History Main / LostWillAndTestament

** In "The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will," Meleager Finch hides his will and leaves his niece a set of clues to its location in the form of a crossword puzzle.

[[folder: Film ]]

* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' short story "The Doctor's Case" by Creator/StephenKing, the deceased was murdered because he had written a new will - [[PassedOverInheritance which disinherited his long-suffering family in favor of a pet shelter]] - something he did purely out of spite. [[spoiler:Holmes and Lestrange decide that between the abuse the man's family had gone through and the fact that he would have died within the year anyway, they can let the fact that they killed the man and destroyed the new will slide, and conceal the evidence.]]

!Examples:

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Clue}}'' VCR game had it that Mr. Boddy prepared two extra wills and hid them in case his first one is destroyed. It is and so is the first replacement they find. Strangely, all three wills have different conditions for paying off: the first one requires that [[{{Tontine}} the group kill each other off]], the second is a more normal will with his fortune being divided among his friends, and the third pays the fortune to the one who can dig up the most secrets on the others.

* The first book in the Literature/NancyDrew series, ''The Secret of the Old Clock'', revolves about her realizing that an old man had left a later will, and tracking it down.

* There's a ''Literature/MissMarple'' short story from ''Literature/TheThirteenProblems'' by Creator/AgathaChristie called ''Motive vs. Opportunity'', where the will had been recently rewritten to leave all the dead man's money to a PhonyPsychic, instead of his family. However, when the envelope that should have contained the will is opened, all it contains is a piece of blank paper. [[spoiler: Then it's subverted, as the will is still right where it was, it was just written with disappearing ink.]]

* In ''Crocodile on the Sandbank'', the first ''Literature/AmeliaPeabody'' mystery, the importance of the MacGuffin turns out to be that it has a lost will hidden inside.
* The Creator/JohnBellairs book ''[[Literature/TheCurseOfTheBlueFigurine The Mummy, the Will and the Crypt]]'' has cereal magnate H. Bagwell Glomus, whose will was hidden away before his suicide, and young Johnny Dixon's desperate hunt for it (he wants the reward money to pay for a brain surgeon for his grandmother, whom he believes to be dying of a brain tumor). The search is opposed by Glomus's sister, who wants the will to stay hidden because she fears her brother hadn't left her anything (without a will, she at least got some of his money). Johnny ultimately finds where the will was hidden, but it's destroyed before anyone can read it. He still gets the reward money, since he did find where it was hidden.
* The Creator/ElleryQueen novel ''The Greek Coffin Mystery'' starts when Ellery and his father Inspector Richard Queen are called in to locate the missing will of a wealthy art collector. Ellery narrows down the possible location of the will to a single location: the dead man's coffin. When it is exhumed, however, it contains no will but [[CrammingTheCoffin the surprising addition of a strangled ex-convict]].
* In the Literature/HerculePoirot book Literature/PerilAtEndHouse the will of Nick is missing, only turning up after her [[spoiler: faked]] death. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a [[ForgingTheWill forgery]].]]

* ''Literature/TheGatesOfSleep'': A variant form -- Madame Arachne doesn't destroy the will to keep Marina from inheriting from her parents, she destroys it because it assigned Marina's guardianship to her godparents. She then claims Marina's guardianship as the newly-orphaned girl's sole remaining relative.
* ''Literature/NinaTanleven'': Played with in ''The Ghost Wore Gray'' in that Captain Gray�s will, which left the jewels he was safeguarding to Samson Carter, was found shortly after he died - [[spoiler:he�d written it on the wall of the room where he was sitting ''when'' he died]]. It�s the protagonists in the present day who have to find it ''again'' in order to confirm that yes, Captain Gray did indeed leave the treasure to Samson Carter, and Carter�s bequest of the jewels to the college he founded is thus legitimate.

* ''Videogame/{{Safecracker}}'' has the player hired to find the will of an eccentric safe enthusiast. [[spoiler:Turns out the guy never could decide and left the decision to whomever found the will.]]

