History Main / SillyWill

* Iowa attorney [[https://www.futilitycloset.com/2011/07/29/the-zink-womanless-library/ T.M. Zink]] probably didn't know that after his death in 1930, he would be notorious for being a HeManWomanHater. As not only did he [[KickTheDog leave his wife and daughter out of it]], but wanted his family to build the Zink Womanless Library which would not only bar women from entry, but would also not contain any books or artwork by women. Naturally, the requirement was that the investment to build the library had to be used within 75 years and society had '''more''' [[SocietyMarchesOn than marched on]] by that time, so his family challenged the will in court.

-->'''AltText''': "And to you, I leave my life-sized ice sculpture replica of the Pietà which was blessed by the Pope. You must never let it melt! Now, remember, all gifts must be removed from my estate within 24 hours."

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/BlackWidowers'' short story "To the Barest". When Ralph Ottur (the founder of the Black Widowers club) dies, he leaves a will which requires the members to solve a riddle in order for one of the members to receive a bequest.
** In another, the members have to help a friend whose eccentric uncle required him to solve a riddle in order to receive an inheritance. To raise the stakes, if the riddle wasn't solved, the money would go to the American Nazi Party.

* In //Film/TheGhoul'', Professor Morlant makes some very strange stipulations in his will, mostly connected with his burial, all of which relate to his belief that he is going to be resurrected by an ancient Egyptian jewel.

* In ''Film/WhatACarveUp'', Not only does Gabriel Broughton [[PassedOverInheritance leave absolutely nothing to his family in his will]] (and make them all travel to his OldDarkHouse to hear this), but he bequeaths his nurse Linda all of his medicines, syringes and empty medicine bottles. Linda, at least, sees the funny side of this.

** In another, the members have to help a friend who's eccentric uncle required him to solve a riddle in order to receive an inheritance. To raise the stakes, if the riddle wasn't solved, the money would go to the American Nazi Party.

* ''Series/SlingsAndArrows'' has Oliver, who asked to have his head severed upon his death so it can be stripped of flesh and used in a production of ''{{Hamlet}}''.

** In ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', Topsy Lavish has an ''apparently'' SillyWill that is actually a very clever way of keeping the bank out of the hands of her greedy, incompetent and in one case actually ''insane'' family. She leaves her dog Mr. Fusspot to Moist von Lipwig, and [[PetHeir leaves fifty percent of the shares in the bank to Mr. Fusspot]], who already owned one, thereby making him the Chairman and Moist his "interpreter." Additionally, a contract is lodged with the Assassins' Guild to kill Moist ''if'' he fails to take care of Mr. Fusspot, meaning ''nobody else'' can have Moist Assassinated--and [[EvenEvilHasStandards the Assassins' Guild would never accept a contract to kill a pet]].
*** Also, it's a clever way of giving control of her bank to Moist - as the chairman of the Mint he can't be in control of the bank as that would be a conflict of interest... but he can ''work for'' the chairman of the bank... Moist suspects, not without good reason, that this is at least partly Vetinari's doing.

* Part of Dunkelzahn's Will from ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' was like that. Of course, the rest was such a massive pile of [[ThanatosGambit assorted]] [[XanatosGambit gambits]] that it basically turned the megacorporate status quo inside out, caused a war or two and may have ended up saving the world.

-->'''Drew:''' They just had a new baby, maybe he can use this money to wipe its ''ass''!

-->'''Drew:''' They just had a new baby, maybe he can use this money to wipe its ass.

See also OnOneCondition and BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie, which often overlap with this.

->''"And finally, to my Lawyer, who has helped me on this will, I leave not a boot to the head, but a rabid Tasmanian Devil, to be placed in his trousers?!..."''

->''"And finally, to my Lawyer, who has helped me on this will, I leave not a boot to the head, but a rabid ''Tasmanian Devil, to be placed in his trousers?!''..."''
-->-- '''The Frantics''', ''Last Will and Temperament''

* The provider of the page quote is "Last Will and Temperament" (better known as Boot to the Head) by ''Radio/TheFrantics''. The routine plays with the trope quite well, and can best be appreciated by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwzH716KfE0 listening for yourself.]]

* On ''Series/TheITCrowd'', a VideoWill contained a long sequence of the deceased eating an apple for no apparent reason. It also contained some incriminating evidence about accounting irregularities.

** In another, the members have to help a friend who's eccentric uncle required him to solve a riddle in order to receive an inheritence. To raise the stakes, if the riddle wasn't solved, the money would go to the American Nazi Party.

** Though, he has a fairly good reason for the sillyness, it's to keep his assets out of the hands of his less scrupulous relatives in the case that his preferred heir is unable to inherit for some reason.
* In ''Film/TheUltimateGift'', when his rich granddad, Howard "Red" Stevens, died, Jason thought he was going to inherit a piece of the old man's multi-billion dollar estate, but it came with a condition. In order to get his share of the willed inheritance, Jason must complete 12 separate assignments within a year.

