History Main / LostWillAndTestament

* ''JudgeDee'': One case deals with a former governor dying, and his first son kicking out the governor's second wife and child. Though it was certain the governor would leave his wife something, the son produced a will that left her nothing. Judge Dee finds the real will over the course of the story.

* ''Theatre/AnyNumberCanDie'': Just as the will is about to be read the lights go out and when they come back on the will is gone. However it is immediately revealed that Hannibal, the detective, has it. Being GenreSavvy, he grabbed it before anyone else could. It later ends up missing anyway.

* The Creator/JohnBellairs book ''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.

A complication arises when the character had actually left a will, but there is another, later one, which would of course supercede it.

* In the Literature/HerculePoirot book ''Peril at End House'' the will of Nick is missing, only turning up after her [[spoiler: faked]] death. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a [[ForgingTheWill forgery]].]]

* In an old episode of ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' called 'The Case of the Missing Will', this happens after a dying man asks [[Literature/HerculePoirot Poirot]] to be the executor of his new will. The man dies before he can write it and the previous one is discovered missing, stolen in fact.

* VladimirLenin's will contained several last orders regarding the cadre of the Communist Party, which included firing JosephStalin. Of course, it was conveniently misplaced by Uncle Joe and declassified only after his death.

* There's a MissMarple short story by 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.]]
* Several LordPeterWimsey stories involve this:

* The JohnBellairs book ''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.

* [[TheFilmOfTheBook The film adaptation]] of ''Literature/TheBorrowers'' 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]].

* [[TheFilmOfTheBook The film adaptation]] of ''TheBorrowers'' 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]].

* In an old episode of ''{{Poirot}}'' called 'The Case of the Missing Will', this happens after a dying man asks Poirot to be the executor of his new will. The man dies before he can write it and the previous one is discovered missing, stolen in fact.

* The first book in the Literature/NancyDrew series, ''The Secret of the Old Clock'', has this as the plot.

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

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Marvin Acme's will is mistaken for a sheet of blank paper because Mr. Acme wrote it in invisible ink. Roger used the paper to write a love poem to his wife, and near the end of the film when he takes it out to read it, the words suddenly appear on the other side.

* ''Theatre/AnyNumberCanDie'': Just as the will is about to be read the lights go out and when they come back on the will is gone. However it is immediately revealed that Hannibal, the detective, has it. Being GenreSavvy he grabbed it before anyone else could. It later ends up missing anyway.

* A flashback episode of Creator/HannaBarbera's ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies'' 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.

* A flashback episode of CreatorHannaBarbera's ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies'' 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.

Some people just can't die in a neat and orderly fashion. Their wills, the listing of their last wishes, have gone missing and as a result their possessions are being fought over. Sometimes the will has been intentionally hidden to keep it out of the wrong hands. Sometimes it's been stolen by someone who wants to get something out of it. Sometimes it's just been misplaced.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Marvin Acme's will is mistaken for a sheet of blank paper because Mr. Acme wrote it in invisible ink. Roger used the paper to write a love poem to his wife, and near the end of the film when he takes it out to read it the words suddenly appear on the other side.

* In ''Film/{{Inception}}'', the protagonists go into the mind of the heir to an international business empire's mind while he dreams to convince him to break up his father's business. The story they spin him within the dream involves him getting kidnapped by terrorists who tell him that his father left a hidden will inside a safe. In each successive layer of the dream, the goal is to convince the heir to find this "will". [[spoiler: In the bottom layer of the dream inside an alpine mountain base, he finally has convinced himself sub-consciously to break up the company and he indeed "finds" a vault inside the base with a "will" from his father, stating that.]]

* The first book in the Literature/NancyDrew series, ''The Secret of the Old Clock'' has this as the plot.
* ''JudgeDee'': one case deals with a former governor dying, and his first son kicking out the governor's second wife and child. Though it was certain the governor would leave his wife something, the son produced a will that left her nothing. Judge Dee finds the real will over the course of the story.
* There's a MissMarple short story by 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.]]

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* In a throwaway line from the second series of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment,'' Barry Zuckercorn starts talking nonsense to try to fudge the fact that he lost George Sr.'s will. He is rescued at the last minute by the fact that George isn't dead.
* In an old episode of ''{{Poirot}}'' called 'The Case Of The Missing Will', this happens after a dying man asks Poirot to be the executor of his new will. The man dies before he can write it and the previous one is discovered missing, stolen in fact.

* A flashback episode of ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies'' 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 the pound must go to Katrina's niece Holly.
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