Anna Nicole Mom's Appeal To Be Heard
A Florida appeals court issued a stay Monday in the dispute over Anna Nicole Smith's body, ruling that her remains cannot be moved to the Bahamas until the court hears a challenge from the starlet's estranged mother.
The Florida 4th District Court of Appeal agreed to hear Virgie Arthur's request to overturn a judge's decision giving control of Smith's body to the attorney for the centerfold's infant daughter. That attorney decided she should be buried next to her son in the Bahamas.
Arthur has been seeking to bury her daughter in her native Texas.
The court gave attorneys in the case until 2 p.m. Tuesday to respond to the challenge.
Florida Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin ruled Thursday that the burial decision should be left to court-appointed attorney Richard C. Milstein. He announced that she would be laid to rest in Nassau next to her 20-year-old son, Daniel, who died in the Bahamas in September days after his mother gave birth to Dannielynn.
Arthur, who wants to bury her daughter near her home in Texas, filed an emergency motion Friday asking Seidlin to reconsider, but he didn't immediately rule. That prompted a formal appeal Monday by lawyers for Arthur. A few hours later, Seidlin declined to reconsider his ruling.
In the court filing, Arthur's lawyer, Roberta G. Mandel, said Seidlin's ruling was an inconvenience because the mother "will have to have a passport and roundtrip airplane tickets and several thousand dollars to even visit or put flowers on (Smith's) grave."
Outside court, Mandel said Arthur was willing to take the fight to the state Supreme Court, if necessary.
"This mother is a mother who deserves the right to bury her child," Mandel said. "The trial court treated her as though she was nothing."
Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, testified last week that Smith wanted to be buried in the Bahamas. Stern attorney Ron Rale said Smith's mother should let her daughter's wish be granted.
"We were hoping that she would do the right thing," Rale said. "I believe the testimony was clear where Anna Nicole wanted to be buried, and anything that obstructs that, to complete her wishes as soon as possible, is sad."
Milstein said during the weekend that he was working on funeral details in the Bahamas for the former Playboy Playmate and reality TV star, who died in a Florida hotel Feb. 8 at age 39.
Meanwhile, The Bahamas hearing for custody of Smith's 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, concluded Monday afternoon with no decisions made.
The Bahamas Supreme Court is hearing arguments on whether a legal guardian should be appointed for Dannielynn. Wayne Munroe, a lawyer representing Smith's estate, said this process could last for at least 16 more days.
WFOR-TV's Brian Andrews, who is in Nassau covering the hearing, says when the hearing was over on Monday, Smith's ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, walked out of court and flashed reporters a "thumbs-up" sign. He was all smiles and appeared very happy.
His attorney, Debra Opri says the court decided to consolidate all of the issues. "We anticipate a DNA test," Opri said in reference to Birkhead's request to obtain a DNA test from the baby in his fight to prove he's the real father.
Arthur, Stern, and Birkhead are continuing the legal wrangling that began shortly after Smith's death more than two weeks ago.
"This could be a wild free for all, jurisdictionally," Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. Attorney, told CBS News. "A California court took the jurisdiction first, now the ball is in the Florida court. Meanwhile, the baby is in the Bahamas so this could be a bouncing ball that goes across the U.S. and across the Caribbean."
Entertainment Tonight reported Monday that Birkhead met Dannielynn for the first time this weekend. The meeting took place at the Bahamas mansion where Dannielynn and Stern are living. Stern and Birkhead reportedly have been in negotiations to reach an out-of-court settlement in the contentious paternity battle.
Legal experts predict Birkhead will have a tough time winning custody of her baby from the Bahamian court.
Because Stern is listed on the birth certificate as the father "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 Arthur, who has said 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," Opri told reporters outside Nassau International Airport shortly after arriving Sunday with her client.
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Evans said that there is no specific provision in Bahamian law, which is guided by local statutes and English Common Law, for a man to claim paternity based on DNA. But the court could determine any of those seeking to be the guardian of Dannielynn — or even that another party, including the country's Department of Social Services — should have custody depending on the best interests of the child, he said.
Dannielynn could inherit part of the fortune of Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, whom Smith married in 1994 when he was 89 and she was 26. She had been fighting his family over his estimated $500 million fortune since his death in 1995.
A quick decision in the paternity case was not expected.
"They are not known for impromptu rulings," Sidney Collie, an attorney and former Bahamian senator, said about the former British colony's Supreme Court judges. "They are known for writing long, involved opinions."
Daniel Smith's grave, an unmarked plot at the Lakeview Memorial Gardens in Nassau, has become a popular tourist spot — as is "Horizons," the gated, waterfront home in the capital's Winton neighborhood where Smith lived with Stern.
"We wanted to come and actually say a little goodbye," said tourist Lisa Melandro.
Taxis have ferried a seemingly endless stream of gawkers to the house, where Stern has been sequestered with Dannielynn since he returned from Florida on Saturday.
"Everyone comes here," one cab driver told CBS News. "They on a cruise ship, they want to see the house. So we're making good money."
During the past few days, tourists snapped photos of each other, traded the latest gossip about the case and offered dueling opinions on what should become of Smith and her daughter.
"I think she should be laid to rest with her son," said Lauren Brown, a 42-year-old graphic designer from Boston. "I know her mother doesn't feel that way but I really think that's what she wanted."
Ken Vogt, a 63-year-old retiree from Brainerd, Minn., said Arthur should get custody of Dannielynn and select the burial location.
"It should go to the next of kin and they (Smith and Stern) weren't married," he said.
Taxi driver Charles Fowler disagreed for practical reasons: He has been charging $20 per person to take up to five visitors at a time to "Horizons" and would like to add the cemetery to his new tour.
"We're praying that they bury her here," he said.