History Main / OnOneCondition

* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse '': Played dead serious in ''Iron Fist'', where one of the provisions of [[spoiler:Phanan]]'s will is that [[spoiler:Face has to get [[ScarsAreForever his scar]] removed]]. Also, interestingly enough, it is explained in complete detail why this is necessary: [[spoiler:The scar was a key part of Face's backstory, and Phanan was trying to force him to move on from his past]].

* In ''The Family Legacy'' you'll inherit your Uncle Arnold's estate if, within 48 hours of your arrival at Cliffside, you manage to locate the missing [=MacAdam=] Claymore. Otherwise, your Aunt Gertrude's obnoxious son Melvin gets a turn.

'''Sam's robot:''' Oh, yeah? Well, no earth robot is going to tell me which button I can't press. I'm [[IncrediblyLamePun a-pressin'.]] ''(press button; gets clobbered by mallet protruding from Bugs' robot)''

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* The series ''WesternAnimation/MadJackThePirate'' had an episode where Mad Jack inherited a treasure from his Uncle Mortimer, after whom the episode was titled. However, the will stipulated a condition: Uncle Mortimer's body and his dog must be taken to the Island of Hanna-Barbarian. The condition is fulfilled despite the adversities but, since [[StatusQuoIsGod Mad Jack must never]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption be wealthy by an episode's ending]], [[spoiler:the treasure consisted of a chest full of dog biscuits]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'', Howard Stark made a will stating that Tony must graduate high school with no problem in order to have full control over his inheritance. Failure will result in the creation of a fund to manage the Stark fortune.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TopCat and the Beverly Hills Cats'', Mrs. Vandergelt left her fortune to her niece Amy. Because of her disappearance, Benny was the next in line. If anything happened to him within the next 48 hours, the butler would get the fortune.
-->'''Top Cat:''' Ah, Beverly Hills. When they try to kill ya, they do it with class.
* In ''WesternAnimation/WildWestCOWBoysOfMooMesa'' episode "Wedding Bull Blues", it's been seven years ever since Colonel Cudster left Cowtown to look for more gold and left his daughter in charge of his gold mine. Because of that, Mayor Bulloney tried to invoke an old law to have Colonel Cudster pronounced LegallyDead and the gold mine confiscated, only to find Cudster had bequeathed the mine to another in his will. Unfortunately, the terms of the will identified Cudster's daughter Cowlamity Kate "and her husband" as heirs, meaning it wouldn't be valid unless Kate was actually married by the end of the day her father was pronounced dead, leading her to ask Dakota to marry her (which he agreed to) in order to save her inheritance. [[spoiler:The wedding almost happened, but a letter from Cudster, dated just the day before, arrived in time to prevent him from being declared dead. At which point, both Kate and Dakota declared they were not quite ready for marriage.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/WallyGator'' once inherited an island on the condition that, should something happen to him, whoever lived in the island would be the next inheritor. [[spoiler:The island's resident accidentally caused it to sink as a result of his efforts to rid himself of Wally]].
* ''WesternAnimation/PreciousPupp'' once believed he was about to inherit a fortune and that, if something happened to him, a dog named [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mauler]] would get the money. [[MeaningfulName True to his name]], Mauler spent most of the episode trying to get rid of Precious. In the end, Precious' mistress got her new glasses and found out she misread the will: Mauler is the first to inherit and Precious is the second.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGetAlongGang'': Zipper has once received an inheritance on the condition he claims it within a stipulated deadline and several people who liked the next one to inherit would do anything to sabotage him. Ironically, they ended up destroying the next one's house. Zipper then let her keep the money.
* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': The main point of Madame Foster's deal with Mac; Bloo will be prevented from adoption under the condition Mac comes to visit him every day.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/FreakyStories'' featured a wealthy man who wasn't on speaking terms with any friend or relative and made a will leaving his fortune to anyone who bothered to attend the funeral. The only person to do it was [[spoiler:an old woman who didn't even know him. She simply needed a bathroom and crashing the funeral was the only option.]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'', Cleveland Jr. inherits his late mother's fortune, on the condition that his father (a) not be told how much he inherited, and (b) not be given, or even lent, any of the money. In the end, [[spoiler:as a twist to the trope, Cleveland Jr. still has the money, but there's a ''ResetButton'' of sorts in that it has not been referenced in any way since then]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseWorks'': A WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse story mixed this with ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays''. Mickey must show punctuality in order to inherit his Uncle's fortune. Scrooge [=McDuck=], executor of the will, demands Mickey to do the around the world travel. Otherwise, Scrooge gets the money.
* ''WesternAnimation/CasperAndFriends'' has several episodes not featuring WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost. One is about a [[PetHeir rich cat]] living large and being waited upon by her butler. It quickly changes as soon as the butler chances upon the will and learns he's the next to inherit. [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption His several attempts to off the cat fail]] and the last one ends [[spoiler:with his own demise. The cat then phones asking for a new butler]].
* ''WesternAnimation/StuntDawgs'': In the episode "Fungustein", a robot named Scabulator drove the title characters jobless and one of them asked where they'd get the money to survive. Noticing the others staring at him, Splat said the terms of the will forbid him from doing any charity.
* In ''WesternAnimation/HotStuff'', the gods give the first caveman fire on the condition that he not be careless with it, lest it destroy everything. While the caveman abides by this, a present-day man and woman are TooDumbToLive with it.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/CalvinAndTheColonel'' has the Colonel sabotaging his sister-in-law's wedding after he finds the will of her deceased first husband, which stipulates that the $300 a month she gets from his estate (of which the Colonel gets $200 as per the agreement when he married his wife) will be cut off if she remarries. [[spoiler: After the Colonel succeeds in stopping the wedding, he finds out that the money would have gone directly to him if she remarried.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/PunkyBrewster'': The episode "Punky's Millions" has an instance dealing with winnings as opposed to an inheritance: Punky and her foster father Henry Warnimont win a jackpot on a TV show. To collect it, however, they have to spend $1 million in a week. The task falls upon Punky and her pals when Henry comes down with chickenpox. Come the end of the week, and the total seems to show that Punky succeeded--until Allen accidentally spills some loose change from a candy bar he bought with the money from the million. All ends well, however, as Glomer bought a lottery ticket that cashed in big.
* ''WesternAnimation/PippiLongstocking'': In "Pippi Visits Aunt Matilda", Blom & Dunder-Karlsson learn that Blom's Aunt Matilda bequeathed her whole fortune to him on the condition that he reforms and severs ties with his bad companions, especially Dunder-Karlsson, and that it'll be up to Pippi to evaluate Blom. They try to act nice to convince Matilda that both of them reformed but, [[spoiler:once her doctor says she'll likely live for the next 30 years, they give up]].

* ''Website/{{Fenspace}}'': The various Fenspace Convention members who colonised the Moon ceded the original Apollo landing sites to the United States government, but stipulated that the landing sites be added to the National Historic Landmark list and that the surrounding land be turned into a national park, in order to preserve the site in as close to original condition as possible. (An exception was made for the Alan Sheppard Memorial Golf Course because it was deemed a fitting tribute.)

