Will Anna's girl be a million-dollar baby?

Los Angeles, Feb 10 With the death of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, the question on everyone's lips is the future of her baby Dannielynn Marshall Stern.

Since the identity of her father is still to be determined, will Dannielynn get any of the nearly half-billion-dollars that Anna was fighting for in the courts? And if she does, how much?

Anna rose to national fame when she married oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall in 1994 when she was 26 and he was 89. Marshall died in 1995, prompting a lengthy legal battle between his sons and Smith, which went all the way to the Supreme Court, but was unresolved at the time of her death.

Informed legal sources, including Anna's estate lawyer Kent Richland, say that Dannielynn could be the heiress of upto $477 million of Marshall's fortune, if her mother posthumously wins her federal court battle, says Sheeraz Hasan, founder of www.Hollywood.tv.

In the end, where the case ends up being tried is all-important. Richland himself is not certain whether it will be California, Texas, or even the Bahamas. He said that the death of his client added another layer of complexity to an already difficult case.

That's because two courts in different states have decided two different outcomes - a judge in Texas ruled that Anna should get nothing, and a California judge ruled that Smith should get $480 million (later reduced to $88 million).

In May last year, the US Supreme Court sent the case back to the Federal appeals court. Marshall's family attorney Eric Brunstad says that there is currently no timetable for the next legal step.

The Supreme Court's decision merely continued Smith's fight for money, but did not award her any money. The reality is that the case could drag on for months and possibly years, and Richland could not predict any time horizon for the case.

Lenard Leeds, a former attorney for Smith, predicted that the case would end up back at the US Supreme Court for a final decision.

Meanwhile, it is being reported that Anna did, in fact, have a will, which was written before the death of her son Daniel and the birth of Dannielynn. The will names her lawyer Howard K. Stern, whom she regarded as her husband, as the executor.

The document reportedly named Daniel as her sole heir, but with her giving birth to a daughter, Dannielynn is Anna's closest next of kin.

A family law expert says that the disposition will get sticky depending on what happens with the paternity suit and whether or not Anna and Howard's Bahamian commitment ceremony is deemed legally binding by a probate court.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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