him dropping Bart off a balcony. Bart then managed to successfully sue for [[EmancipatedChild emancipation]] because of it.

* Music/{{Gorillaz}} bassist Murdoc vowed "never to take to the stage under someone else's direction again" after his father [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood forced him to dress as Pinocchio and sing "I've Got No Strings" in a talent contest]]. "The prize? £2.50, and the chance to humiliate yourself further in the biannual county finals." (Even in the early '70s, that was not a lot.)
* Played for rather dark laughs in the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' episode where Creator/LindsayLohan [[ItMakesSenseInContext was a]] [[Franchise/{{Highlander}} immortal]] -- her mother is shown asking someone hiring Lindsay to make a check out to "cash," because "that's my nickname for her."

* In some of the later seasons of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' Peter and Lois can be seen sneaking money from their children's drawers and wallets.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' a man and his wife were going to adopt Ernie from social service, but when Lester came to reason with the service worker to keep his son, the man adamantly says that they're only in it for the money they would receive and they have a basement full of other foster children who they don't seem to care about.
* Timmy is subjected to this in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' after his father becomes a farmer and forces his son to do absolutely all the work himself. He resorts to trying to get the farm destroyed just so that he won't have to be his dad's unpaid farmhand forever.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', the Sewer King abused the Hell out of a group of kids that he trained to be {{street urchin}}s. [[PapaWolf Batman]] was INCREDIBLY angry when he found out.
* In the WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck cartoon "WesternAnimation/DonaldsCrime", Donald stealing money from his nephews is portrayed as this, and he beats himself up over being a bad parent before he decides to pay it back. The obvious FridgeLogic is how Donald can even afford food, mortgage payments, and other base necessities if he's so flat-out broke that he has to stoop to stealing a few bucks from his nephews.
* An example of this and ElderAbuse happens in the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "Secret Admiral-irer." The Belcher kids discover an old woman named Meryl regularly gets visits from her nephew Joel, who keeps pretending it's his birthday by exploiting her senility so she'll write him checks. The kids also suspect later on that he's stolen her pearl necklace. [[spoiler:He didn't, but he was indeed scamming her for money. When Sgt. Bosco shows up at his apartment, Joel immediately has a VillainousBreakdown and sobs he'll give Meryl back all her money.]]

* In one chapter of ''The Matrix'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BringingMeToLife'', Mr. Jameson steals his son Max's cash and debit card before sending him to get groceries in hopes that he'll get to hit Max for 'disobeying' him.

* ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'': Not only did [[AbusiveParents Gabriel]] force his son to work as a model for his company, he prevented him from being able to access his own earnings. In fact, the only money Adrien ''could'' access was an "emergency account". Being such a ControlFreak wound up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard biting Gabriel on the backside]] in several ways: Adrien grew up RichInDollarsPoorInSense, not understanding the ''value'' of money since the Agrestes seemed to have a [[Fiction500 limitless supply]], with him never having to handle his own budgeting or anything of the sort. This makes him careless with the emergency account, blissfully unaware that [[spoiler:said account's ''existence'' was hidden from authorities... until he reveals its existence while reporting Lila's theft]].

* The teenaged girl Babydoll was put in a mental institution at the start of ''Film/SuckerPunch'' by her stepfather, who wanted the girl's large inheritance.
* This is basically the plot of the 2001 movie ''Film/TheGlassHouse''. The siblings Ruby and Rhett were adopted by Erin and Terry, the best friends of their dead parents... [[spoiler:only to [[OffingTheOffspring be targeted for death]] so the "new parents" can collect the kids's HUGE inheritance.]]

* A variant occurs in ''Film/TakingWoodstock''. Elliot's mother is constantly nagging him to the point of emotional abuse to put his savings and time into her failing motel. This is despite the fact that [[spoiler: she has close to $97,000 hidden in the floorboards which she refuses to share with anyone or invest in her own business]]
* In ''Film/InTime'', the aging gene has been found and turned off, effectively rendering everyone TheAgeless. To prevent overpopulation, time is literally money, with people acquiring a year on their 25th birthdays, spending and earning it like money. Many parents in this world eagerly wait for their children to turn 25 to use their allotted year to pay off their debts. When a person's countdown hits 0, he or she dies instantly. [[spoiler: The protagonist, Will, had this happen to him by his mother and wound up with a little over a week to live; he's spent his days living from paycheck to paycheck to survive. He's not resentful about it, though, and his mother is depicted as being generous (a fact which gets her killed).]]

