History Main / Will

Sometimes, everyone knows where the will is, and they can get straight on with reading it. Other time, it is hidden, accidentally or on purpose. It might have been posted to Outer Mongolia by mistake, or it might have been hidden to keep the villains from realising that the will in their favour had been revoked. There is usually a deadline the will has to be found by.

** The Willis' family law firm frequently deals with wills. This often [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] Bill's absences from some of the novels, in whole or in part, while he rewrites wills for [[InadequateInheritors fussy clients who find their heirs unacceptable]] or negotiates disputes between heirs after a will is read. Bill's job also supplies the premise for ''Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday''.

* Wills make frequent appearances in the ''AuntDimity''series:

* ''{{Discworld}}'':

** [[PetHeir Leaving the money to the cat]] was used by a nasty old man in ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', who cackled that this would not only stick it to his [[InadequateInheritor greedy descendents]], it would encourage the lazy moggie to start running...

** [[PetHeir Leaving the money to the cat]] was used by a nasty old man in ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', who cackled that this would not only stick it to his [[InadequateInherotor greedy relatives]], it would encourage the lazy moggie to start running...

** Leaving the money to the cat was used by a nasty old man in ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', who cackled that this would not only stick it to his greedy relatives, it would encourage the lazy moggie to start running...

* The ''{{Discworld}}'' book ''Making Money'' sees Moist von Lipwig left a dog by the owner of Ankh-Morpork's bank... a dog that, in turn, was left ''the bank''. And along with the dog is a warning that if Moist doesn't care for the dog, or if the dog dies prematurely, the Guild of Assassins will come for his head. (This is a good thing for Moist, in fact, since his having a contigent contract on his life means that the Guild won't accept another one from the late owner's greedy relatives.)

* In ''StarTrekEnterprise'' just before the crew is set to go into a very dangerous mission we find Dr. Phlox doing a very long and lengthy will to his extended family. He explains that he enjoys the thought of his friends and family getting something pleasurable and remembering him after he's gone.

* ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' has [[McGuffin Marvin Acme's will]], which was hidden. ([[HiddenInPlainSight In plain sight]], as a matter of fact.)

* ''{{Series/Mash}}'': During a posting to an aid station at the front Hawkeye makes out a will. One of the soldiers who works there says he's seen lots of guys do that.

* In {{Shadowrun}}, upon the death of the Great Dragon Dunkelzahn, his entire hoard was divided in the most ridiculously convoluted will in history, with bequests ranging from the practical to the symbolic to the absurd (including the largest bequest: over thirteen billion dollars to repay the one gold coin, "accounting for inflation and interest," that Art Dankwalther's ancestor had lent Dunkelzahn in the Fourth Age). It was so extreme that a MegaCorp, the Draco Foundation, was set up just to manage the will. All of this, of course, was related to the dragon's monumental GambitRoulette to prepare the world to defeat the [[EldritchAbomination Horrors]] when they showed up again.

[[WMG:Finding the will.]]

* CharlesDickens's ''Bleak House'' revolves around a long-running legal case over a will. How long-running? Entire generations of descendants of the original litigants have been born, lived, and died ''before the novel begins''. We never learn what the dispute originally was, by the time of the novel nobody ''remembers'' what it was, and the ultimate conclusion is that legal costs have consumed the entire estate, so nobody gets anything.

** Sirius Black, Harry's godfather leaves him his entire estate.

** Whether Harry's parents had wills is unknown, but he does inherit both of their entire estates as well -- assuming the Wizarding world works the same way the real world does, it's reasonable that any belongings which were not destroyed or left in the care of someone else with instructions about its disposal were sold and the money from the sale added to their account at Gringott's.

* Several AgathaChristie stories revolved around hidden wills, and a series of cryptic clues that force the potential heirs to enlist the help of one of her detective characters.

* At least one TomAndJerry cartoon has Tom inheriting a great deal of money thanks to an eccentric owner, on the condition that he forfeits it all if he harms any living creature, even a mouse. Jerry then proceeds to be a total JerkAss throughout the cartoon, taking advantage of Tom and waving the telegram in his face to protect himself. Eventually Tom has enough and says "Gee, I'm giving up a million dollars...'''''BUT I'M HAPPY!!'''''" and finally giving Jerry the beating he deserves.
** In another TomAndJerry cartoon, Jerry wrote a will leaving Tom a custard pie. Eager to claim that inheritance, Tom happily yelled: "Lemme have it!" and the pie was thrown at his face.

