Michael Crichton's Posthumous ChildMichael Crichton's Posthumous Child

Karen Donovan

Michael Crichton, the author of the science fiction thrillers The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park that became Hollywood blockbusters, left behind the makings of another kind of movie when he died on Nov. 4, 2008 at age 66.

In this drama, a famous, wealthy man dies and, four and half months later, his fifth wife gives birth to a son. But this child isn't mentioned in dad's will. So the child's mother gears up to battle a host of beneficiaries to secure the posthumous son's inheritance.

Crichton was married five times, and his will, filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court on Jan. 26, 2009, makes clear in the first paragraph that he “intentionally omitted to provide” for his previous four wives.

Sherri Alexander Crichton, his...