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast'' had a character named Zebadiah Carter. It turns out his grandfather Zachariah had left a large inheritance, with two conditions: (for the males, at least) They had to have a name starting with Z, and they had to hold assets ''equal'' to the amount they would receive. (So if you got wealthy, it'd make you twice as wealthy. If you didn't get wealthy, you got nothing)
* In ''Literature/DoorwaysInTheSand'' by Creator/RogerZelazny, the protagonist's uncle has set up a fund that will pay for his living as long as he remains a full-time undergraduate--anything left from the fund after he graduates will be donated to the Irish Republican Army. The book opens when he's in his early thirties, having been in college for thirteen years.
** The 1969 British TV series ''Series/{{Doctor in the House}}'' also has an eternal student like this. In his case, it was a poorly worded clause in his aunt's that provided him with an income while he was studying medicine. However, there was no time limit placed upon it, and he quickly worked out that so long as he remained at university studying medicine, he would receive a guaranteed income.
* ''Last to Die'' by James Grippando features a millionaire who left his considerable fortune in trust with the stipulation that the last surviving member of a particular group of people would inherit the entire amount (in short, a {{Tontine}}). He did it because he hated all of the prospective heirs and wanted them to fight one another for the money.

* Literature/LordPeterWimsey:
** One Literature/LordPeterWimsey story turned on a will by which TheUnfavorite son inherited until his father was buried, whereupon it would all pass to the other son. Friends of TheUnFavorite stole the body to prevent burial, Lord Peter discovers the will in a book, family disputes erupt, and the final touch is Lord Peter's deducing that from the water stain in the book but not the will, that the other son had hidden the will so TheUnfavorite would not find out about the condition in time.
** Another Peter Wimsey story featured an old man who disapproved of his niece's seriousness and so wrote a will disinheriting her unless she solved a crossword puzzle to find the location of his final will leaving everything to her.

* Played dead serious in ''[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Iron Fist]]'', where one of the provisions of [[spoiler: Phanan]]'s will is that [[spoiler: Face has to get [[ScarsAreForever his scar]] removed]]. Also, interestingly enough, it is explained in complete detail why this is necessary: [[spoiler: The scar was a key part of Face's backstory, and Phanan was trying to force him to move on from his past.]]
* One of Creator/OHenry's stories featured a young man addicted to gambling who was granted his inheritance on the condition that he does not gamble for a set period. On the last day of his abstinence, he learns that the inheritance will instead go to a pretty young female relative should he fail. Of course, his next action is to go into the lawyer's office and solemnly proclaim that he just finished betting on the horses and that he was yielding the inheritance.

* It's revealed in one of the ''Literature/EdgarAndEllen'' books that Augustus Nod, the founder of Nod's Limbs, left his entire fortune to whoever finds the original limbs of the statue erected to him. ([[spoiler: Nod stole them himself.]]) They're eventually found by [[spoiler:Edgar and Ellen]], who will inherit it [[spoiler: [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld once he dies]].]]
* ''Literature/SamTheCatDetective'': Prior to ''The Great Catsby'', enthusiastic amateur musician JJ Smythington inherited billions from his uncle on the condition that he live in the countryside and host fundraisers for a charity foundation. Instead, JJ went on tour with a rock band and hired Ted Parker (Catsby's owner) to assume his identity while JJ uses Ted's name. [[CaperRationalization This lets JJ follow his musical dreams while Ted raises money for the worthy causes JJ's uncle supported.]]
* Creator/SidneySheldon book ''Bloodline'' features a pharmaceutical company named Roffe & Sons, which founder saw to it that his heirs wouldn't be able to sell their shares of the company unless all of them agreed to do it.
* ''Literature/BrewstersMillions'': Montgomery Brewster must be penniless by the day he becomes 26 years old in order to inherit his uncle James T. Sedgwick's seven-million-dollar estate. And he can't simply give away whatever he had before. Even while attempting to become penniless, Montgomery must show some business skills. Donations to charity mustn't go far beyond the usually donated by other rich people. It doesn't help things that, by the time Montgomery Brewster was informed of his uncle's death and wealth, it was a little less than one year from the deadline and he had already inherited one million dollars from his paternal grandfather Edwin P. Brewster, who was the reason of Uncle James' unusual set of conditions -- James Sedgwick ''hated'' Edwin Brewster to the point of not wanting his heir to have anything that came from Edwin in any way. This was also the reason Sedgwick wouldn't allow his nephew to simply donate Edwin's inheritance away: he believed Edwin Brewster would be remembered and praised for this.
* One of the short stories in Creator/SteveAylett's ''Crime Studio'' is based around and [[PlayingWithATrope plays with this]]: a venerable spinster with a significant fortune dies, and several of Beerlight's criminal artistes are known to be (potential) beneficiaries of her will. In the run-up to the will being read, all of them, independently, break into her lawyer's offices and alter the will in their favour. The lawyer sees through all the forgeries and alterations with ease (one was written in ''crayon''), and reads the original, unaltered version: everyone was verbally abused, and her entire estate was to be shared equally between any beneficiaries still alive after a week from the reading. A large battle ensues; [[spoiler: by the time the week is up, none of the named beneficiaries has died, and the lawyer has absconded with everything, and not as legal fees]].
* ''Literature/TheDandeeDiamondMystery'': The benefactor leaves the diamond to whoever deserves it the most. As this is an interactive book, it has several endings. [[spoiler:Some of them have a note with the diamond stating the one who found it was the one who deserved it the most. One states [[PetHeir the benefactor's parrot deserves the diamond.]] One shows that the benefactor [[FakingTheDead faked his death]] to see how far his relatives would go for the diamond and he stated he's the only one who deserves the diamond. The other endings simply don't have it stated]].
* In the Literature/SherlockHolmes story "The Three Garridebs", a will stipulates that a man with the extremely rare surname Garrideb will inherit a property provided that he can find two other people with the same surname. The property will be split between the three of them. However, just two Garridebs would get nothing. [[spoiler: The trope is subverted when it turns out that the villain made the entire thing up.]]
* In the [[RomanceNovel Harlequin novel]] ''Will and a Way'' by Creator/NoraRoberts, the two main characters are cousins (though not by blood, of course) who have never gotten along. When an extremely wealthy and beloved great uncle of theirs dies he leaves them everything, because they were the only ones in the family who ever cared about him before he died. The only condition is that they have to live together in his house for six months and try to get along. If they fail, his estate will be evenly divided upon the rest of the family, who are all very unpleasant people. The uncle's main goal with this, apart from making sure his estate was in good hands, was of course to get them [[TheMatchmaker together]].
* ''Literature/OliverTwist'': It is revealed that Oliver's father had left him an enormous fortune which he would only inherit if he maintained a clean record throughout his youth, or else it would go to his half-brother Monks. [[spoiler: This is why Monks had pressured Fagin to take Oliver in as one of his thieves.]] Because Oliver's mother was still pregnant with him by the time his father wrote that will, he added a clause that would exempt Oliver from that condition had [[FemalesAreMoreInnocent Oliver been a girl instead of a boy.]]
* In the teen novel ''Literature/TheVClub'', a wealthy woman leaves money that would provide a full scholarship to one lucky high school student, on the condition that this student be "pure," which everyone interprets as [[NatureAdoresAVirgin "must be a virgin."]] (Neither the deceased woman herself nor her attorney specified what exactly she meant by "pure;" everyone just ''assumed'' she meant virginal.) The students who are vying for the scholarship join a club (and losing one's virginity means being kicked out) and take a pledge to abstain from sex. [[spoiler: Not everyone competing for the scholarship actually ''is'' a virgin, however.]]