* A flashback episode of Creator/HannaBarbera's ''[[WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies1980s Pound Puppies]]'' shows that, in order to keep Katrina Stoneheart from inheriting her aunt's Puppy Pound, the puppies needed to find her aunt's will, where it was stated that the pound must go to Katrina's niece Holly.

* The 1997 film adaptation of ''Film/{{The Borrowers|1997}}'' involves an unscrupulous lawyer claiming that the deceased in question never wrote a proper will, thus making him the sole beneficiary of her estate including the house that her niece's family -- the film's protagonists -- are currently living in. In reality, she had an extra copy hidden in the walls of the house itself because [[ProperlyParanoid she never did trust lawyers]].

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Literature]]

* ''Literature/NinaTanleven'': Played with in ''The Ghost Wore Gray'' in that Captain Gray’s will, which left the jewels he was safeguarding to Samson Carter, was found shortly after he died - [[spoiler:he’d written it on the wall of the room where he was sitting ''when'' he died]]. It’s the protagonists in the present day who have to find it ''again'' in order to confirm that yes, Captain Gray did indeed leave the treasure to Samson Carter, and Carter’s bequest of the jewels to the college he founded is thus legitimate.

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]

[[AC:Theatre]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* A flashback episode of Creator/HannaBarbera's ''[[WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies1980s Pound Puppies]]'' shows that, in order to keep Katrina Stoneheart from inheriting her aunt's Puppy Pound, the puppies needed to find her aunt's will, where it was stated that the pound must go to Katrina's niece Holly.

* ''{{Popeye}}'' was about to inherit billions from an uncle but a gust of wind blew the will away when it was about to be read and Popeye spent most of the episode trying to retrieve it. He eventually found it but learned that, instead of money, his uncle left debts.

[[AC:Real Life]]

* The Creator/JohnBellairs book ''[[Literature/TheCurseOfTheBlueFigurine The Mummy, the Will and the Crypt]]'' has cereal magnate H. Bagwell Glomus, whose will was hidden away before his suicide, and young Johnny Dixon's desperate hunt for it (he wants the reward money to pay for a brain surgeon for his grandmother, whom he believes to be dying of a brain tumor), which is opposed by Glomus's sister, who wants the will to stay hidden because she fears her brother hadn't left her anything (without a will, she at least got some of his money). Johnny ultimately finds where the will was hidden, but it's destroyed before anyone can read it. He still gets the reward money, since he did find where it was hidden.

* There's a ''Literature/MissMarple'' short story by Creator/AgathaChristie called ''Motive vs. Opportunity'', where the will had been recently rewritten to leave all the dead man's money to a PhonyPsychic, instead of his family. However, when the envelope that should have contained the will is opened, all it contains is a piece of blank paper. [[spoiler: Then it's subverted, as the will is still right where it was, it was just written with disappearing ink.]]

* The Creator/JohnBellairs book ''Literature/TheMummyTheWillAndTheCrypt'' has cereal magnate H. Bagwell Glomus, whose will was hidden away before his suicide, and young Johnny Dixon's desperate hunt for it (he wants the reward money to pay for a brain surgeon for his grandmother, whom he believes to be dying of a brain tumor), which is opposed by Glomus's sister, who wants the will to stay hidden because she fears her brother hadn't left her anything (without a will, she at least got some of his money). Johnny ultimately finds where the will was hidden, but it's destroyed before anyone can read it. He still gets the reward money, since he did find where it was hidden.

* ''ChipAndDaleRescueRangers'': The eldest Baskerville brother inherited their father's manor because there was no (known) will stating otherwise. Hidden somewhere in the house, there was a will through which the youngest son inherited.

* In ''Crocodile on the Sandbank'', the first AmeliaPeabody mystery, the importance of the MacGuffin turns out to be that it has a lost will hidden inside.

* ''[[Literature/ElementalMasters The Gates of Sleep]]'': A variant form -- Madame Arachne doesn't destroy the will to keep Marina from inheriting from her parents, she destroys it because it assigned Marina's guardianship to her godparents. She then claims Marina's guardianship as the newly-orphaned girl's sole remaining relative.