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Anna Nicole Smith's daughter named sole heir

2008-03-06

(Xinhuanet) -- A judge on Tuesday named Anna Nicole Smith's 18-month-old daughter Dannielynn the sole heir of the former Playboy Playmate's estate, according to U.S. media reports Wednesday. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff also ruled that a trust should be established for Dannielynn. Her father, Larry Birkhead, and Smith's executor, Howard K. Stern, will be co-trustees. "We and Mr. Stern always believed that Anna Nicole never intended to disinherit her daughter," said Stern's attorney, Bruce S. Ross. "I'm pleased to say this chapter in the saga is closed." Ross said after Tuesday's hearing. Stern filed papers in Supreme Court in October 2007 seeking to clarify Smith's intentions in the will that she drafted five years before Dannielynn was born, since Smith's son, Daniel, had been her heir, according to the will. Smith did not change it after her daughter was born. However, Stern's petition said the assets in Daniel's trust should be shared equally if she had future children.

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Stern Sues Anna Nicole Mom's Attorney for Slander

2007-04-15

Although no custody issues were hammered out Friday in the Bahamas, Howard K. Stern used the downtime to add more fuel to the legal fire that's been blazing out of control since Anna Nicole Smith died suddenly in February. Stern filed a federal slander lawsuit against attorney John O'Quinn, who represents Smith's estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, accusing him of suggesting to reporters that Stern was responsible for Smith's death. According to court documents filed Friday in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach and obtained by the Associated Press, O'Quinn appeared on several national TV shows to discuss the case in the days leading up to the medical examiner's announcement of what killed Smith. In an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, O'Quinn said that Arthur believed that Stern had murdered her daughter. He also implied on MSNBC that Stern was a little to eager to get a glimpse at Smith's will in the days leading up to her death, the lawsuit states. "The public airwaves should never be used to promote personal agendas or vendettas," Stern's attorney, L. Lin Wood, said in a statement Friday. Stern himself was in the Bahamas today, where a custody hearing attended by him, Arthur and confirmed baby daddy Larry Birkhead was adjourned before a ruling could be made. The presiding judge said that he wanted to give Arthur, who is fighting for custody of granddaughter Dannielynn, and Birkhead more time to reach an agreement themselves. O'Quinn told reporters outside the courthouse that his client and Birkhead would have a face-to-face meeting, just the two of them, on Saturday "to figure out what's in the best interest of the child."

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Who's your Daddy?

2007-04-10

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - Anna Nicole Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead said Tuesday that DNA tests have proven he is the father of her infant daughter. Birkhead emerged from a closed court hearing to announce the results. Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, has been caring for the girl, Dannielynn, who could inherit a fortune in the wake of her mother's February death. After the hearing, Stern said he would not fight for custody. An expert in genetic evidence said the DNA analysis has proven Birkhead is Dannielynn's father. Dr. Michael Baird, who analyzed the results of a March 21 DNA test, announced the results outside the court. "Essentially, he's the biological father," Baird said. A jubilant Birkhead said "My baby's going to be coming home pretty soon." Ka-Ching! Anybody have a Kleenex? I just had an anticlimax.

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Gabor's husband provides DNA sample in Anna Nicole case

2007-03-24

Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband provided a DNA sample Friday that he says he is "almost sure" will prove he is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby. "Yes. It's true. I was the guy with the hat!" Immediately after Frederic Von Anhalt gave his sample at the Identigene Lab his lawyer, Edward Lee, called on Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, to do the same. Smith's lawyer, James Neavitt, did not immediately return a call for comment. "Nope. Too busy to return calls now. I already gave my sample." "I'm almost sure the baby's mine, almost sure," Von Anhalt, 59, said after having a cotton swab brushed along the inside of his mouth. He added he hopes to gain custody as soon as possible and raise the 6-month-old girl, Dannielynn. "I mean, there's almost a half billion dollars attached. Who wouldn't love to raise the little darling?" "Oh yeah, if it's my baby, it belongs in my home," Von Anhalt said. "I'm going to take good care of it. I will be a good father." "I'll be the best father money can buy!" He acknowledged that his 90-year-old wife was angry after he announced last month that he could be Dannielynn's father, but added that she has since forgiven him. "A half billion dollars, you say, dahlink? In that case I forgive you!" "If it's my daughter, it's my daughter and Zsa Zsa can't help but love her," said Von Anhalt, who uses the royal title prince, which he says was given to him by a German princess who adopted him.

