A year after her death, Anna Nicole Smith’s legal affairs are finally starting to be resolved.
Smith’s daughter Dannielynn was officially named as the sole heir of her estate yesterday. Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff also set up a trust in Dannielynn’s name, with Larry Birkhead and Howard K. Stern named as co-trustees.
Stern and Birkhead faced off in court last year to determine paternity and custody of Dannielynn. Although the court ruled that Stern had no relation to the baby, he remains involved as Anna Nicole’s former lawyer and as the executor of her estate. Dannielynn currently lives in Los Angeles with father Larry Birkhead.
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Smith’s will had named her late son, Daniel Smith, as her heir. Daniel died unexpectedly after an accidental drug overdose in September 2006 and Anna Nicole did not update her will before she died in February 2007.
The court’s decision doesn’t make the toddler a multi-millionaire, yet. Dannielynn is in a position that could prove lucrative depending on the result of the ongoing court proceedings to determine the rightful heirs of Anna Nicole’s late husband, oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II.
After Marshall died in 1995, his son, E. Pierce Marshall, began legal proceedings to challenge Anna Nicole’s inheritance of the family fortune. Although E. Pierce Marshall passed away in 2006, the court battle has yet to be settled.
Dannielynn will inherit millions if Anna Nicole is named beneficiary.