* In the twentieth Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote novel ''The Youkai Computer Knows'', Shinobu Nanaki is the heir apparent of an old family and will inherit the family fortune at 20, on the condition that [[MinorLivingAlone he doesn't leave his house before that point]]. He doesn't mind this arrangement, but Aya, recalling her FriendlessBackground, finds this appalling. [[spoiler:Rendered completely moot at the end of that novel, due to the bankruptcy of the family.]]
* A few Georgette Heyer novels involve a marriage/inheritance condition. In ''Friday’s Child'', the hero can't touch his fortune until he turns 25--''or'' until he marries. He responds by marrying the first woman he sees. In ''Cotillion'', the heroine will inherit her miserly foster father’s entire fortune--but only if she marries one of his great-nephews. [[note]]Since the dramatic date is long before the Married Women’s Property act, this really means that whichever of the grand-nephews marries the girl will inherit everything.[[/note]]
* ''Literature/BagOfBones'': In an attempt to keep his daughter-in-law Mattie, and thus his granddaughter Kyra, on the TR after his death, Devore leaves Mattie 80 million dollars on the condition that she remains on the TR for one year after Devore's passing. She is allowed to go on day trips but has to make sure she spends every single night on the TR. Lawyer John Storrow assures Mattie's friend Mike however that such a condition can never legally be enforced.
* ''[[Literature/TheCurseOfTheBlueFigurine Johnny Dixon series]]'': In ''The Chessmen of Doom'', Professor Childermass will only inherit his late brother Perry's estate (and 10 million dollars) if he stays there for the summer (June 15 to Labor Day) and keeps the place in shape without any paid help (though apparently hiring someone to fix the furnace doesn't count). He winds up violating the terms of the will by going home early, stating that the money isn't worth the risk of sticking around and possibly getting killed by the EvilWizard Edmund Stallybrass. However, he does get twenty thousand dollars as a consolation prize. ''The Hand of the Necromancer'' adds that Perry also bequeathed him some magical items once owned by the wizard Esdrias Blackleach, with no conditions attached, though the items came with their own set of dangers.
* Commonly seen in retellings of ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'', which changes the purpose of the titular journey from TheBet to this trope.
* ''Literature/FamilySkeletonMysteries'': In book 3, the origin of [=McQuaid=] University is revealed -- after Persephone [=McQuaid=] died, attendance at the school she'd founded (the [=McQuaid=] School of Art) had dropped off to the point where the family gave the building and land to the town of Pennycross to use for a university with two conditions: first, both the building and university kept the [=McQuaid=] name. Second, the land they gave to Pennycross has to remain in use as part of the university, and if it doesn't, [=McQuaid=] Hall, the university's entrance, most of the quad and parts of two other buildings will all revert to the [=McQuaid=] family. Using [=McQuaid=] Hall for their annual haunted house event has kept the property from reverting, but if the haunted house doesn't reopen in a timely manner, the [=McQuaid=] family can reclaim it all, which would be a massive problem for the university. [[spoiler:Eventually, the rightful heir to the property ''does'' reclaim it... but then donates it to the university permanently, with the conditions that it's renamed the Dana Fenton Building (after his wife) and is converted into office space for the college's adjunct professors.]]

* ''Literature/TheCatInTheStacksMysteries'':
** In book 2 (''Classified As Murder''), James Delacorte's will leaves a sum to his sister Daphne on the condition that she use it to move into an assisted-living facility. Otherwise she gets nothing.
** In book 2 of the ''Southern Ladies Mysteries'' spinoff series, it's explained that Sondra Delevan's late father left her a large sum of money, which she'll receive when she marries (but ''only'' if she's 20 or older at the time -- if she marries before she turns twenty, she gets nothing) or when she turns 25, whichever comes first. Having gotten pregnant at the age of seventeen, she refused to marry the child's father, being more interested in making sure she'd get the money. [[spoiler:She never does get it, seeing as she's the main murder victim of the book.]]

* ''Literature/TwilightWhereDarknessBegins'': In book #6 (''Voices in the Dark''), Christie Moncrieff's grandfather leaves her family his land in Iowa, but on the condition that they have to live there. Naturally, supernatural happenings begin soon afterward and have to be dealt with.
* In order for [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Avery Grumbs]] from ''Literature/TheInheritanceGames'' to inherit Tobias Hawthorne's fortune (in the neighborhood of billions of dollars) she is required to move into and live at Hawthorne House for one year. ''With'' the family he basically disinherited and left what amounts to bread crumbs in comparison. The problem is that Avery would rather ''not'' be stuck in this situation to begin with and only agrees as otherwise the ''entire'' fortune, including what the family members got, would go to charity. [[spoiler: Then one of the family members discovers a LoopholeAbuse that would leave them the family foundation if Avery dies before the year is up and tries to invoke it.]]
* In "Million-Dollar Somersaults" (from the collection ''In Mexico They Say''), a Marquis adopts one of his poor relatives, a little girl named Paz, and spends a lot of time worrying about her pride and standoffishness as she grows up. By the time he dies, he's come up with a plan he thinks will work: in order to inherit his wealth, Paz has to dress her finest, drive to the square, where everyone will be having a party, and turn three somersaults. Despite her humiliation, Paz doesn't want to return to poverty and goes to do as her uncle asks. [[spoiler: She does realize how silly and obnoxious she's been and the town's other young ladies forgive her.]]
* ''Literature/JamesBond'': In the John Gardner novel ''Literature/RoleOfHonour'', as part of his sudden quarter-million pound inheritance, Bond is required to spend at least one hundred thousand pounds of it in a "frivolous and extravagant manner" within the first four months of getting it (apparently Uncle Bruce had a sense of humor). He spends most of the required sum on a new Bentley Mulsanne Turbo, and the remaining thirty thousand on friends (mostly female) and himself, including on gambling sprees.

* ''Literature/AuntDimity'': In the series opener, Lori Shepherd learns that her "Aunt" Dimity, whom she'd always thought was a character her mother made up for her stories, was a real person -- Dimity Westwood, who's recently died and left Lori a bequest of $10,000. However, in order to inherit, she must go to Dimity's old home (a honey-coloured stone cottage near the village of Finch, said to be in the Cotswolds), search through Dimity's decades-long correspondence with Lori's mother, and write an introduction to a soon-to-be-published collection of the "Aunt Dimity" stories, with attorney Willis Sr. checking up on her progress via phone and his son Bill accompanying her to England. The condition isn't particularly onerous, since Lori has help ''and'' her expenses are fully covered, including anything that might distract her (like her credit card bills).

* ''Series/MuppetsTonight''
** Parodied in one episode in which the guest star's character will inherit a "fortune" of "eighty-five dollars" provided that he is married to a beautiful woman. Miss Piggy happens to walk in the door at that point...
** In one "The Tubmans of Porksmith" sketch, Howard Tubman learns that his great-aunt has left him a ten million dollar inheritance on the condition that he loses a large amount of weight by a certain date... which happens to be the exact same day he hears about her death. Cue Howard rushing to his treadmill and desperately trying to burn off the pounds, only to destroy the machine and be thrown off instead. His butler Carter then enters and reveals that his aunt somehow recovered from being dead (she was apparently very stubborn), which cancels the deal -- but Howard shrugs it off and requests that Carter prepare chicken and dumplings to appease his exercise-driven appetite.
* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' -- Dennis & Dee's mother dies and leaves Dennis her mansion under the condition that their assumed father Frank never be allowed on the property. But because all the money was left to Dennis & Dee's biological father Bruce, Dee and Frank try to [[ZanyScheme scheme]] him out of it. He sees through their scheme immediately, and the resultant game of ZanySchemeChicken eventually results in Frank ending up at the mansion.