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Anna Nicole buried in Bahamas with the anticipated understated good taste

2007-03-03

The guests of honor were feuding. Spectators booed and cheered behind steel barricades. A crew from an entertainment television program buzzed around a coffin draped in a pink cover studded with rhinestones spelling out her name. Anna Nicole's Smith's funeral on Friday was part soap opera, part circus — perhaps a fitting combination for a woman who found a niche on the ragged outer edge of celebrity as a former Playboy Playmate and reality TV star. But for those who came to pay their respects, the event was a solemn one despite the atmosphere. "It was very, very sad," said Kathryn Beranich, who was supervising producer of Smith's reality TV show. "Seeing the casket being rolled down, you realize this friend is in there and she will no longer be with us." While Smith was laid to rest at the lavish service, the fight over her baby daughter — and a potential multimillion dollar inheritance — remained very much alive. Her companion Howard K. Stern, her mother Virgie Arthur and her former boyfriend Larry Birkhead are battling for custody of 5-month-old Dannielynn, and barely put their bickering aside for the ceremonies. Today on IHT.com Iraqi tribal chief opposes the jihadists Growing calls in Australia for terror suspect's return Argentina contemplates shared custody of its top jobInside Mount Horeb Baptist Church, pink roses and flower arrangements lined the aisle and adorned the altar, where organizers placed two photos of the blonde bombshell — including one showing her striking a Marilyn Monroe-like pose. Fewer than 100 people attended the service, even though organizers said about 300 — including an "Entertainment Tonight" camera crew — had been invited. Guests said rock guitarist Slash, formerly of Guns N' Roses, was in attendance, and country singer Joe Nichols performed two songs.

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Anna Nicole circus shifts to Bahamas

2007-02-26

The focus of the legal fallout from the death of Anna Nicole Smith has shifted from Florida to the Bahamas, where the former model's ex-boyfriend, mother and partner planned to battle for custody of her daughter before the nation's Supreme Court. Legal experts predict Larry Birkhead, the ex-boyfriend who claims to have fathered Smith's daughter, will face a difficult challenge persuading a Bahamian judge to award him custody because Howard K. Stern, the former model's partner, is listed on the birth certificate as the father. A hearing was scheduled for Monday. "There is a very strong legal presumption that what is stated in that document is accurate," said Thomas A. E. Evans, a prominent Bahamas attorney. Birkhead, a Los Angeles-based photographer, also must contend with a competing claim from Virgie Arthur, Smith's mother, who has claimed she could provide a more stable home for Dannielynn than Stern and should therefore be awarded custody of the girl — who could inherit a fortune. "We're ready to fight," a lawyer for the ex-boyfriend, Debra Opri, told reporters outside Nassau international airport shortly after arriving Sunday with her client.

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Feuding Anna Nicole entourage views her corpse

