Basic Trope: A wealthy character leaves their fortune to someone unexpected.
- Straight: When Eccentric Millionaire Duke Allerton dies, he bequeaths his entire estate not to his children or grandchildren, but to his loyal butler.
- Exaggerated: Duke Allerton leaves his everything he owns to his pet goldfish, while leaving absolutely nothing for his family, friends and loyal servants.
- Downplayed:
- Duke Allerton divides his wealth between his family, but the one who receives the most is actually his adopted son, rather than his biological children.
- Duke Allerton has a massive fortune. He leaves enough for each of his children to not have to worry about their next meal or adequate housing, but the vast majority is sent to a charity in the hands of an outside executor.
- Justified:
- Duke Allerton's children are all lazy, unemployed layabouts who are only relying on their father's wealth to coast through life. Duke Allerton wants them to start growing into productive members of the society by giving them no money.
- Duke Allerton knew his children were cruel, malicious, scheming snakes who have caused him and everyone around them pain and suffering. Denying them money is the only way to ensure they no longer have power over others.
- Duke Allerton owes a life debt to his butler, but never got the chance to pay him back.
- Inverted: Duke Allerton is Secretly Wealthy, and none of his family expect to inherit anything valuable from him. They are very surprised to learn that they've inherited millions of dollars worth of cash and assets.
- Subverted: The will first read by the lawyer turns out to have been forged by the butler. Or, it's an obsolete version that is no longer valid. In the final, real will, Duke's children does inherit money.
- Double Subverted: In the new will, Duke's children inherits a total of 1/10th of his numerous assets. The remainder of his wealth is donated to a local orphanage.
- Parodied: Duke Allerton is a poor man, and the only fortune he has is his comic book collections, worth a meager $1000 in total, which he leaves to his geeky neighbour, Ned. His children reacts with as much shock and indignation as if Duke had passed billions over them, even though they are all wealthier than their father.
- Zig Zagged: Duke Allerton has rewritten his wills enough times to fill a library, and each has extremely different contents (e.g. in one, it leaves his entire wealth to his butler, another version divides his estates equally between his children, another donates half to a local country club and leaves the rest to his nephew, etc.). The final version of his will, however, divides his fortune between his household staff, his estranged sister who lives in the opposite side of the globe, and his grandchildren, while leaving none to his actual children.
- Averted: Duke Allerton didn't write a will, so his estate are divided by the government authorities.
- Invoked:
- While writing his will, Duke Allerton expresses his distaste for his own children, and denouncing them as Inadequate Inheritors. His secretary suggests that he leave his wealth to someone else, hoping that he will be named one of Duke's successors instead.
- Duke's great wealth comes with a considerable amount of debt, so his children purposely behaves in a manner that their father would disapprove to be written out of his will (and therefore his debts).
- Enforced: Duke Allerton was murdered, and the writer needs a reason to include the butler as one of the main suspects.
- Lampshaded: "WHAT?!?! How can father leave everything he has to a complete stranger, and forget about us—his children?"
- Exploited: The butler uses his newfound wealth to get back at the family who had mistreated him.
- Defied: The legal heirs contested against the will and took it to court. They managed to prove on legal grounds that Duke Allerton's final will was invalid and received their rightful share of inheritance.
- Discussed: The estate lawyer discusses his upcoming schedule with his colleagues.Lawyer 1: I'm going to the Allertons tonight to read the late Duke's will and testament. This is not going to end well.Lawyer 2: Let me guess. He's left his entire fortune to someone outside the family, right?
- Conversed: "Well, of course Duke wouldn't name any of his children as his successors. Who would want to leave money to those nasty assholes?"
- Deconstructed: Duke's children hates their father for leaving them out of their will and starts a smear campaign to destroy his legacy. The financial difficulties they face cause them to become bitter and spiteful, and they become the very opposite of the "productive members of the society" their father wanted them to grow into.
- Reconstructed: The fact that the children chose the path of destructive vengeance rather than take up the challenge of making their own way validates, at least in the Duke's posthumous eyes, them not getting his fortune. This can be further evidenced if the inheritance is given over to a charity, venture fund, or scholarship fund designed to give those who have shown the spunk the Duke likes but just lack the financial opportunity a chance to prosper.
Back to Passed-Over Inheritance.