* In ''Film/MollysGame'', Molly's father didn't support her move from Colorado to Los Angeles, so she had to sustain herself during and after the move.
* Attempted in ''Film/TheGoldfinch'', when Theo's TheGamblingAddict father Larry demands that he call the lawyer overseeing the trust fund that his late mother left him and asking for $65,000. The lawyer not reveals that his father has been trying to get access to the money, but fortunately, his mother decreed that the money not only only be used for his education, but be paid to the school directly.

* ''Literature/{{Forbidden}}'' provides the page quote. Lochan and Maya, who function as [[PromotionToParent parents to their younger siblings]], receive money for groceries, bills, etc, only very grudgingly from their mother, who has no problem spending large amounts of money on unnecessary clothing or jewelry [[ItsAllAboutMe for herself]].

* In ''Literature/TheMetamorphosis'', Gregor was the sole financial provider for his parents and family, and whether they were actively abusing this is difficult to tell. [[spoiler:Given that it's implied that they'll exploit Grete now that her fortunes are better...]]
* Harper's mother in ''Literature/{{Greywalker}}'' is revealed to be the reason why Harper was a professionally trained dancer from a single-digit age, and eventually an "aspiring" actress, and the main reason she became a self-employed per-case contract detective (having vowed never to let someone else be her boss).
* In ''Literature/MaximumRide'', most of the main cast was sold to the School for $10,000.
* ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'' has George "Sticky" Washington, whose parents were somewhat poor. Upon discovering that he had a photographic memory and had absorbed the contents of an entire encyclopedia, they began entering him in quiz competitions to earn money and placed increasing pressure on him. After he ran away, though, they became [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone deeply regretful]] and spent all of the money and more to find him, going deeply into debt. After they are reunited with him, they spend most of the rest of the trilogy [[TheAtoner atoning for what they did]].
* In ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', a misunderstanding puts three orphaned children [[IllegalGuardian under the care of the ruthless Count Olaf]], who is intent on using his guardianship to steal their fortune. This runs the gamut from depriving them of basic needs to attempting to [[OldManMarryingAChild marry the oldest child (an underage girl)]] in order to get access to the money immediately.
* Multiple ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' short stories involve men who are either taking financial advantage of a woman's property or trying to get into a position where they can do so.
** The best-known example is "The Speckled Band", in which a DeadlyDoctor trains [[AnimalAssassin a poisonous snake]] to bite and kill his adoptive daughters when they're about to marry so he won't have to give the girls their dowries; he succeeds with one of them, but the second escapes and hires Holmes to investigate her sister's death.
** "A Case of Identity" is a particularly nasty one; the man an heiress has been seeing abruptly disappears after exacting a promise that she won't marry anyone else. Sherlock discovers that her fiancé was [[spoiler:her stepfather in disguise, wanting the money to stay in the family instead of letting the woman marry someone else]]. The story ends with Sherlock threatening the perpetrator with a horsewhip and lamenting how little he can do when someone is a total bastard [[ThereShouldBeALaw without technically committing a crime]].
* In ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'', Juliet's family seem to be a mild case based on stupidity rather than malice; Mr. Stollop demands that all family earnings are "pooled", but Juliet says he spends most of it at the pub. It doesn't help that only Juliet spends a lot of time working; her brothers are all football hooligans. Thankfully, when she makes fifty dollars from modeling in a fashion show, she has Glenda to hide the money.

* In Creator/LarryNiven and Creator/JerryPournelle's ''Literature/OathOfFealty'', Tony Rand -- the architect who built the Todos Santos {{Arcology}} -- is subjected to a ''nasty'' one that is implied to be the end result of his wife being a high-level [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]. She supported him through architecture and engineering school, then divorced him. She then seduced him a week after the divorce was final in order to conceive their son Zach -- thus negating his paternal rights completely, as he was born out of wedlock. The final settlement is a sliding scale deal in which she gets two-thirds of his income forever. As he broke ground on the world's first self-sustaining Arcology (which in Niven/Pournelle's world is basically a money machine), he's now the richest man on Earth, meaning she is the single richest woman and lives a white-collar life of leisure on the other side of the continent from him.
* ''Literature/MillenniumSeries'': In ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'', Nils Bjurman combines this with sexual abuse by taking control of Lisbeth's finances and using it to extort sexual favours from her.

* ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne'': Dolores has been working hard to build up a savings account to send her children off to college; when she plans to withdraw the money so she and the children can leave town and get away from her abusive husband, she discovers he'd already cleaned it out for his own use, giving her yet another reason to hate him (and, soon after, to plot his murder).
* ''Literature/TheAmyVirus'': Cyan's parents live off the money they make blogging about how they supposedly cured her of autism. When she begins to rebel, they crack down hard and eventually [[spoiler:threaten to have her institutionalized to prevent anyone from finding out she's still autistic. This is the last straw for Cyan, who runs away the next morning with the help of her friends Renate and Eroica]].
* {{Defied|Trope}} in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. On learning of the fortune in wizarding gold he has inherited from his parents, Harry resolves to keep it secret from the Dursleys because he knows their dislike of anything connected with magic will not stop them from wanting to get their hands on the money.
* In ''Literature/EarlyRiser'', parents have the legal right to barter their children's reproductive and/or marital futures for their own gain, and often do so. Two of the women Charlie meets in Sector 12 are victims of this:
** Laura's parents sold the genetic "options" to her firstborn child in order to pay off their gambling debts. Because Laura has a rare thyroid condition that makes her unable to sleep most of the time (and unable to hibernate like the rest of the population), a big corporation like [=HiberTech=] is ''very'' interested in her genes and the genes of any of her prospective children. Before they could get their hands on it, the debt was sold to Jim Treacle the Bondsman. Courts capped the legal cost of Laura's child-bearing debt at 50,000 euros, making it possible for her to "buy back" the debt (albeit at an exorbitant cost). Laura is so desperate to escape from under that debt that she wagered the genetic rights to her ''second'' child to the same Jim Treacle, just for the chance keep her future children free of legal obligations.
** Bronwyn "Jonesy" Jones' mother bartered away Jonesy's hand in marriage to the same Jim Treacle after defaulting on a loan. Jonesy has been trying to avoid a direct proposal from Treacle for years, because if she denies him then her mother's house will be forfeit.

* ''{{Literature/Lolita}}'': Humbert Humbert takes to paying Dolores for sex, then stealing the money back so she can’t use it to escape him.

* Common plot element in ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'', Angelica in particular. [[spoiler: Her parents colluded to make it look like she was in a hit-and-run "accident" so they could cash in on the insurance money to pay off some debts; it was her father who ran her over with his own car. The badly-injured Angelica ended up taken in by the Agency, which made her into a Cyborg.]]

* Yuki Sohma from ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' suffered such a fate from his ControlFreak mother, who even sold him out to the already unstable Akito to make herself look better in the Sohma clan. His brother Ayame apparently used to get it too, pretty much running away from the household as soon as he could (which Yuki couldn't forgive him for, since it left him alone with their mom). Later, Ayame manages to call out their mom in regard to Yuki in public during a school meeting, and it's implied that things ''may'' have started to slowly get better.
* Maria Wong from ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'', being an IdolSinger, was nothing more than a cash cow to her mother. To the point that [[spoiler:when Maria got fed up and commited suicide, Mrs. Wong hired Dr. Muraki to revive her. Which he did... but poor Maria ended up as a TragicMonster instead.]] At the end of the case, when everything's resolved, Maria [[spoiler:asks Tsuzuki and Hisoka to wait for her for a single night so she can give her last concert, and before that she takes the chance to [[CallingTheOldManOut call out her mom]].]]
* Implied in the ''Manga/LuckyStar'' anime. Akira, former child star and still sort-of popular, mentioned that her mother did have some very nice purses and such that certainly weren't there yesterday...
* Many, MANY cases in ''Manga/CaseClosed'' have elements of this. There are two forms: someone kills or attempts to kill another person to collect their insurances/inheritances and ends up thwarted by Conan; or somebody else kills an AssholeVictim to punish them for driving a friend/relative to suicide or murder via financially abusing them.
* [[spoiler:Mwu La Flaga]] from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' was a victim of this, after his father [[spoiler:Al Di Flaga]] cut him off his inheritance and locked him away merely for [[spoiler:being too much like his mother. Al then went and cloned himself, with said clone growing up into Rau Le Creuset.]]
* [[spoiler:Sakuya Ookochi]] from ''Manga/SensualPhrase'' gets this from [[spoiler:his ParentalSubstitute. He originally was his MissingMom Reiko's sponsor and when she died, she left a huge debt behind; noticing that young Sakuya had inherited his mom's physical beauty and musical talents, he raised Sakuya to be a good musician so he could WorkOffTheDebt, but gave him no moral or emotional guidance.]]
* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Kobeni's parents pressured her into paying for her brother's tuition by taking an [[HighTurnoverRate absurdly dangerous]] job as a [[DemonSlaying Devil Hunter]], which she's not remotely prepared for. To add salt to the wound, they only thought of the job [[TheUnfavorite because her brother was offered it, but he was accepted to college]]. Kobeni [[GallowsHumor grimly jokes]] her other option was prostitution.

