Judge: Bahamas Must Rule On Anna's Baby
A Florida judge said Wednesday that he has no jurisdiction in the paternity case involving the infant daughter of Anna Nicole Smith.
He said the Bahamas has jurisdiction over Smith's child, Dannielynn, and that the model's DNA would be held and turned over to courts in California for testing.
Smith's boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, is listed on Dannielynn's birth certificate as her father, but two other men claim paternity. Photographer Larry Birkhead originally requested DNA testing in California but then asked that his case be moved to Florida, where Smith died two weeks ago.
On Friday, Broward Circuit Judge Lawrence Korda doubted that he had jurisdiction to get involved in the paternity dispute over Smith's baby daughter, he seemed at a loss as to how the case had landed in his court.
"The question is whether Florida has any jurisdiction at all," Korda said on Friday. "This is clear, the Bahamas has substantial jurisdiction."
Since the baby was born in the Bahamas and a resident there, Korda said the Bahamas would likely have jurisdiction over the case.
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"At this point, I don't think that I have jurisdiction," he said, adding that he'd confer with a California judge on the matter. "It may be two people talking, neither one who has jurisdiction over the case."
Smith died in Florida on Feb. 8. An attorney for the baby decided Thursday that Smith will be buried in the Bahamas.