If the will writer is a jerk, or worse, they'll use the threat of being cut out of the will to control the prospective heirs. 'Do as you're told, or you'll be out on the street without a penny to your name.' In the worst case, the children will be reduced to virtual slaves. The relatives may snap and kill the [[AssholeVictim will writer]], or they may suffer in silence, but either way, the will writer often has the last laugh, leaving their entire fortune to an ironic charity.

* In ''StarTrekEnterprise'' just before the crew is set to go into a very dangerous mission we find Dr. Flox doing a very long and lengthy will to his extended family. He explains that he enjoys the thought of his friends and family getting something pleasurable and remembering him after he's gone.
* In an episode of ''MarriedWithChildren'', Al Bundy's Uncle Stymie, the only male Bundy to be a success in life (Al credits this to the fact Stymie was the only one who never married), left his $500,000 estate to the first male Bundy to have a legitimate son named after him. Considering that the lawyer who read the will would later marry a male Bundy and give birth to Stymie Junior to get the money, Al and the other Bundys who didn't get the money [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot could have challenged the will under claims of undue influence]].

[[AC:Advertising]]
* One advert had every member of the family left some vast, beautiful piece of real estate, except for one son who gets 10 acres of swamp. We think he's the BlackSheep, until he whoops in delight - cut to him driving his SUV at top speed through the mud and branches.

* In the [[ExpandedUniverse supplemental material]] for ''TeamFortress2'', it is revealed that the driving force behind the ExcusePlot is the [[http://www.teamfortress.com/pumpkinpatch/the_last_will_and_testament_of_Zepheniah_Mann/ last will and testament of Zepheniah Mann]], arms manufacturer and proud owner of a continent worth of useless land and half the diseases known to man, the latter two caused by his layabout, brain defective sons, [[MeaningfulName Blutarch and Redmond]]. He leaves his arms company and personal estate to his personal tracker and nurse, respectively, and his sons get the crap land and a litany of insults.

* In {{Shadowrun}}, upon the death of the Great Dragon Dunkelzahn, his entire hoard was divided in the most ridiculously convoluted will in history, with bequests ranging from the practical to the symbolic to the absurd (including the largest bequest: over thirteen billion dollars to repay the one gold coin, "accounting for inflation and interest," that Art Dankwalther's ancestor had lent Dunkelzahn in the Fourth Age). It was so extreme that a MegaCorp, the Draco Foundation, was set up just to manage the will. All of this, of course, was related to the dragon's monumental XanatosRoulette to prepare the world to defeat the [[EldritchAbomination Horrors]] when they showed up again.

* In L. M. Montgomery's ''A Tangled Web'' eccentric Aunt Becky willed that the name of the heir of a priceless heirloom will only be disclosed a year after her death. Because the will dropped a few hints that a unknown judge would be selecting the heir, the family members spent the rest of the year trying their best to live up to what Aunt Becky would have wanted in an attempt to win the heirloom.

* In an episode of ''Married... With Children'', Al Bundy's Uncle Stymie, the only male Bundy to be a success in life (Al credits this to the fact Stymie was the only one who never married), left his $500,000 estate to the first male Bundy to have a legitimate son named after him. Considering that the lawyer who read the will would later marry a male Bundy and give birth to Stymie Junior to get the money, Al and the other Bundys who didn't get the money [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot could have challenged the will under claims of undue influence]].
* In ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' two-part episode ''10 Million Dollar Sheriff'', Rosco Coltrane believed he'd inherit ten million dollars from his uncle but it was later revealed that will was inaccurate and Rosco only inherited ten dollars. [[spoiler: Obviously, he only learned the truth after accumulating debts he relied on the ten-million-dollar inheritance to pay.]]
* ''{{MASH}}'': During a posting to an aid station at the front Hawkeye makes out a will. One of the soldiers who works there says he's seen lots of guys do that.

''I, the undersigned, being of sound mind, do hereby bequeath ...''

''Writing the will''

''Finding the will.''

''Reading the will''

''Challenging the will''

* In an episode of ''AmericanDad'', Stan manages to turn Francine against her adoptive parents by showing her their will, which says everything goes to their birth daughter Gwen. At the end of the episode, Francine's father explains his reasoning: Gwen is [[BrainlessBeauty a total idiot]] and needs all the help she can get, but Francine is intelligent, self-sufficient, and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming married a good man]], so they're not worried about her.

[[AC:{{Advertising}}]]
* A commercial for Red Bull involves a will reading in which a man leaves everything to his young, busty mistress. His elderly widow has a can of the energy drink, grows wings, and flies up to Heaven to berate her deceased husband.