* One ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' story has this -- the abusive (foster) parents keep the kid locked in the basement so that they can receive child support, taking him out only when the health inspection comes around. However, it is implied that they were driven insane by a pair of nightmares living in the boy's mind, who needed an abuse victim who has completely shut his mind from his environment to provide them a hiding place.
* Lady Cecilia from ''ComicBook/YokoTsuno's'' short story ''The Prey and the Shadow'' is apparently TheOphelia, locked away from the world in a Scottish castle while her uncle and stepfather William handles the family business. However, the truth is very much this: [[spoiler: Cecilia is [[TheIngenue sane but very naive]] due [[LonelyRichKid to years of isolation]], William is planning to kill her for her deceased mother Mary's inheritance ''and'' make it look like [[DespairEventHorizon she fell into despair]] and was DrivenToSuicide to be TogetherInDeath with her MissingMom. (Not to mention, '''he''' staged poor Mary's death). The Cecilia seen at the beginning was the BodyDouble Margaret, whom William ''also'' financially abused via forcing her into collaborating via BlackMail... and she ends up [[SpannerInTheWorks derailing his cruel gambit]] by confirming Yoko's bad feeling about the whole deal and asking her for help to save both of them.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}'': Regardless of Tim's dismissal of the whole thing the way his father Jack uses up the money his mother left to him and sells numerous possessions of Tim's, including a car, which Jack had no part in purchasing in order to maintain a well to do lifestyle after bankrupting his company is definitely viewed as abuse by Alfred and Bruce, and after Jack's death it's clear his lawyer disapproved as well.

* In one chapter of ''The Matrix'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BringingMeToLife'' Mr. Jameson steals his son, Max's, cash and debit card before sending him to get groceries in hopes that he'll get to hit Max for 'disobeying' him.
* In the ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' fanfic, Fanfic/LayingWasteToHalloween, Percy's father Gabe financially abuses Percy by taking away his money when he finds out that he is going to work. Luckily, Percy's boss tells him that he only makes a quarter of what he does when he asks her so he can't take all of it away.

''{{Literature/Lolita}}'': Humbert Humbert takes to paying Dolores for sex, then stealing the money back so she can’t use it to escape him.

This form of abuse also exists between spouses/partners, either when one member of a couple exploits the other financially (stealing their savings, taking out unauthorized credit lines or loans in their name, and making unauthorized and often unwise or fraudulent investments are some common methods of doing this), when they guide them towards decisions that will ensure financial dependence and limit their ability to make a living, or when they deprive the other of access to money, often as a way to keep an abused spouse from escaping. It's also frighteningly common for adult children to financially abuse elderly relatives, especially those with cognitive disabilities.

[[folder:Film]]

* "Aunt" Pristine Figg, the BigBad of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTheMovie'' has been trying to keep Robyn Starling trapped in her home so Figg and her AmoralAttorney Mr. Lickboot can have free access to the money belonging to Robyn's DisappearedDad. Despite Robyn's presence being crucial for the two to get into the money, Figg still treats the girl like garbage and is the reason she keeps running away from home.

* [[spoiler:Mwu La Flaga]] from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' was a victim of this, after his father [[spoiler:Al Di Flaga]] cut him off his inheritance and locked him away merely for [[spoiler:being too much like his mother. Al then went and [[CloningBlues cloned himself]], with said clone growing up into Rau Le Creuset.]]

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Regardless of Tim's dismissal of the whole thing the way his father Jack uses up the money his mother left to him and sells numerous possessions of Tim's, including a car, which Jack had no part in purchasing in order to maintain a well to do lifestyle after bankrupting his company is definitely viewed as abuse by Alfred and Bruce, and after Jack's death it's clear his lawyer disapproved as well.

