The Big Reveal

And now the media swarm will focus on the paternity test results that will determine who the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter. Mrs. Lawhawk called in to say that radio reports indicate the father is Larry Birkhead, not Howard K. Stern. As the Dallas Morning News reports:

A DNA specialist who analyzed a sample taken from the child on March 21 was also expected to attend the meeting, said James Neavitt, an attorney for Stern.

Stern will relinquish custody of the girl to him and the two men would “cooperate in transitioning the child,” Neavitt told The Associated Press.

“I think they have some understanding about how they're going to deal with it,” Neavitt said by phone from his office in Los Angeles.

Well, that means Birkhead not only has to care for Nicole's baby, Dannielynn, but will also have to deal with the lawsuits pending against the Marshall estate, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And Perez Hilton is reporting that Anna's estranged mother is going to appeal the custody ruling.

I don't think Anna's mom has much chance of success, but that wont stop her considering all the money at stake.

Meanwhile, Birkhead is already set to reap a windfall with a variety of television and print deals.

Accidental Overdose Blamed In Anna Nicole Smith Death

The Seminole County police chief said that Anna Nicole Smith died of an accidental drug overdose.
The weeks after Anna Nicole Smith's death were filled with public courtroom drama and private whispers about what might have killed the former Playboy Playmate.

Smith's autopsy results had been delayed to give officials time to review additional evidence, still not publicly released, about what had left the model unresponsive Feb. 8 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.

Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper's initial examination revealed no serious injuries. There also was no evidence, either in Smith's stomach or her bloodstream, that she had taken large amounts of prescription medication.

Perper said prescription drugs, but no illegal drugs, were found in Smith's hotel room. He wouldn't identify them.

The initial examination also found signs of inflammation in Smith's heart. Perper said it was "something which looks a little bit unusual" but "may be nothing."

Anna Nicole's Family Legal Nightmares Only Beginning

While the medical examiner begins the grim task of trying to determine Anna Nicole Smith's cause of death, the legal issues she left behind are considerable. There's the immediate concern of determining the father of her 5-month old daughter, Dannielynn. An emergency paternity hearing is being held in California today to rule on that matter. Two men have come forward claiming to be the father:

Experts say the custody decision could determine the child’s inheritance.

Attorney Howard K. Stern, Smith’s most recent companion, is listed on Dannielynn’s birth certificate as her father. If it is determined he is the biological father and if he was legally married to Smith — which has yet to be established — Stern, not Dannielynn, would likely inherit Smith’s estate, experts say.

Smith’s former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, says he is the girl’s father.

If Smith and the biological father were not married and Smith left no will, the father and child likely would split her assets, according to Christopher Cline, an estate planning lawyer with the firm of Holland and Knight.

“It’s a really large legal quagmire,” said Cline, who enumerated some of the many questions hanging in the balance.

“I’ve never seen a case with more moving parts,” he said, comparing the legal morass in its complexity with unraveling the estate of billionaire Howard Hughes — albeit with less money involved.

Then, there's the ongoing battle over the estate of her late husband, who passed away in 2000 and a pending class action on the TrimSpa weight loss product.

Smith’s battle over her late husband J. Howard Marshall II’s oil fortune with the family of his son grinds on in Texas. And there is a pending class action suit seeking unspecified damages against Smith and TrimSpa Inc., alleging the company’s marketing of a weight-loss pill with Smith as spokeswoman was false and misleading.

The inheritance stands to be up to $1.6 billion. In sum, Smith left behind a legal nightmare for her family and estate to figure out.

The Daily News calls this the vulture circling. In a way, they're right - Smith isn't even buried yet and already people are looking towards the possibility of getting their hands on the estate. Yet, at the same time, someone is Dannielynn's father and should be there to take care of her. The paternity action will bring closure to that action.

For her family, friends, and followers, all are trying to cope with a difficult period and trying to find out why and how she died. Already, there are multiple theories, including murder that were quickly dismissed by other media reports, drug overdoses, and other assorted rumors. Her mother believes that drugs were involved. That there are conflicting stories over who found her and what kind of care she received moments after being discovered, only makes the situation all the more tragic.

Technorati: anna nicole smith, anna nicole, playboy, playmate, model, reality show.

Anna Nicole Smith Dies After Collapsing at Florida Casino

The early reports indicated that she had collapsed while at a Florida casino. She was pronounced dead after being found in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Smith gained fame as a model, later posed for Playboy, and married a wealthy oil tycoon, J. Howard Marshall.


When he died, the family and Smith fought over the estate in a case that reached all the way to the US Supreme Court on a question of federal jurisdiction (Marshall v. Marshall).

This past year, she lost her son under mysterious circumstances, just days after Smith gave birth to a baby girl, whose paternity is still unclear.

Just this past week, Smith [was] joined a suit against the makers of a weight loss product claiming that the marketing was fraudulent and misleading. She had been the spokesperson for the product, TrimSpa X32.

Technorati: anna nicole smith, anna nicole, playboy, playmate, model, reality show.