Malibu, Nov 1 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Lee Marvin’s ex Michelle Triola Marvin died at 75 years of cancer. She fought a long advertised battle with Lee Marvin over money after they dumped each other. Michelle Triola Marvin’s landmark 10-year case won historic rights for “live-in” lovers, although she herself never saw a penny. It also gave a new word to the English language ‘palimony’.

Michelle Marvin, who legally changed her surname to Lee Marvin’s even though they never ever married. She made legal history in 1976 when the California Supreme Court ruled that she and other unmarried people could sue for property division when a relationship ended.

That decision made the way three years later for a sensational 11-week trial in which Michelle Marvin was awarded an amount of $104,000 for what the judge called “rehabilitative purposes.” However she couldn’t ever see a penny of that $104,000 as an appeals court later blocked her from collecting the money. However she still won because the legal principle underlying her court battle was left absolutely intact.

Michelle Marvin said after she won her rights: “If a man wants to leave his toothbrush at my house, he better bloody well marry me,”.