* On ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'', the episode "Drew's Inheritance" saw his Uncle Cecil setting the prerequisite of Drew getting married in 72 hours from the reading of the will, purely because in life he was a big fan of movie plots in general. He and Kate would have gotten away with either a fake marriage or a real one if it weren't for their two meddling idiot-friends.
* ''Series/FatherTed'' -- Father Jack has left IR£500,000 to Ted and Dougal providing they spend the night before the funeral with Jack, owing to Jack's fear of being buried alive. [[spoiler:Turns out Jack was [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in his fear as he was NotQuiteDead. Although, he could have fooled a lot of people due to lack of pulse, Rigor Mortis, decomposition... There was no guarantee that the ResetButton would be pressed as it was broadcast as the last of that series and was [[DeadStarWalking filmed as the pilot.]]]] This could count as a subversion as it wasn't the 'one condition' that Ted and Dougal failed on, it was the 'priority condition': [[spoiler:the author of the will wasn't dead!]]

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'':
** The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E145TheMasks The Masks]]" has a dying millionaire inviting his greedy relatives to [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans a Mardi Gras party]] and stipulating that in order to inherit his money, each will have to don a hideously grotesque mask revealing his or her true character. Despite some moaning and groaning, the family makes it through the night. [[spoiler:Only to discover that the masks have warped their faces to be perfect replicas of the masks, leaving them very rich but having to live in shadow for the rest of their lives.]]
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E128UncleSimon Uncle Simon]]" was even more vicious. The titular character is looked after by his niece, who comes to resent his gruffness toward her and eventually kills him by making him fall down the stairs. Uncle Simon, apparently aware that she was interested only in his money, names the young woman the sole beneficiary of his large estate -- with the condition that she look after his last project: a robot. As time passes, the robot takes on more and more of Uncle Simon's old habits, prompting the niece to try to destroy it... only to discover that it can't be done. She realizes that she's now stuck with a functionally immortal (24/7, in fact) version of her uncle -- and if she doesn't want to forfeit to his alma mater, she'll have to stay with him forever. As far as she's concerned, it's well WorthIt.

* ''Casseta&Planeta'' segment "O Diário de Um Macho" (A Macho Man's Diary) had an episode where the protagonist (Carlos Maçaranduba) and his twin brother learned their father left his fortune to the first one of them to get married. [[spoiler:The protagonist's brother got the inheritance]].

* In Brazilian soap-opera ''Caras e Bocas'', the founder of a prosperous diamond-mining company left 31% of the company's shares to his granddaughter on the condition that she got married and 10% to whoever she marries. He also stipulated that, if she never got married, the 10% would go to her illegitimate daughter.
* In one episode of ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'', a man and his wife went to his late grandfather's house because there was a clause in the will stating that he must spend a night there to claim it. The grandfather had a butler and a maid, both of whom tried to scare away the couple to get the house. [[spoiler: The plan failed but the couple, feeling they didn't need the house, let the butler and the maid keep it]].
* In one episode of ''Series/TheNanny'', Maxwell Sheffield learned that his brother Nigel bought a nightclub. Because of that, Maxwell commented that Nigel shouldn't have been allowed to use his inheritance before becoming 30 years old. Overhearing this, Maxwell's son Brighton becomes sad at the prospect of not receiving his inheritance before turning 30. To comfort him, Fran pointed out that, once he's 30 years old, he'll be rich while, once ''she's'' 30 years old, she'll be ''40''.
* In the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS3E20DigitalEstatePlanning Digital Estate Planning]]", Pierce Hawthorne and seven of his friends had to play and win a multiplayer game developed by his father or Pierce would lose the inheritance. Whoever wins gets the entire fortune, even if it isn't Pierce. The group subverts the dead man's agenda by agreeing that whoever wins will just hand it over to Pierce of course. However, since Pierce only has six friends, that leaves an empty seat for his late father's personal assistant, Gilbert Lawson, to sneak into the game with the intent of stealing the inheritance (because he was secretly Pierce's illegitimate, mixed-race, half-brother). Unfortunately for Gilbert, their father anticipated this turn of events and prepared an additional clause just for him, requiring that he signs a document agreeing not to reveal he's Cornelius Hawthorne's son. If Lawson doesn't, it goes back to Pierce anyway. In the end, Pierce and his half-brother share the fortune and discover they are happy to be brothers.
** [[spoiler: Pierce]] leaves millions of dollars to Troy on the condition that he circumnavigate the globe in his yacht. Additionally, all of the study group is required to answer a series of questions while hooked up to lie detectors to receive their part of the inheritance without knowing what they'll receive, ostensibly to ensure they had no part in his death.
* Inverted in ''Series/TheBleakOldShopOfStuff'', where Jederington desperately tries to fulfill the one condition that will ''prevent'' him being his grandfather's heir since the inheritance is a huge debt.
* In Brazilian soap opera ''Guerra dos Sexos'', Otávio and his cousin Charlô inherited a mansion and a store chain from their Uncle Enrico on the condition they do not sell or otherwise negotiate the mansion or the store chain unless all parties involved are family, which basically forced Charlô and Otávio to become business partners. The problem: Charlô and Otávio were KissingCousins until it ended in an unfriendly way. Decades later, a remake of the soap opera was produced. Instead of inheriting from Uncle Enrico, they inherited from an uncle and an aunt portrayed by the actor and the actress who portrayed Otávio and Charlô in the original soap opera. The condition is the same and Charlô commented [[CallBack about their uncle and aunt imposing the same condition as their Uncle Enrico]].
* An episode of ''Series/LosEspookys'' is centered on an inheritance scare, wherein five strangers have to survive the night in a "haunted" mansion to receive a millionaire's inheritance while the titular group try to scare them away.
* The ''Series/BroadCity'' episode "Jews on a Plane" has an openly and proudly gay man who's looking for a nice Jewish girl to marry so he can access his trust fund.
* ''Series/TheMillionaire'', episode "The Uncle Robby Story": Robert Chesley's will leaves all his money to his niece and her husband with a condition that any portion of it they don't spend on their honeymoon will instead go to another relative they both dislike. It's not meant unkindly; Uncle Robby isn't rich and expects to leave his favorite relatives just enough for a nice time, with the penalty only included because he knows that otherwise they're likely to donate a windfall to charity instead of treating themselves. Then he's given a million dollars by an eccentric philanthropist (the millionaire of the title) and promptly dies before he has a chance to change the will...

* In ''Theatre/TheCatAndTheCanary'', a codicil in Cyrus West's will stipulates that another stands to inherit if the heir "be proved of unsound mind." The identity of the next heir is kept secret, which leaves it a mystery just who is determined to drive the favored heir insane.
* ''Theatre/ThePajamaPartyMurders'' has a twofer in that the inheritance is to be split among all heirs who spend the evening in the Cosmo manor. The VideoWill than clarifies that it is to be split among the ''survivors''.

* The plot of ''VideoGame/SunDogFrozenLegacy'' boils down to "You've inherited your uncle's spaceship. And the contract he took on. You need to fulfill the contract, or you can't keep the spaceship."
* In ''Lily's Garden'' Lily will inherit her Great-Aunt Mary's estate if she can restore the sadly-neglected grounds within thirty days.

* The first version is used in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20060112180052/http://www.partiallyclips.com/index.php?id=1155 this]] ''[=PartiallyClips=]'' strip.
* ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'' had it debated [[http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1617 here]] and [[http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1618 here]].

* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'':
** In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' episode ''A Night of Fright is No Delight'', Scooby is one of five heirs to Colonel Beauregard Sanders, and each heir gets an equal portion of the fortune on the condition they spend the night in the colonel's mansion. The caveat: it's haunted. The gang manages to solve the case -- as you'd expect, the lawyers got creative with -- and Scooby wins by default... except it's all Confederate bills (once backed by a government but now that government ''doesn't exist''). Confederate banknotes are worth a ''lot'' of money to historical collectors. This never occurred to the writers, nor the Scooby Gang, who treat it as a total loss. There's also the question of how the Colonel was able to keep a mansion that size [[FridgeLogic if all his liquid capital was in a type of money that he couldn't use to pay his taxes or grocery bills with]].
** The later film ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMeetsTheBooBrothers'' has Shaggy inherit a mansion and estate, complete with the money to hold it for a lifetime, from his uncle Beauregard (no relation to the character from the aforementioned episode). The mansion is haunted, the local hicks enjoy shooting at anyone related to Beauregard, the creepy butler feels entitled to Shaggy's inherited fortune, and the colonel hid said fortune -- a king's ransom worth of family jewels -- somewhere on the estate, hidden behind a treasure hunt that he creates for Shaggy to solve. The ghost exterminators that Shaggy calls, [[ThreeStoogesShoutOut the Boo Brothers]], turn out to be a trio of ghosts themselves, and although the film's villain was impersonating most of the ghosts, the haunting by the colonel was real. Not to mention that there was an escaped circus gorilla running around as well as a wild bear on the property. In the end, Shaggy puts the family jewels in a trust fund for orphans and gives the mansion to the Boo Brothers.
** In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndGuessWho'' episode "The Nightmare Ghost of Psychic U!", the titular university's founder made a will saying that, if it closes, the property goes to his [[GameBetweenHeirs nearest living relative]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "The Million-Dollar Cat" had Tom inheriting a sizeable fortune on the condition he not harm another animal, not even a mouse. Jerry pesters him until he can't take anymore, and the cartoon closes with Tom remarking "Gee...I'm throwing away a million dollars... [[WorthIt but I'm HAPPY!]]" while trying to clobber Jerry with a broken board.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'' cartoon ''Billion Dollar Boner'', a man named O'Houlihan gets a billion-dollar check -- on the condition that he cannot do any harm to a bird. Woody then proceeds to antagonize him. At the end of the episode, it's revealed that [[spoiler: the check is a rubber fake]].

-->'''Bugs's robot:''' Eh, what's up doc?\\
'''Sam's robot:''' I'll show you what's up. (''pulls ray gun'') Come with me or I'll blast you.\\
'''Bugs's robot:''' I'll go with you on one condition. That you don't press this button. (''points to button on body'')\\
'''Sam's robot:''' Oh, yeah? Well, no earth robot is going to tell me which button I can't press. I'm [[IncrediblyLamePun a-pressin'.]] (''press button; gets clobbered by mallet protruding from Bugs' robot'')

* In Creator/TexAvery's Creator/{{MGM}} short ''Wags to Riches'' (originally as ''Millionaire Droopy''), a millionaire dies and leaves his fortune to Droopy, with a clause that in the event of Droopy's death the entire estate will revert to his other dog, Spike... who naturally spends the cartoon trying (unsuccessfully) to bump Droopy off.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' episode "A Haunted House Is Not A Home", Fred inherits money and a mansion from his eccentric uncle Giggles Flintstone. But, to receive it, he must spend one night in the mansion or he will be disinherited. And, if he dies, the inheritance goes to the butler, cook, and gardener, [[InheritanceMurder all of whom are wielding large weapons...]]
** And then Fred finds out one important fact about dear uncle Giggles. [[spoiler:He's not dead yet. The whole thing was a prank -- the ''real'' condition was to see if Fred had a sense of humor like his uncle's. "Well," says Fred as he [[SlasherSmile smiles evilly]] at his uncle, "I'm kind of a kook myself..." He then pulls a large weapon of his own on Giggles and proceeds to chase him and his servants around as he adds, "Not rich, but still a kook!"]]
* In one episode of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' cartoon show, the Ghost with the Most wins several million dollars in a sweepstakes, but he has to promise not to use his powers to prank people before the company running the sweepstakes will give him the prize (the company added the rule when they learned that Beetlejuice won). After he tries to flaunt his wealth and is dissed and snubbed for being "NouveauRiche" and worse insulting Lydia, BJ decides the money isn't worth not being able to [[BreakTheHaughty give stuck-up jerks what-for]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hurricanes}}'': Napper Thompson inherited his uncle's fortune on the condition that he never plays soccer (the uncle disapproved of Napper's career as a soccer player) ever again. The next heir's identity is kept secret and two people hoped to be the next heir: another relative and the uncle's business partner. Once Napper lost the inheritance, it went to [[spoiler: the uncle's valet.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', Gusteau stipulated in his will that, if no heir of his claims his restaurant within the first two years after his death, it'll go to his Sous-Chef Skinner.

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* An ad for a men's clothing store had an old woman's video will bequeath a substantial fortune to her grandson, but only if he starts to dress nicer. He goes to the store being advertised and buys a stylish new wardrobe and returns to the lawyer's office [[spoiler: to find his still-living grandmother waiting for him. She just wanted him to improve his fashion sense.]]

* The (male) protagonist of ''VisualNovel/OtobokuMaidensAreFallingForMe'' is required to attend an all-girls' boarding school to inherit his grandfather's estate.
* In episode nineteen of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', the heir to the gigantic company Atlas Group must go around the world in 80 hours in order to successfully inherit it. And planes are specifically off-limits.
** Which is just about impossible, given that this would require traveling at roughly 300 mph, which most land or sea vehicles can't do, and even those that can have to do it in controlled conditions where they won't be crashing into people who aren't driving vehicles that go that fast.

** ''Manga/ChouKuseNiNarisou'': Nagisa actually enjoys the martial arts, but also wishes to be free to continue as an IdolSinger.
* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', the weird head of the wealthy Ushiromiya family leaves an enormous fortune in gold to anyone who can solve a strange riddle. The catch is that the riddle describes the ritual to revive the witch who supposedly gave him the gold, and ''someone's'' killing off everyone on the island in accordance with it.
* In ''Manga/HanaukyoMaidTeam'' (both series), Ryuuka Jihiyou's grandfather told her she'd succeed him as the head of the Jihiyou family if she marries the head of the Hanaukyo family, Taro Hanaukyo. Despite not (initially) liking Taro, she has no qualms about fulfilling said condition. However, Taro told her he didn't know her enough to know if he'd like to be her husband or not. In order to get him to know her, she decides to become one of his several maids.
* The ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/PokemonS1E48HolyMatrimony Holy Matrimony!]]" has Jessie, Meowth, and the "twerps" learning that James came from a wealthy family. Not wanting [[ArrangedMarriage to marry the woman they wanted him to]] (who happens to look ''exactly'' like Jessie), he ran away from home and joined Team Rocket. In that episode, James' parents have mysteriously died and their butler states that, unless James gets married within the next 24 hours, their fortune would go to charity... which he is completely fine with, since he figures it's all an elaborate ruse anyway. It's Jessie and Meowth that force him into the marriage before it's revealed that he was right, and that his parents [[FakingTheDead faked their deaths]] in order to coerce him.
* The setup for ''Literature/TheMysticArchivesOfDantalian'' is this. The protagonist inherits a huge mansion and everything in it from his father; naturally, "everything in it" includes [[LivingMacGuffin Dalian]], who is a talented DoomMagnet (and also a bit of a pest).