* Back when the title character of ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' was still married to Joy, Earl's will consisted of a very brief recording (made on a stolen video camera, taped over a home movie of an elderly woman's birthday party) of Earl drunkenly stating how much he loved Joy and that everything he owned would be hers if anything happened to him, before the couple proceeded to have drunk sex on TheCouch. This causes problems for him later, seeing as she tries to kill him in order to get the lottery money he won and claimed ''after'' she divorced him for Darnell. [[spoiler: Earl gets a real, legitimate, sober will drawn up while Joy waits for a background check on a handgun, ensuring that even if she did kill him, she would get nothing.]]

** [[spoiler: Pierce himself]] also inserts OnOneCondition into his will twice. First, his must friends all answer a series of questions while hooked up to lie detectors. This is ostensibly to determine if they played any part in his death, but is mostly an excuse to mess with them one last time. Secondly, [[spoiler: Troy must sail around the world in Pierce's yacht to receive the bulk of his fortune.]] He also gives them all a ''container of his sperm''. This makes a tiny bit of sense for the first person, but less and less until the end when it's listed as "obligatory sperm."

* The provider of the page quote is "Last Will and Temperment" (better known as Boot to the Head) by ''Radio/TheFrantics''. The routine plays with the trope quite well, and can best be appreciated by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwzH716KfE0 listening for yourself.]]

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Vance_Millar Charles Vance Millar]], Canadian lawyer who had made a lot of money from his legal practice and even more money from some good investments (e.g. investing in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit–Windsor_Tunnel Detroit–Windsor Tunnel]]) who, when he died, had no close relatives to give it to. He therefore determined to write as silly a will as he could imagine (and pass muster in probate). His will included things such as:

* Iowa attorney [[https://www.futilitycloset.com/2011/07/29/the-zink-womanless-library/ T.M. Zink]] probably didn't know that after his death in 1930, he would be notorious for being a HeManWomanHater. As not only did he [[KickTheDog leave his wife and daughter out of it]], but wanted his family to build the Zink Womanless Libary which would not only bar women from entry, but also not contain any books or artwork by women. Naturally, the requirement was that the investment to build the library be used in 75 years and society had '''more''' [[SocietyMarchesOn than marched on]] by the time that came along so his family challenged the will in court.

*** Also, it's a clever way of giving control of her bank to Moist - as the chairman of the Mint he can't be in control of the bank as that would be a conflict of interest... but he can ''work for'' the chairman of the bank...

* In ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', the aged Baron Beaufort von Frankenstein leaves instructions that his estate shall be given to his distant great-grandson rather than shared among a cadre of mooching relatives if said great-grandson has become a respected doctor of his own accord. One of the relatives tries to pass this clause off as insanity. The scene was [[DeletedScene removed from the final film]]. Said Baron also wanted the will not to be revealed until it'd be 100 from when he was born, meaning Frederick had to meet the terms until then. The other relatives didn't like having to wait until then to either get the estate or learn they wouldn't.

* The Literature/HerculePoirot short story "The Case of the Missing Will" has an eccentric old man write a will which gives his neice a month to "prove her wits", after which the estate goes to charity. She interpretes this, correctly, as meaning she has to find a second will dated after this one in which she's the beneficiary.
* A similar Literature/MissMarple story has a young couple tearing an inherited BigFancyHouse looking for an uncle's inheritance (the garden looks like a war zone, and since it's already dug up they're considering planting vegetables). Miss Marple ends up putting them on the right track by showing them the secret drawer in an old desk, which a younger expert hadn't found. They find a bunch of love letters and recipes, which depresses the couple to no end... until Miss Marple, who is reminded of her own uncle with less-than-amusing trickster tendencies, tells them to look at the (extremely rare and valuable) stamps on the letters.

** [[spoiler: Pierce himself]] also inserts OnOneCondition into his will twice. Firsty, his must friends all answer a series of questions while hooked up to lie detectors. This is ostensibly to determine if they played any part in his death, but is mostly an excuse to mess with them one last time. Secondly, [[spoiler: Troy must sail around the world in Pierce's yacht to receive the bulk of his fortune.]] He also gives them all a ''container of his sperm''. This makes a tiny bit of sense for the first person, but less and less until the end when it's listed as "obligatory sperm."

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons:'' "Bart the Fink" begins with the Simpsons at the reading of their late aunt Hortenses' will, which stipulates they will receive one hundred dollars each on the proviso they spend a night in a haunted house. When Marge [[LampshadeHanging questions this]], the executor just replies it's a standard clause. The rest of their aunt's money is sent to Anne Landers.

* A funeral [[TheFunInFuneral takes the turn for morbid surreality]] when someone's will promises their possessions to neither friend or family, but [[http://iguanamouth.tumblr.com/post/100805976542/bolt-down-my-coffin whoever between their skeleton and ghost wins in a duel]]

* Maxine's [[http://leftoversoup.com/archive.php?num=408 will]] in ''Webcomic/LeftoverSoup'' is unusual, though she's apparently sincere about itt.

* In the LordPeterWimsey story "The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach", a wealthy man leaves his stomach to his great-nephew, a medical student. When Lord Peter decides he wants to see the actual wording of the will, he poses as an author collecting examples of comic wills.