History Main / SpitefulWill

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' fanfic, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13059509/1/The-Last-Will-And-Testament-Of-Arthur-Woodhouse The Last Will and Testament of Arthur Woodhouse]]'' both plays this trope straight and subverts it. The subversion comes from the other members of ISIS and Ron who receive rather pleasant things from Woodhouse following his demise. As for Malory and Archer (who is in a coma since this fic takes place after the season 7 finale), the former receives a huge confession that Woodhouse has been defrauding her while the latter receives a punch from the executor, though Archer technically qualifies as a subversion since, again, he's in a coma and absent from the will reading. Though Woodhouse does give Archer a PetTheDog part of his will by trying to tell him the identity of his biological father, but Malory, in a rage, destroys the will before this is said.

* In the 1952 ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story "Joker's Millions", later [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted]] as [[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE7JokersMillions an episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', the Joker inherits millions of dollars from recently deceased mob boss King Barlowe. Joker frivolously spends the money on everything he can think of and ends up owing a ton of back taxes. The real kicker comes in when he learns that only the first $10 million he inherited was real money, while the rest is CounterfeitCash, since Barlowe's last will was merely a huge gag at Joker's expense. Being the SoreLoser that he is, Joker reacts negatively to it, knowing that he'd either get jailed for tax evasion or become the ButtMonkey of Gotham by admitting that a dead man conned him.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' fanfic, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13059509/1/The-Last-Will-And-Testament-Of-Arthur-Woodhouse The Last Will and Testament of Arthur Woodhouse]]'' both plays this trope straight and subverts it. The subversion comes from the other members of ISIS and Ron who receive rather pleasant things from Woodhouse following his demise. As for Malory and Archer (who is in a coma since this fic takes place after the season 7 finale), the former receives a huge confession that Woodhouse has been defrauding her while the latter receives a punch from the executor, though Archer technically qualifies as a subversion since, again, he's in a coma and absent from the will reading. Though Woodhouse does give Archer a PetTheDog part of his will by trying to tell him the identity of his biological father, but Malory, in a rage, destroys the will before this is said.

:: In a case of realism in media, this then provokes a challenge from the disenfranchised heirs about Troy's mental competency (even though they went to great pains to prove his competency prior to him signing the will they liked) and the court battle to put the estate into probate is contentious at best, and the heirs [[TheBadGuyWins end up getting quite a bit of money anyway]].
* In ''Literature/{{Middlemarch}}'' elderly Edward Causabon says in his will that if his young wife marries his cousin after his death she gets cut out of his will (she turns out to have a small amount of money of her own).
* ''The Doctor's Case'', a Literature/SherlockHolmes pastiche by Creator/StephenKing, hinges on one; a rich man dies having recently threatened to change his will and leave everything to a cat shelter, but he died before the changes could be made, leaving the original will in place and the wife and sons all suspects in the murder. [[spoiler: They all were involved to some extent, but he was such an AssholeVictim that Holmes and Watson let them get away with it.]]

* A deliciously spiteful one is the plot of [[https://youtu.be/Wt5VtU6kq1E this]]''Series/StudioC'' sketch. How spiteful is it? See for yourself.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S5E25TheMasks The Masks]]", a dying millionaire changes his will to force his heirs to wear hideous masks for one night or be disinherited, while he himself wears a death's-head mask. He gleefully informs each of them how his or her mask embodies that heir's individual character flaws. The heirs complain, but each is driven by {{greed}} to keep the masks on. At the end of the night [[spoiler:the millionaire is dead of natural causes and all the heirs' faces [[BecomingTheCostume have been transformed to the shape of their mask]]]].
* One episode of ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'' opens with Jennifer dating an older man who suddenly dies in the middle of dinner. As executrix of his will, she reluctantly attends his will reading which is done via videotape and he gratuitously insults his relatives. The relatives expect him to leave everything to Jennifer (in which case they plan to contest it), but in fact he only leaves her one dollar (the first he made). The rest he instructs Jennifer to spend on a parade to honour veterans of his old Army regiment.
* In the ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode "[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS03E03DennisAndDeesMomIsDead Dennis and Dee's Mom is Dead]]", Dennis and Dee's mother and Frank's ex-wife Barbra left her family a will in the event of her death (having [[KarmicDeath died during a botched neck-lift]]). She leaves [[ParentalFavoritism Dennis]] with the lavish family mansion as long as Frank is not allowed anywhere near it and her lover (and the actual father of Dennis and Dee) Bruce Mathis gets her half of the settlement, while leaving Frank (whose fortune she laundered, being the GoldDigger that she is) and Dee ([[AbusiveParent who she views as "a disappointment and a mistake", despite being twins with Dennis]]) absolutely nothing. She even asks to be buried with her jewelry, showing the kind of person she was.

* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'': In the first ExpandedUniverse novel, ''Gin and Daggers'', murder victim Marjorie Ainsworth uses her will to insult several of her heirs, including leaving a massive debt to her sister and brother-in-law (apparently he'd spent a great deal of her money at certain establishments and now she wants him to pay the bills they sent her with his own funds), and claiming that several of her associates involved in publishing her works in both Britain and the U.S. had been stealing a portion of her royalties. It's subverted for her niece (and primary caretaker) and Jessica Fletcher, who both receive compliments and large sums from her.

* ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'': After Claudia, the ex-wife of Angie's brother, dies, she announces in a video will that she'll be handing control of Veronica's inheritance over to a trustee who will determine when she is responsible enough to control it. She asks [[BaitAndSwitch Vic to step forward...and tells him to kiss George's ass, choosing George as the trustee]].

* ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'': After Luna's mother died as a result of trying to gaslight Luna into commiting suicide as part of some sort of insurance scam (Lord Seigfried's first major PetTheDog moment being the panel where he [[OffWithHisHead beheads her with a longsword]] soon after finding out what she's up to), she left her nothing in the will.

* Can't get any more spiteful than King Barlow in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Joker's Millions", who uses his last will and testament to play a [[ThanatosGambit cruel prank]] on the Joker (Which is safer than doing so alive, actually). He officially wills the Joker $250 million in cash, but only 10 million of it is real money- the rest is counterfeit. After Joker goes on a massive spending binge, he finds a VideoWill outlying the problem; The Joker needs to pay inheritance tax for the official amount, and if he reveals the ruse, he'll never be able to live it down.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** In the episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS9E4BestFriendsForever Best Friends Forever]]", after some fond words toward Stan and Kyle, Kenny's will laments that he never liked Cartman, whom he expects will likely die alone due to his LackOfEmpathy. However, unlike standard examples, Kenny does hand Cartman the desired inheritance of a games console, if only out of pity.
** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS5E6Cartmanland Cartmanland]]", Cartman inherits one million dollars from a relative who chose him as her beneficiary because she believed her other relatives would spend her money on crack.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS2E1PeterPeterCaviarEater Peter Peter Caviar Eater]]", Lois' late Aunt Margarite has a rather lavish ''Series/LifestylesOfTheRichAndFamous''- style video will, and, [[ObnoxiousInLaws like the rest of Lois' family]], doesn't turn down the chance to pick a bone with Peter:
-->'''Aunt Margarite:''' Lois, you were always my favorite niece; I just knew you would find a wonderful man who would make all your dreams come true. [[BaitAndSwitchComment But I was wrong.]]\\
'''Peter:''' ''[watching present day]'' And now you're dead. Score one for Peter.

* When Grandpa Phil is convinced he's dying in a day in ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', he actually does a rare pre-mortem reading of his own will, seemingly wanting to be alive to see the looks on his tenants' faces when he tells them they're getting squat from him.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "[[Recap/BobsBurgersS8E20MissionImposslugble Mission Impos-slug-ble]]", Bob is asked to do the eulogy for Harry, the man who used to supply his pickles. Bob thinks it's a mistake since they were on bad terms after he angrily threw a pickle at Harry's face during an argument. After the eulogy, Harry's lawyer throws a pickle at Bob and said "Now we're even", as stipulated in Harry's will.

--> '''Duke''': To my ex-wife I leave ''zilch''! ...Nah, she deserves more than that. Custody of my ''diddley-squad!''

* On year into his marriage, [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfHanover King George IV]] made a will leaving his estate to his former [[CommonLawMarriage common-law wife]] Maria Fitzherbert, while setting aside a single shilling for his hated legal wife Princess Caroline. The will never came into effect; the King eventually denounced Maria while Caroline predeceased him.

* Radio/TheFrantics' "Last Will and Temperament" skit takes the form of a will reading which consists of everyone present being called out on their flaws and receiving a "boot to the head" (except the lawyer reading the will, who instead is bequeathed a rabid Tasmanian devil placed in his trousers). He leaves his fortune of ten million to the people of Ontario... [[WretchedHive so they can move somewhere nicer]].

* Radio/TheFrantics' "Last Will and Temperament" skit takes the form of a will reading which consists of everyone present being called out on their flaws and receiving a "boot to the head" (except the lawyer reading the will, who instead is bequeathed a rabid Tasmanian devil placed in his trousers).

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E145TheMasks The Masks]]", a dying millionaire changes his will to force his heirs to wear hideous masks for one night or be disinherited, while he himself wears a death's-head mask. He gleefully informs each of them how his or her mask embodies that heir's individual character flaws. The heirs complain, but each is driven by {{greed}} to keep the masks on. At the end of the night [[spoiler:the millionaire is dead of natural causes and all the heirs' faces [[BecomingTheCostume have been transformed to the shape of their mask]]]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS9E4BestFriendsForever Best Friends Forever]]", after some fond words toward Stan and Kyle, Kenny's will laments that he never liked Cartman, whom he expects will likely die alone due to his LackOfEmpathy. However, unlike standard examples, Kenny does hand Cartman the desired inheritance of a games console, if only out of pity.

While they may exist in RealLife to a certain extent ([[LoopholeAbuse there's no rule]] preventing you from leaving anything to someone you don't like, after all -- or least that's the case in some jurisdictions, so always check your local laws), the absurd degrees of spite that fictional examples tend to show would probably lead to a court hearing under the reasoning that ''this'' is not something a person of "sound mind" would place in a legal document.