* One [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ComicBook/JimmyOlsen story used the ''Brewster's Millions'' plot with Jimmy being required to squander a certain amount of money in a limited amount of time, only for all of his attempts to do so just ending up increasing his wealth.
** Another story in Action Comics revolves around this. Naturally, there's a twist to it...
** ''World's Finest Comics'' Issue #99: In "Batman's Super-Spending Spree", Franchise/{{Batman}} suddenly decided to invest one million dollars on seemingly bad ideas; Franchise/{{Superman}}'s interference leads to him not only getting his investments back but making a profit, to Batman's dismay. After preventing some crooks' attempt to steal the money, their leader finally explains what's really happening: an eccentric millionaire named Carl Verril, in an effort to get his son Vincent to learn to respect money, bequeathed one million dollars to him on the condition that he spend it all in four days without investing more than one hundred thousand dollars on any one purchase and without making any money. If he does so, he gets ten million dollars. If he doesn't, Carl's nephew Larry gets the ten million. Unfortunately, the very night Vincent was informed of the terms of his father's will, he needed an emergency operation and couldn't spend the money by himself, so he made a deal with Batman: Batman does the spending for him and, in return, Vincent will donate nine million dollars for charity and keep only one million for himself. The lawyer accepted the idea on the condition that Batman never tells anyone why he needs to spend the million dollars. Larry then hired some thugs to steal the money so it won't be spent. After learning all of this, Superman helps Batman by selling him ten trophies of Superman's past adventures for one hundred thousand dollars each -- receiving the full million in total. Which he promptly donates to charity.

** In ''Die 13 Trilliarden Erbschaft'', Scrooge has been missing for so long he's been declared dead. As soon as Donald and Gladstone are informed Scrooge left his fortune to them, they hurry to spend it without listening to the rest of the will. Huey, Dewey, and Louie read it and find out Scrooge, not wanting his nephews to squander his fortune, set a condition preventing them from inheriting his estate until they add one million dollars to it. By the time Donald and Gladstone are informed of that condition, they've already spent nearly that amount. Gladstone [[spoiler:decides to earn that money by selling lottery tickets, offering Scrooge's fortune as the first prize and buying a ticket so he can win. He does win but Scrooge turns out to be alive and is upset that the extra money caused the money bin to collapse. He's entertaining the idea of changing the will to include Huey, Dewey, and Louie as beneficiaries.]]
* One story of ''[[ComicBook/MonicasGang The Cavern Clan]]'' featured Pitheco (Piteco) learning his uncle died and left him ten million bucks (Which was [[UnexpectedInheritance unexpected]] since Pitheco didn't even know his uncle became rich) on the condition that he gets married. He then decided to marry Tooga (Thuga), since the other options were not so attractive. When he was about to get married, the will's executors showed up to tell him that they found out his uncle had secretly got married and left a widow and three kids. Pitheco would only inherit twenty bucks, provided he still gets married. Pitheco promptly declared he'd never change his life for so little. Hurt by this, Tooga hit him and left in tears. The executors then gave Pitheco a letter where his uncle told him he made that will hoping Pitheco would get married and enjoy the life of a family man. Pitheco then commented that now he knew the biggest prize he lost.
* In one ComicBook/ArchieComics story, a wealthy alumnus of Riverdale High dies and leaves the school a large sum--provided they win a baseball game with Central. The alumnus was never able to beat the team during his time, and he wanted to 'inspire a victory'. The executor of the will, his granddaughter, even remarked on how stupid the whole thing was, but there you were. While the boys' team loses to Central, Betty points out that the will doesn't say ''which'' team needs to beat Central, and Riverdale gets its money when the girls' team wins.

* In ''[[Literature/TheTrollsDaughter The Troll's Daughter]]'', the troll's daughter makes a plan to allow her suitor to free her. She advises the hero to enter the service of a king who owes her father money. When the debt is almost due, he is to offer to lend his master the sum on the condition that he goes on the visit dressed as a jester and does anything he wants. Having no recourse, the king is happy to agree.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic
** In "Harry Prongs Tatum", James Potter's father only allowed James to inherit a part of the Potter fortune. Most of it would only be released if James fulfilled several conditions. Since Voldemort didn't allow James to live long enough, Harry will inherit that money if ''he'' fulfills the conditions.
** "Heir of Prince": Eileen Prince (Severus Snape's mother) disappointed her family for marrying a muggle. Her father then left the Prince Family's fortune (and the title of Head of the Prince Family) to her son with the stipulation that, if Severus sires a son whose mother is a pureblood, the son will inherit once he becomes seventeen years old.

** In [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13802539/2/Breaking-binds-and-living-free Chapter 2]] of "Breaking Binds and Living Free", it's revealed that James and Lily bequeathed Albus Dumbledore 300,000 galleons on the condition that Dumbledore didn't send Harry to the Dursleys. Because Dumbledore sent Harry to the Dursleys, he won't inherit more than 30 knuts.

* A variant of this is what provides the conflict for the plot of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2''. Woody is stolen by a greedy toy collector named Al, discovering that he was once the main character of a popular 1950s western-puppet TV series called ''Woody's Roundup'', and Al plans on selling him and the rest of the collection of dolls based on the main characters (Jessie the cowgirl, Stinky Pete the prospector, and Bullseye the horse) to a famous toy museum in Tokyo, Japan for a huge profit. Woody originally wishes to escape back to Andy immediately, but the only problem is that the museum is only willing to buy the collection if he, the main character and most valuable piece, is in it. Therefore if Woody leaves, not only will the other pieces of the collection not be able to get into the museum, but also will be returned into storage, likely forever. Woody finally comes up with an alternative, [[spoiler:bringing Jessie and Bullseye home with him, while Stinky Pete ends up in a different home, finding himself to be much happier now that he's being loved and played with.]]

* ''Film/BrewstersMillions1985'': Monty Brewster will inherit $300 million only if he can spend $30 million within a single month -- without accumulating anything that might be considered as an asset. He can hire anybody and pay them whatever he wants but has to receive actual value in return. He can't give away more than 5% and he can't lose more than 5% gambling. (Which [[SpringtimeForHitler backfires]], as one of his insane long-shot bets intended to just squander money ends up ''winning''.) He can't destroy anything inherently valuable (no buying a dozen Picassos and using them as firewood, though he does buy a valuable stamp and ''use'' it as actual postage, getting it stamped as canceled). Ultimately, he decides on [[spoiler:running a political campaign... encouraging voters to vote "None of the Above", since winning the actual office would be an asset, and both the other candidates were jackasses. The campaign succeeds (and the jackasses he was running against, seeing the writing on the wall, decide not to stand for the follow-up election), but he comes up short by $100,000. Right before the time limit runs out, one of his relatives contests the will. Monty hires his love interest to defend him in the case... paying her a $100,000 retainer.]]

