Adopted three children with his first wife Shirley: Robert, Renée, and Jéanne. Robert and Jéanne were named for Shirley's parents, whom had disapproved of her marrying Benson. Robert died of cancer in 1986; Jéanne committed suicide in 1991. Renée and her two children, Rita and Ryan, were fired from their jobs with the New Orleans Saints by Benson on January 21, 2012 due to what he deemed as their "sense of entitlement", and wrote them out of his will. Rita sued Benson on January 22, 2015 for control of his companies, claiming that he was "incompetent" and being manipulated by his third wife Gayle; a settlement was reached in 2017. A probate court gave Renée control of Shirley's Testamentary Trust in 2016.