Basic Trope: Deceased relative leaves fortune, or some of it, to his/her pet.
- Straight: Great Aunt Hortense leaves most of her fortune to her lap dog, Mister Snuggles.
- Exaggerated:
- Great Aunt Hortense has a humongous menagerie of all kinds of animals and leaves her entire fortune to them.
- Queen Alice makes her pet parrot heir to the multiversal Troperian Empire.
- Downplayed:
- The family gets a sizable portion of the estate, while the Yorkshire Terrier gets the Aunt's collection of bottle caps, dog food, and tennis balls.
- Great Aunt Hortense wills most of her fortune to a fund destined to finance her private animal reserve.
- Great Aunt Hortense leaves her massive vegetable garden to her pet tortoise.
- Justified:
- The family was deemed inadequate inheritors and Aunt Hortense wants her precious little dog to be taken care of.
- Great Aunt Hortense has no other family.
- Inverted:
- Mister Snuggles leaves money to his faithful maid, Great Aunt Hortense.
- Great Aunt Hortense leaves Mister Snuggles to her grand-nephew.
- Subverted:
- Despite the Old Aunt's stinginess during life, she leaves most of her money to her relatives.
- Aunt Hortense's will left her money to Mister Snuggles, but Mister Snuggles was also killed in the car crash.
- Double Subverted: But Mister Snuggles gets her mansion and her sports car.
- Parodied: Great Aunt Hortense leaves her fortune to her pet rock.
- Zig Zagged: Great Aunt Hortense leaves her fortune to her dog, but wills custody of the dog to her family members who gain access to the fortune by proxy. And even then, they still spend most of the money on things for the dog, because that's what she would have wanted.
- Averted:
- Great Aunt Hortense had no pet, and left her fortune to her relatives and close friends.
- Great Aunt Hortense had a pet dog named Mister Snuggles, but was not even mentioned in the will.
- Enforced: The writers wish to keep the series' main characters in Perpetual Poverty, so the episode is written about how the characters (and their cut-throat Obnoxious In-Laws) all battle and denigrate themselves over getting a sweet spot in Hortense's will only to discover when she passes away that Snuggles gets it all.
- Lampshaded: One of the characters comments on the absurdity or peculiarity of the deceased relative leaving their fortune to a pet. For example, a character might say, "Can you believe Aunt Hortense actually left her millions to her poodle? Talk about a pampered pooch!"
- Invoked: Great Aunt Hortense buys a dog because she had no one else to give her fortune to after her death.
- Implied: In the midst of the Spinning Paper montage regarding the events of the episode, we get one newspaper cover about a dog owning his own penthouse in the United Arab Emirates.
- Exploited: Great Aunt Hortense is just hiding and pretending to leave her estate to Mister Snuggles is a Secret Test of Character to determine who among her relatives deserves to be her actual heir.
- Defied:
- One of Great Aunt Hortense's relatives kill Mister Snuggles before Hortense's death.
- After certain awful past issues that happened because of bizarre arrangements given to pets, the law has been structured to explicitly say that only human beings are allowed to obtain monetary inheritances of any kind (pets also obtained additional protections to prevent anybody who inherits them from abusing/disposing of them).
- Hortense doesn't sees the utility of bequeathing her entire fortune to her dog, knowing that it's just going to be managed by human proxies, so she just hands over her money and Snuggles to any humans she trusts with the additional proviso that Snuggles is to be protected and cared for in order for them to keep the inheritance, just in case.
- Discussed: "I can't believe the dog got the estate and I get Aunt Hortense's collection of creepy dolls!"
- Conversed: "This is not a freaking Tex Avery cartoon! The law wouldn't just up and start acting like Snuggles is the reincarnation of John D. Rockefeller just because Great Aunt Hortense got it in her head to write a Silly Will."
- Implied: There are subtle hints or indirect references that suggest the deceased relative may have left their fortune to a pet, but it is not explicitly stated or shown on screen. For example, a character might mention finding a mysterious letter in Aunt Hortense's belongings that hints at an unusual inheritance.
- Deconstructed: The family members feel resentful or betrayed by Aunt Hortense's decision, leading to conflicts and strained relationships within the family.
- Reconstructed: It is revealed that Aunt Hortense's pet had a special bond with her and played a significant role in her life, justifying her decision to leave a portion of her fortune to the animal.
- Plotted A Good Waste: Great Aunt Hortense, who was known for being eccentric, sets up an elaborate scheme with her lawyer to create the illusion of leaving her fortune to her pet, only to reveal later that it was a ploy to teach her greedy relatives a lesson about materialism.
- Played For Laughs: The family members engage in ridiculous schemes and competitions to win the favor of the pet and secure the inheritance.
- Played For Drama:
- The inheritance and its impact on the characters' lives become a central emotional conflict in the story.
- The fact that Great Aunt Hortense left all of her money to a beast is seen as exigence she was an abusive harpy (whether or not the rest of the family is equally awful and/or she is a contributing factor depends on the writer).
- Played For Horror: The reveal that Great Aunt Hortense left all of her money to a pet is the stressor that leads one of the inadequate inheritors performing a lot of murders, both animal and human.
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