* Creator/WilliamCastle's "B" horror film ''Film/HouseOnHauntedHill1959'' has the spending-the-night-in-a-haunted-house version. However, in this case, the millionaire in question (played by Creator/VincentPrice) isn't dead or dying, just highly eccentric. [[spoiler: And it's all part of an EvilPlan to murder his wife.]]
** [[spoiler: His wife is also using the party as part of her own EvilPlan to murder him.]]
* Dave Coulier in the [[ChristmasMoviesIndex Christmas movie]] ''Film/TheFamilyHoliday''. His uncle leaves him ten million dollars on the condition that Dave must prove that he is married, has a family, and is working a legitimate job. He scams his best friend into getting him a job at a novelty toy factory, hires a brother/sister pair of runaways, and tricks a recently laid-off tutor into working for him but doesn't tell her that she's supposed to be his "wife" or the kids' "mom". HilarityEnsues. [[spoiler: Of course, Dave earns his inheritance. However, his uncle knew that Dave would lie to get the money, and so the executor of the estate--his uncle's 2nd wife, set up this elaborate ruse complete with social workers and cops, to make sure that Dave really cared about others. He is given the check but he rips it up. Only after he marries the tutor, gets the kids formally adopted, and keeps his job at the factory, his step-aunt gives him the money.]]
* The Creator/BusterKeaton movie ''Film/SevenChances'' (1925) has Buster inheriting seven million dollars if he marries before 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which just happens to be that very day...
* In ''Film/TheRichestCatInTheWorld'', a millionaire named Oscar Kohlmeyer left his cat five million dollars and, in a failed attempt to discourage his nephew from contesting the will, left the nephew twenty-five thousand dollars on the condition the nephew doesn't contest it. Unfortunately, the nephew was a [[HenpeckedHusband pushover]] whose wife forced him to contest [[spoiler: and [[NeverMyFault blamed]] him for losing the twenty-five thousand dollars]].
* Kevin Manley, the protagonist of ''Film/KevinOfTheNorth'', was named his Grandfather's sole heir on the condition that he enters the yearly Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and makes it to the finish line, all of it before one year has passed from his Grandfather's death. Interested in the Grandfather's gold, Clive Thornton, the lawyer who read the will, tried to make sure Kevin would fail. [[spoiler: Kevin not only made it to the finish but also won the race.]]
* A [[Film/TheThreeStooges Three Stooges]] short, ''[[Recap/TheThreeStoogesBridelessGroom Brideless Groom]]'', featured Shemp trying to get married on short notice to satisfy the must-be-married clause in an inheritance. HilarityEnsues when the ceremony is crashed in unison by his ex-girlfriends when they hear about the money.
** A condensed version of ''Brideless Groom'', complete with footage, was reused in ''Husbands Beware'', except this time, there was no relative and no will and the whole thing was revenge by Larry and Moe on Shemp for getting them married to his sisters.

* The 1973 BlackComedy ''Arnold'' has a GoldDigger who marries the eponymous man -- despite his being ''dead'' -- and inherits his money as a stipend provided she stays by the corpse (embalmed, in an open coffin). Much of the film is taken up with Arnold's greedy relatives [[TenLittleMurderVictims being killed off]] in... ''[[CoolAndUnusualPunishment creative]]'' ways.
* In ''Film/TheOldDarkHouse1963'', the Femm family's pirate ancestor, wanting to make sure that no one in his family would turn to piracy like he did, deemed in his will that each member his family is required return to their ancestral home by midnight, or they'll forfeit their share of their ancestor's fortune. The will also forbids the house's sale; the only way to break its conditions without losing the money is for the house to be destroyed, and it was specifically constructed to make this impossible (the walls are built of ''basalt'', so nothing short of a volcanic eruption could bring the place down).
* In the 2016 Brazilian comedy ''Tô Ryca!''[[note]]Another adaptation of Brewster's Millions[[/note]], the plot is centered on [[RagsToRiches Selminha]] attempting to fulfill [[SillyWill the challenge of her dead relative's will]] in order to get the fortune: spending 30 million in 30 days, without accumulating any and not telling anyone. After the ending, we see a recording from said dead relative, in which he brings up "the reason behind that challenge". [[TheUnreveal But then]] [[HisNameIs he starts a coughing fit before he can say it]], [[GainaxEnding and then]] the [[CrosscastRole actress]] just [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks character]].
* ''Film/GleahanAndTheKnavesOfIndustry:'' A variant. Nathaniel [[spoiler:promises the Johnson Brewing and Mining Company to Derek if he can capture Gleahan.]]
* ''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020'': According to promotional material, Cecelia must prove herself mentally sane in order to inherit the money her ex-boyfriend Adrian Griffin left her. [[spoiler:A condition she cannot fulfill because Griffin, the titular invisible man and a [[ControlFreak manipulative]] {{Yandere}}, makes her look paranoid with his relentless campaign of terror in the hopes that if she is legally declared crazy and penniless she will have no choice but to depend on him again.]]
* In ''Film/CurseOfTheHeadlessHorseman'', there is a codicil to Uncle Callahan's will that says Mark must make the ranch financially successful with six months in order for him to retain possession of it.

** In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' episode ''A Night of Fright is No Delight'', Scooby is one of five heirs to Colonel Beauregard Sanders, and each heir gets an equal portion of the fortune on the condition they spend the night in the colonel's mansion. The caveat: it's haunted. The gang manages to solve the case -- as you'd expect, the lawyers got creative with -- and Scooby wins by default... except it's all Confederate bills (once backed by a government but now that government ''doesn't exist''). Confederate banknotes are worth a ''lot'' of money to historical collectors. This never occurred to the writers, nor the Scooby Gang, who treat it as a total loss.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', "The Honking": Bender inherits a fortune left by his Uncle Vlad, on the condition he spends the night in Vlad's creepy haunted mansion and that he isn't responsible for Vlad's death. As Bender flees the mansion in terror, he gets run-over by a "werecar" and catches an odd form of robot-lycanthropy.
** The trope itself is briefly parodied in the episode. When Bender learns he's inherited the castle, his first reaction is, "Cool! Let's stay there tonight!" Upon being told that he has to stay there the night to receive the inheritance, this becomes, "Aw, man, we have to stay in some musty old castle?"

'''Sam's robot:''' Oh, yeah? No earth robot is going to tell me which button I can't press. I'm [[IncrediblyLamePun a-pressin'.]] (''press button; gets clobbered by mallet protruding from Bugs' robot'')

'''Sam's robot:''' I'll show you what's up. (''pulls ray gun'') You're coming with me.\\

** ''WesternAnimation/FromHareToHeir'' uses both the "humiliating restrictions" and "murder" plots together. A broke Yosemite Sam inherits a large lump sum of cash on the condition that he will lose a percentage of it each time he loses his temper. As the amount left inevitably dwindles due to his famous hair-trigger rage, he tries to kill off the executor of the will who's been making all the deductions before it's all gone (namely, WesternAnimation/BugsBunny). In the end, Sam tries to pitch an image of calmness by having his servants hit him without him getting angry at them for this and Bugs decides to have some fun and not tell Sam he had already lost all the inheritance by then.

