History Main / WhereTheresAWillTheresAStickyNote

* One episode of WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents has Timmy resorting to drafting a will on an Etch-a-Sketch after Vicky gets control of his fairies.

* Ron Swanson on ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' has been carrying his will with him since childhood. It's a scrap of paper reading "All my belongings go to the person or animal that killed me". After Ben tells him that without an ''actual'' will all of his assets could go to the government (and not his wife and children) Ron decides to get a real one that ensures his family will have a decent income if he should pass.

See also IfYouDieICallYourStuff. Contrast PersonalEffectsReveal. It's possible the writer CouldntFindAPen.

See also IfYouDieICallYourStuff. Contrast PersonalEffectsReveal.

* In a episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}, while assigned temporarily to a forward aid station, replacing a doctor that was killed, Hawkeye starts to write a will, leaving his camp items to members of the company. The other doctor says he's seen many wills written there.

* In 1948, Cecil George Harris of Rosetown, Saskatchewan, used a pocket knife to scratch the words "In case I die in this mess, I leave all to the wife" into the fender of his tractor. The mess was him being pinned by his farm machinery for 10 hours in bad weather. While he was found and rescued, he died that night of his injuries. A few days later, the writing was noticed and taken to the local court, with his widow claiming this was his last will and testament. The judge accepted it without question and ordered that particular portion of the tractor be cut off and filed. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20151015050724/http://law.usask.ca/news/LawyersWeeklyTractorWill10May13.pdf It's still on display at the Law Library of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law.]]

* Ron Swanson on ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' has been carrying his will with him since childhood. It's a scrap of paper reading "All my belongings go to the person or animal that killed me". After Ben tells him that without an ''actual'' will all of his assets could go to the government (at the time he was not married and had no children and seemed to have no living relatives other than his elderly--if still badass--mother) Ron decides to get a real one.

* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': In episode "[[Recap/CheersS2E12 Where There's a Will...]]", an affable but terminally ill rich dude writes a note on a napkin leaving the gang at Cheers $100,000. Played realistically, as one of the bar patrons, a law student, says that a will has to be verified by three witnesses and thus the napkin is worthless.

* In 1948, Cecil George Harris of Rosetown, Saskatchewan, used a pocket knife to scratch the words "In case I die in this mess, I leave all to the wife" into the fender of his tractor. The mess was him being pinned by his farm machinery for 10 hours in bad weather. While he was found and rescued, he died that night of his injuries. A few days later, the writing was noticed and taken to the local court, with his widow claiming this was his last will and testament. The judge accepted it without question and ordered that particular portion of the tractor be cut off and filed. [[https://ocnarchives.usask.ca/09-jan-23/see_what_we_found.php It's still on display at the Law Library of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law.]]

The legal term for this kind of document is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_will Holographic Wills.]]

* In cases such as The Gimli Glider and other instances where people expected to meet their end within hours if not minutes, some have written wills on anything they could write on.
* The legal term for these kinds of documents are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_will holographic wills.]]

* In 1948, Cecil George Harris of Rosetown, Saskatchewan, used a pocket knife to scratch the words "In case I die in this mess, I leave all to the wife." into the fender of his tractor. The mess was him being pinned by his farm machinery for 10 hours in bad weather. While he was finally found and rescued, he died that night of his injuries. A few days later, the writing was noticed and taken to the local court, with his widow claiming this was his last will and testament. The judge accepted it without question and ordered that particular portion of the tractor be cut off and filed. [[https://ocnarchives.usask.ca/09-jan-23/see_what_we_found.php It's still on display at the Law Library of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law]].

* The legal term for these kinds of documents are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_will holographic wills]].

* In 1948, Cecil George Harris of Rosetown, Saskatchewan, used a pocket knife to scratch the words "In case I die in this mess, I leave all to the wife." into the fender of his tractor. The mess was him being pinned by his farm machinery for 10 hours in bad weather. While he was finally found and rescued, he died that night of his injuries. A few days later, the writing was noticed and taken to the local court, with his widow claiming this was his last will and testament. The judge accepted it without question and ordered that particular portion of the tractor be cut off and filed. It's still on display at the Law Library of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law.

* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidTheUglyTruth'', the narration reveals that Greg's great-grandmother, Gammie, is so old that people have started putting sticky notes on her stuff.

However, they don't do this by going to see a lawyer and writing up a will - instead, they either write the name of the intended recipient on the item, or ask their friends and family to ''label'' their possessions if they would like to inherit them.

* The writer is in imminent peril and thus writes an "will" on the closest thing available.

* In "Bond," the season 7 opener of the ''Series/TheGoodWife'', Alicia takes on the case of a woman whose mother just died, leaving either her or her brother to inherit a signed Chagall painting worth $8 million. The mother had labelled everything in her home with Post-It notes designating who should have what, but a recent heatwave has caused the notes to fall off. The ensuing legal battle over the painting ends up involving: an adhesives expert to provide testimony on the Post-It notes; an aerodynamics expert to testify as to ''how'' exactly the Post-It notes would have fallen; and an industrial suction expert to talk about the deceased's Roomba, which could have disturbed the notes on the as they lay on the floor.

This trope can come in two flavors: