Pet Heir: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Some rich people give their fortune to their relatives [[Will|when they die]] (though in the media, it's often [[On One Condition]]). Some leave their fortune to charity. And some eccentric types leave their money to... their beloved dog. Or cat, or fancy rat, or parrot, or whatever.

There are cases of [[Truth in Television]] for this trope, oddly enough. Or not, if the pet in question is a parrot or a similarly long-lived pet critter.

{{examples}}

* The ''[[Lucky Luke]]'' comic ''The Inheritance of Rantanplan'' has the guard dog Rantanplan inherit a fortune from a former convict, and becomes a target for the Dalton Brothers since Joe Dalton is next in line.

* In ''[[The Aristocats]]'', the title felines are to be the main beneficiaries of their owner's will in order to keep them looked after. Edgar, the butler, eavesdrops on the conversation and then decides to try to off the cats in question as he was to receive the rest when the cats died. Incidentally, it did "[[Insane Troll Logic|address]]" the issue of him just waiting for the cats to die: he assumes that each cat really [[Cats Have Nine Lives|has nine lives]]. And, for some reason, that the four cats will live consecutively. He's not very bright.

** Ironically, she implies at the end that she intended to leave the butler a sizable sum himself.

* In ''[[The Fearless Four]]'', Aunt Wanda combines this with [[On One Condition]]: her estate goes to her family, but only if they take care of her cat Gwendolyn, who inherited Aunt Wanda's "treasure," a pair of incredibly valuable jewels. The family decides to kill Gwendolyn when they get tired of caring for her and frustrated that she won't tell them where the jewels are.

* In ''[[Millionaire Dogs]]'', a woman left her fortune to her several animals while her nephew and her niece got nothing. The evil duo then tricked the animals out of the house and tried to keep them out for 48 hours in a row so they could invoke an obscure law to claim the inheritance to themselves.

* This {{spoiler|was the reason a rich woman was murdered by her servants}} in ''[[Once Upon A Crime]]''.

* In the film ''[[Gordy]]'', an old man disinherits his daughter in favor of a talking pig because of her decision to become a model. This happens just ''after'' the pig and his human friend have wrecked her career by innocently causing her trap for them to backfire.

* [[Garfield]]'s [[Identical Stranger]] in [[Sequelitis|the second Movie]] is this.

* [[Discworld]]:

** In ''[[Discworld/Soul Music|Soul Music]]'', one of Susan's first "customers" as acting [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] is a grumpy old man who leaves his fortune to his cat instead of his ungrateful, parasitic relatives. Of course, he hates the cat too, so he doesn't set it up any kind of ''protection'' from said relatives.

* One of the endings for the interactive book "The Dandee Diamond Mystery" has the benefactor's parrot inheriting the diamond.

* In an episode of ''[[Black Books]]'', Bernard's landlady died and left the building to her cat. Which led Bernard to try and hire someone to off the cat.

* On ''[[Rescue Me]]'', Tommy's father marries a rich woman and hopes to inherit her fortune when she suddenly dies. After an extensive spending spree, the family finds out that he inherited $50,000, and the rest was left to her various cats.

* In ''[[Kickin It]]'', Bobby Wasabi was once told something he didn't believe and his answer was saying it was rich like his dog will be once he dies.

* Subverted in ''[[The Frantics]]'' sketch "Last Will and Temperament". After the will's executor bequeaths inheritances (mostly consisting of [[Running Gag|boots to the head]]) to the surviving family members, the will goes on to state that the deceased leaves his cat his entire, vast... boot to the head. Cue [[That Poor Cat|agonized meow]]. The rest of the fortune actually goes to "The people of Calgary, [[Acceptable Targets|so that they can afford to move someplace decent]]."

* [[David Cross]] had a hilarious bit once about rich people who die and leave their vast fortunes to their cats.

{{quote|"And all my money goes to Miss Cinderella, so she can live in luxury, like the princess she is. Also, fuck the homeless."}}

* ''[[Housepets]]'' - The wealthy Henry Milton leaves his fortune to his six pet ferrets.

* This is part of the concept of ''[[Catscratch]]'': the main characters are a trio of talking cats who inherit their owner's vast fortune after her death.

* The Droopy cartoon ''Millionaire Droopy'' revolved around this, with a bulldog rival of Droopy's trying to bump him off or otherwise get rid of him.

* This was the plot of the ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' cartoon ''The Million-Dollar Cat''. Tom inherited a million dollars that [[On One Condition|he can only keep if he never harms an animal, "not even a mouse"]]. Jerry takes the opportunity to exploit this and not only mooches as much as he can, he actively torments Tom (moreso than usual, at least). Tom eventually snaps and tries to clobber Jerry, breaking his role of [[The Voiceless]] to question his own actions:

{{quote|''(violence stops)''

* In ''[[Central Park]]'', [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Bitsy]] has not only made her dog Shampagne the sole beneficiary in her will, she has made sure that ''she'' is the sole beneficiary in Shampagne's will (Bitsy is... not the most stable among the cast). Much of the plot regarding Bitsy's [[Beleaguered Assistant]] Helen involves her contemplating trying to kill Shampagne, in order to inherit Bitsy's fortune, though ultimately refuses to sink to doing so.

* [[Truth in Television]] example: Look up [[wikipedia:Leona Helmsley|Leona Helmsley.]]

** As well as [https://web.archive.org/web/20120510051127/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37820841/ns/today-today_people?GT1=43001 Gail Posner.]