Gene Roddenberry's first wife sued his estate for Star Trek profits and lost 2-1 on appeal in 1996; his widow's 2009 trust left their son $60 million and the dogs a $4 million home trust

Gene Roddenberry divorced Eileen Roddenberry in 1969, when Star Trek was a commercial flop. Their agreement gave her one-half of future profits from "Star Trek" without defining the term. In the 1980s she sued, alleging she was paid one-third rather than one-half of the original series and claiming profits from later properties. After Gene died in 1991 his widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, executor and trustee, defended the estate. The trial court gave Eileen profits from the original series and any successors, sequels and spin-offs, and awarded punitive damages against his corporation but not against the estate. In April 1996 the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles ruled 2-1 that she could not collect profits from The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, because the divorce agreement did not cover spin-offs not yet conceived. The Deseret News called it a multimillion-dollar win for the estate. The court upheld the punitive damages against the corporation. Majel died in December 2008. Her trust, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and reported by TMZ on 22 April 2009, gave her son the Bel Air mansion, $60 million up front and $10 million at ages 35, 40 and 45. It set up a $4 million residential trust for the dogs and gave their caretaker $1 million. A suit by Rod and Dawn Roddenberry over the estate was not found^†.