** The later film ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMeetsTheBooBrothers'' has Shaggy inherit a mansion and estate, complete with the money to hold it for a lifetime, from his uncle Beauregard (no relation to the character from the aforementioned episode). The mansion is haunted, the local hicks enjoy shooting at anyone related to Beauregard, the creepy butler feels entitled to Shaggy's inherited fortune, and the colonel hid said fortune -- a king's ransom worth of family jewels -- somewhere on the estate, hidden behind a treasure hunt that he creates for Shaggy to solve. The ghost exterminators that Shaggy calls, the Boo Brothers, turn out to be a trio of ghosts themselves (with the personalities and competence levels of TheThreeStooges), and although the film's villain was impersonating most of the ghosts, the haunting by the colonel was real. Not to mention that there was an escaped circus gorilla running around as well as a wild bear on the property. In the end, Shaggy puts the family jewels in a trust fund for orphans and gives the mansion to the Boo Brothers.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' episode "Holy Matrimony" had Jessie, Meowth, and the "twerps" learning that James came from a wealthy family. Not wanting [[ArrangedMarriage to marry the woman they wanted him to]] (who happens to look ''exactly'' like Jessie), he ran away from home and joined Team Rocket. In that episode, James' parents have mysteriously died and their butler states that, unless James gets married within the next 24 hours, their fortune would go to charity... which he is completely fine with, since he figures it's all an elaborate ruse anyway. It's Jessie and Meowth that force him into the marriage before it's revealed that he was right, and that his parents [[FakingTheDead faked their deaths]] in order to coerce him.
* The setup for ''LightNovel/TheMysticArchivesOfDantalian'' is this. The protagonist inherits a huge mansion and everything in it from his father; naturally, "everything in it" includes [[LivingMacGuffin Dalian]], who is a talented DoomMagnet (and also a bit of a pest).

* In ''LightNovel/NakaimoMyLittleSisterIsAmongThem'', Shougo Mikadono's father was the leader of a large business conglomerate but has now died and left in his will that Shougo inherits the fortune left behind. The catch is that he has to go to a certain school to meet a suitable wife. While that in itself isn't a big deal, in the first episode a girl talks to him through a high window and claims to be his biological sister. She says she's going to marry him, also attends the same school, and to make matters worse, she [[StalkerWithACrush won't reveal who she is!]] So poor Shougo has to figure out which of the many girls clamoring over him is his sister, so as to avoid marrying her. [[spoiler:It's ultimately revealed in the light novels (the anime ended before that point since the novels had yet to finish) that they're NotBloodSiblings -- while Konoe, the girl who'd spoken to him, is indeed Kumagoro Mikadono's biological daughter, Shougo is ''not'' Kumagoro's biological son. Consequently, they can safely have a relationship.]]

** ''Literature/MovingPictures'' possibly as a reference to ''Literature/DoorwaysInTheSand'' (see above). Victor is left a large yearly sum while he is at the Unseen University studying to become a wizard with the caveat that he never scores under 80% on his exams, to ensure that he actually tries. However, Victor very carefully scores above 80 but too low to pass, to avoid having to deal with the stress and danger of being a full wizard (and the fact that the bequest ends once he graduates). The wizards eventually catch on (the time he passed and told the university he'd actually got a question wrong was a hint), and give him an exam with only one question: What is your name? [[spoiler:Victor winds up leaving the university and not taking the test anyway; he heads off to Holy Wood instead.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseWorks'': A MickeyMouse story mixed this with ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays''. Mickey must show punctuality in order to inherit his Uncle's fortune. Scrooge [=McDuck=], executor of the will, demands Mickey to do the around the world travel. Otherwise, Scrooge gets the money.

* In the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' movie, Expiration Date, Spy agrees to help Scout land a date with Miss Pauling, but under one condition. Scout has to admit over the intercom that Spy is better than him.

[[folder: Fairy Tales]]

* A variant of this is what provides the conflict for the plot of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2''. Woody is stolen by a greedy toy collector named Al, discovering that he was once the main character of a popular 1950s western-puppet TV series called ''Woody's Roundup'', and Al plans on selling him and the rest of the collection of dolls based on the main characters (Jessie the cowgirl, Stinky Pete the prospector, and Bullseye the horse) to a famous toy museum in Tokyo, Japan for a huge profit. Woody originally wishes to escape back to Andy immediately, but the only problem is that the museum is only willing to buy the collection if he, the main character and most valuable piece, is in it. Therefore if Woody leaves, not only will the other pieces of the collection not be able to get into the museum, but also will be returned into storage, likely forever. Woody finally comes up with an alternative, [[spoiler:bringing Jessie and Bullseye home with him, while Stinky Pete ends up in a different home, finding himself to be much happier now that he's being loved and played with.]]

* One sketch of ''Series/OsTrapalhões'' featured a woman who could only claim the inheritance her Grandfather left her if her husband were with her while she claimed it. Because he was missing and the lawyer knows what he looks like, she tried to deceive the lawyer with someone who looks like her husband.

** And then Fred finds out one important fact about dear uncle Giggles. [[spoiler:He's not dead yet. The whole thing was a prank -- the ''real'' condition was to see if Fred had a sense of humor like his uncle's. "Well," says Fred as he [[SlasherSmile smiles evilly]] at his uncle, "I happen to be a bit of a kook myself..." He then pulls a large weapon of his own on Giggles and proceeds to chase him and his servants around as he adds, "Not rich, but still a kook!"]]

** And then Fred finds out one important fact about dear uncle Giggles. [[spoiler:He's not dead yet. The whole thing was a prank -- the ''real'' condition was to see if Fred had a sense of humor like his uncle's. "Well," says Fred as he [[SlasherSmile smiles evilly]] at his uncle, "I happen to be a bit of a kook myself..." He then pulls a large weapon of his own on Giggles and proceeds to chase him around as he adds, "Not rich, but still a kook!"]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' episode "A Haunted House Is Not A Home", Fred inherits money and a mansion from his eccentric uncle Giggles Flintstone. But, to receive it, he must spend one night in the mansion or he will be disinherited. And, if he dies, the inheritance goes to the butler, cook, and gardener, all of whom are wielding large weapons...

* In ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke and the Ballad of the Daltons'', the Dalton Brothers (Joe, William, Jack, and Averell) were informed that their Uncle Henry Dalton left them their money on the condition that [[RageAgainstTheLegalSystem they kill the judge and the jury that sentenced him to be hanged]]. Unfortunately, for the Daltons, Uncle Henry also demanded that the Daltons brought Lucky Luke as a witness to confirm the fulfillment of the condition. While the other Daltons were trying to contain the enraged Joe Dalton upon hearing this, the lawyer who informed them of Uncle Henry's death told them that, if they fail, the money will go to charity. [[spoiler:The Daltons agreed to offer Lucky Luke a share of the inheritance in exchange from his help (they were planning to kill him afterwards). Lucky Luke tricked the Daltons into thinking he'd agreed while he actually helped their targets to [[FakingTheDead fake their deaths]]. At the end, when the Daltons thought they were about to get the money, they actually met the judge and the jurors ready to convict them for the murder attempts with Lucky Luke as witness. The Daltons were sent back to prison and Uncle Henry's money went to the Henry Dalton Foundation, which took care of orphans]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MillionaireDogs'': Subverted. The pets lose the inheritance if they leave Miss Lily's house for more than 48 hours in a row but the condition was imposed by the law rather than her will.

* A deleted scene in ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'' explains how Frederick inherited the estate of his very distant and disliked great-grandfather: said Baron Frankenstein had left his estate to his much closer relatives, naming each of them specifically, to be divided up evenly, unless Frederick had of his own choosing become a doctor and achieved some esteem in his field. As this had indeed happened, all the money and property went to him. The idea was that the Baron wanted to give his inheritance to someone who would have some chance of erasing the stain on his family name. Baron Frankenstein left instructions to prevent his will's contents from being disclosed until a hundred years after he was born, meaning Frederick had until then to fulfill the condition.
* The 1973 BlackComedy ''Arnold'' has a GoldDigger who marries the eponymous man-- despite his being ''dead''-- and inherits his money as a stipend provided she stays by the corpse (embalmed, in an open coffin). Much of the film is taken up with Arnold's greedy relatives [[TenLittleMurderVictims being killed off]] in... ''[[CoolAndUnusualPunishment creative]]'' ways.