2007-02-22

The feuding mother, partner and former boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith took a brief break from a courtroom battle over the Playboy model's corpse on Wednesday to get a private viewing of her rapidly decomposing body in a Florida morgue. The visitation came on the fifth day of hearings before south Florida Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin, who has said he will decide Smith was finally embalmed on Saturday, after a struggle to find a funeral home willing to sign a confidentiality agreement. But Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper said the corpse was decomposing quickly and would soon be unsuitable for a family viewing. by Friday whether to let Smith's body be released to her companion Howard K. Stern and buried in the Bahamas, or to her estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, and buried in Texas. The body of Smith -- famous in life for her abundant curves -- has lain in cold storage for nearly two weeks at the Broward Medical Examiner's Office since she died on February 8 at a Florida casino hotel of unexplained causes, aged 39. It was finally embalmed on Saturday, after a struggle to find a funeral home willing to sign a confidentiality agreement. But Seidlin got a call from Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper on Tuesday and again on Wednesday saying the corpse was decomposing quickly and would soon be unsuitable for a family viewing. Arthur, Stern and Larry Birkhead, a former Smith boyfriend who claims to be the father of her 5-month-old daughter, were ferried in black sport utility vehicles from the court to the morgue for a viewing of the former Playboy centerfold model. Birkhead is due to testify in the case on behalf of Smith's mother, arguing for her burial in Texas. The hearings before Seidlin, who again on Wednesday swatted aside complaints from lawyers that the proceedings had become a circus, were dominated by accusations that all involved were trying to profit from Smith's corpse.

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Battle drags on in Florida over Anna Nicole Smith

2007-02-21

Lawyers for former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith's boyfriend and her mother jousted over her corpse on Tuesday, making little headway in legal skirmishing over where she should be buried. The fourth day of hearings before south Florida Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin meandered erratically, and the judge seemed determined at times to not only resolve where to bury Smith but also to take on a Californian paternity dispute over her baby daughter -- the most likely heir of the billionaire's widow. The former topless dancer's long-time attorney and partner, Howard K. Stern, told the court that Smith wanted to be buried next to her son, Daniel, who died five months ago in the Bahamas at the age of 20. "She wanted to go down with Daniel right then," Stern testified. The former topless dancer's long-time attorney and partner, Howard K. Stern, told the court in soft-spoken testimony that Smith wanted to be buried next to her son, Daniel, who died five months ago in the Bahamas at the age of 20. "She wanted to go down with Daniel right then," Stern testified in recounting Daniel Smith's burial in the Bahamas, where Smith and Stern had lived most recently. "She wanted to crawl inside that space where he was." Stern said Smith had bought two pairs of burial plots. But he acknowledged he had signed the purchase contracts, saying Smith rarely ventured out of her Nassau mansion because of the swarms of paparazzi outside. Seidlin was supposed to resolve whether to let Smith's body be released to Stern and buried in the Bahamas, or released to her estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, and buried in her native Texas.

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Anna Nicole Smith Murdered?

2007-02-15

"Legume! My cape and my saxophone! The game's afoot!" In the weeks before her tragic death, Anna Nicole Smith was taking so many drugs that she feared her lawyer Howard K. Stern was trying to kill her! Sources spilling to the ENQUIRER reveal at least two suicide attempts, regular cocaine use, frequent collapses, and episodes of vomiting and bed soiling following the death of her son Daniel. Obsessed with her weight, she ate little solid food - and, worse, carried the obsession over to her 5-month-old daughter Dannielynn, ordering staff at her Bahamas mansion to underfeed the baby so she'd grow up "slim and sexy," charge sources. Dannielynn's nanny has filed a document accusing her former boss of requiring her to starve the baby and having sexcapades with the Bahamian Minister of Immigration. That's it. I don't want to know any more. The nanny, Quethlie Alexis, swore in an affidavit that she was repeatedly threatened by Anna (aka Vickie Marshall) to "underfeed" Dannielynn because, "Ms. Marshall was obsessed with making sure that her baby was 'sexy.' Ms. Marshall knew that the correct amount of baby food was 3 ounces every 3 hours ... Ms. Marshall insisted that the maximum I was to give was 2.5 ounces." Alexis explained that Anna Nicole threatened to "shoot her" if Dannielynn ever called the nanny "Mummy" and made sure she underfed the baby by "making sure the baby monitor was kept on all the time." She explains that as a result, Dannielynn "is badly underweight and not thriving, as a baby should."