* When Wrestling/TheFabulousMoolah was virtually running women's wrestling in America during the 60s and 70s, she made wrestlers training under her pay room and board, took a large cut of their earnings, forbade them from having bank accounts in their own names, and conspired many other ways to keep them too poor to break away from her.

* When Wrestling/TheFabulousMoolah was virtually running women's wrestling in America during the 60s and 70s, she made wrestlers training under her pay room and board, took a large cut of their earings, forbade them from having bank accounts in their own names, and conspired many other ways to keep them too poor to break away from her.

** "A Case of Identity" is a particularly nasty one; the man an heiress has been seeing abruptly disappears after exacting a promise that she won't marry anyone else. Sherlock discovers that her fiancé was [[spoiler:her stepfather in disguise, wanting the money to stay in the family instead of letting the woman marry someone else]]. The story ends with Sherlock threatening the perpetrator [[WhipItGood with a horsewhip]] and lamenting how little he can do when someone is a total bastard [[ThereShouldBeALaw without technically committing a crime]].

Very much TruthInTelevision, and enters the media spotlight regularly when one or both parents of a rising young music or acting star exploit their child's achievements. This is the reason for the Jackie Coogan Act, named after the child actor whose mother and stepfather blew through most of his money -- around three to four ''million'', back in the 1920s and '30s.[[note]]That is roughly equivalent to $30-40 million in today's money after inflation.[[/note]]

A subtrope of AbusiveParents and DomesticAbuse; see also ElderAbuse. A sister trope would be FosteringForProfit and TakingTheKids.

* One ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]'' story has this, the abusive (foster) parents keep the kid locked in the basement so they can receive child support, taking him out only when the health inspection comes around. Though it is implied that they were driven insane by a pair of nightmares living in the boy's mind, who needed an abuse victim who has completely shut his mind from his environment to provide them a hiding place.

* In Creator/LarryNiven and Creator/JerryPournelle's ''Oath of Fealty'', Tony Rand -- the architect who built the Todos Santos {{Arcology}} -- is subjected to a ''nasty'' one that is implied to be the end result of his wife being a high-level [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]. She supported him through architecture and engineering school, then divorced him. She then seduced him a week after the divorce was final in order to conceive their son Zach -- thus negating his paternal rights completely, as he was born out of wedlock. The final settlement is a sliding scale deal in which she gets two-thirds of his income forever. As he broke ground on the world's first self-sustaining Arcology (which in Niven/Pournelle's world is basically a money machine), he's now the richest man on Earth, meaning she is the single richest woman and lives a white-collar life of leisure on the other side of the continent from him.

->''"Every time I force her to part with some money for the basics--food, bills, new clothes, school things--she starts yelling about how she left school and started work at sixteen, moved out and asked her parents for nothing."''

* In ''Literature/TheBodyOfChristopherCreed'' the mother of the title character kept track of every bit of money he earned. [[spoiler: His ace in the hole was hiding $100 to use when he finally leaves town as food and fare money.]]
* In Creator/FranzKafka's ''Literature/TheMetamorphosis'', Gregor was the sole financial provider for his parents and family, and whether they were actively abusing this is difficult to tell.
** [[spoiler: Given that it's implied that they'll exploit Grete now that her fortunes are better...]]
* Harper's mother in the ''Literature/{{Greywalker}}'' series is revealed to be the reason Harper was a professionally trained dancer from a single-digit age, and eventually an "aspiring" actress, and the main reason she became a self-employed per-case contract detective (having vowed never to let someone else be her boss).
* An inversion in Literature/TheBible when Jesus criticized the practice of dedicating property to the temple to avoid taking care of one's parents. Presumably, this was either because of spite or because of a loophole that allowed the owner to use the property while not owning it, thus having his cake and eating it too.

* ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'' has George "Sticky" Washington, whose parents were somewhat poor. Upon discovering that he had a photographic memory and had absorbed the contents of an entire encyclopedia, they began entering him in quiz competitions to earn money and placed increasing pressure on him. After he ran away, though, they became deeply regretful and spent all of the money and more to find him, going deeply into debt. After they are reunited with him, they spend most of the rest of the trilogy atoning for what they did.
* In ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', a misunderstanding puts three orphaned children under the care of the ruthless Count Olaf who is intent on using his guardianship to steal their fortune. This runs the gamut from depriving them of basic needs to attempting to marry the oldest child - an underage girl - in order to get access to the money immediately.
* There are multiple Literature/SherlockHolmes short stories which involve men who are either taking financial advantage of a woman's property or trying to get into a position where they can do so. The better-known example is ''The Speckled Band'', where a DeadlyDoctor trains [[AnimalAssassin a poisonous snake]] to bite and kill his adoptive daughters when they're about to marry so he won't have to give the girls their dowries; he succeeds with one of them, but the second escapes and hires Holmes to investigate her sister's death.
** ''A Case of Identity'' is a particularly nasty one, where the man an heiress has been seeing abruptly disappears after exacting a promise that she won't marry anyone else. Sherlock discovers that her fiance was [[spoiler: her stepfather in disguise, who wanted the money to stay in the family instead of letting the woman marry someone else.]] The story ends with Sherlock threatening the perpetrator [[WhipItGood with a horsewhip]] and lamenting how little he can do when someone is a total bastard without technically committing a crime.

* ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'': In book #8 (''The Cat Who Sniffed Glue''), the Fitches, one of the prominent families in Moose County, are said to control their adult children by "giving [the kids] a taste for luxuries but keeping them poor."

** A minor character in ''Literature/TheGatesOfSleep'' was a child chess prodigy whose father forced him to play exhibition games for money until the kid had a nervous breakdown. (After Dr. Pike brings the boy out of it, he teaches the boy how to pretend his breakdown removed his chess skills -- meaning the boy won't be abused this way again.)
** In ''Literature/PhoenixAndAshes'', Eleanor's father's will left everything to her: Alison goofed and didn't make sure the will had been changed before arranging his death. So Alison simply steals every penny sent to support Eleanor.
** In ''Literature/{{Steadfast}}'', in addition to the DomesticAbuse going on, when Katie's husband Dick finally caught up to her after she ran away from him, he lived off the good paycheck she was making from working at a music hall. He kept careful track of the money she spent so that she couldn't hide any of it away.
* In Creator/LarryNiven and Creator/JerryPournelle's ''Oath of Fealty'', Tony Rand, the architect who built the Todos Santos {{Arcology}}, is subjected to a ''nasty'' one that is implied to be the end result of his wife being a high-level {{Chessmaster}}. She supported him through architecture and engineering school, then divorced him. She then seduced him a week after the divorce was final in order to conceive their son Zach -- thus negating his paternal rights completely, as he was born out of wedlock. Final settlement; a sliding scale deal where she gets two-thirds of his income forever. And as he broke ground on the world's first self-sustaining Arcology (which in Niven/Pournelle's world is basically a money machine), he's now the richest man on Earth, meaning she is the single richest woman and lives a white-collar life of leisure on the other side of the continent from him.
* In ''[[Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo]]'', Nils Bjurman combines this with sexual abuse by taking control of Lisbeth's finances and using it to extort sexual favours from her.
* In the Literature/HonorHarrington short story ''Obligated Service'' (''Worlds of Honor 6''), the SpoiledBrat cousin who is legally Claire's head of family routinely empties her bank account to cover his current whims or the fines from indulging in said whims.

* Literature/HarryPotter defies this trope. On learning of the fortune in wizarding gold he has inherited from his parents, he resolves to keep it secret from the Dursleys because he knows their dislike of anything connected with magic will not stop them from wanting to get their hands on the money.
* In ''Literature/EarlyRiser'', parents have the legal right to barter their children's reproductive an/ or marital futures for their own gain, and often do so. Two of the women Charlie meets in Sector 12 are victims of this:
** Laura's parents sold the genetic "options" to her firstborn child in order to pay off their gambling debts. Because Laura has a rare thyroid condition that makes her unable to sleep most of the time (and unable to hibernate like the rest of the population), a big corporation like [=HiberTech=] is ''very'' interested in her genes and the genes of any of her prospective children. Before they could get their hands on it, the debt was sold to Jim Treacle the Bondsman. Courts capped the legal cost of Laura's child-bearing debt at 50,000 euros — making it possible for her to "buy back" the debt (albeit at an exorbitant cost). Laura is so desperate to escape from under that debt that she wagered the genetic rights to her ''second'' child to the same Jim Treacle, just for the chance keep her future children free of legal obligations.

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