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Legal war erupts for control of Smith body

2007-02-15

Why? Everybody seemed like they were willing to share before she was dead... Anna Nicole Smith's death spiraled into a post-mortem legal war Wednesday, with judges on both coasts issuing rulings and a seemingly endless parade of lawyers fighting for control of the former Playboy model's body. At the end of the day, though, the question of the fate of Smith's remains was still unanswered and a judge here said the dispute could be lengthy. "We're going to have hearings - as many hearings as we need," Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin said at the start of afternoon proceedings. "This is just a warm up." Three people are seeking control of Smith's body - her longtime companion Howard K. Stern, her estranged mother Vergie Arthur and photographer Larry Birkhead, who claims to have fathered the starlet's 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn.

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Coroner: Anna Nicole's Autopsy Inconclusive

2007-02-10

Plenty of mystery surrounds the sudden death of Anna Nicole Smith, and it looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for definitive answers. "Well, Dr. Quincy! What have you found?" "So far, I'm pretty sure that she's dead." "And?" "That's it. And I'm not 100 percent positive of that." The coroner in Florida's Broward County Medical Office took the first step toward determining the cause of Smith's death Friday morning, performing an autopsy to figure out what caused the former model and reality star to collapse in her hotel room leading her to be pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. Chief medical examiner Dr. Joshua Perper said his initial probe was unable to pinpoint either a cause or manner of death. Perper began his examination of Smith's body at 9 a.m. local time in Fort Lauderdale. He announced during a press conference that the autopsy revelated only "subtle findings" in her heart and gastrointestinal system and that the investigation into her "sudden, unexpected and unexplained" death would take between three and five more weeks to be concluded. The coroner said he found traces of blood in the 39-year-old's stomach, and a further microscopic examination would be required. He also said that there was "minor trauma" on Smith's back, but he explained that the bruising was the result of Smith tumbling in her hotel bathroom several days before her death. Officials also ruled out several theories floated to explain Smith's demise. "Yasss. We'll have to wait for the final autopsy results, but so far we're ruling out explosives and dengue fever." "Chief?" "Yes, Sam?" "Dr. Quincy says not to rule out dengue fever." Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said that there was no evidence of crime and, despite numerous reports to the contrary, no illegal drugs were found in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Tiger said that prescription medications were found, but he declined to reveal what the meds were for or whose name was listed on the bottles. CNN reported earlier Friday that Smith was taking medicine to treat flu-like symptoms and that the prescriptions were under the name of her companion, Howard K. Stern.

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What Happened To Anna Nicole Smith?

2006-10-03

Anna Nicole Smith: Not married Anna Nicole Smith has not married her lawyer Howard K. Stern. "We had the honeymoon, though..." The former Playboy playmate did declare her love for Stern in a special private ceremony onboard a catamaran off Nassau in the Bahamas, but there was no official marriage certificate, it has been claimed. "Howie said we didn't need one. Y'see, when you're at sea, the captain of the ship can marry you and then you can have a honeymoon and you don't need any silly piece of paper!" Smith's close friend, TrimSpa CEO Alex Goen, told US magazine In Touch Weekly: "They had a quiet ceremony and declared how much they love each other in front of God. They vowed they would be there for each other. They do plan to have a proper ceremony in the future." "Lotsa time for that after we get back from the honeymoon, eh, baby?" The morning ceremony came just 36 hours after Howard claimed revealed that he is the father of Anna Nicole's three-week-old daughter, Danni Lynn Hope, and 18 days after the sudden death of her 20-year-old son, Daniel. "I'm pretty sure Howie's the father. He was the one with the hat, right?" Howard recently told US talk show host Larry King: "She is the one thing that is really keeping her going. And through it all, even with all the pain, Anna Nicole has been a great mom, a very attentive mom." "Lotsa milk there for a newborn!" In fact, she insisted on showing that to the press .... in the interests of journalistic accuracy, of course. (hat tip to the late Robt Heinlein) However, Anna's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead has demanded a DNA test to determine whether he is the biological father of her daughter. "I was the one with the hat! All Howie had on was his hairpiece!" Larry Birkhead's protests come a day after Howard claimed he was Dannie Lynn's dad. "Yeah! See dat? She's got my hair!" Anna Nicole denies marriage report

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