Tuesday, 15 May 2007

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Anna Nicole Smith's will is filed

Anna's dead son was sole beneficiary

More than three months after Anna Nicole Smith's death, her will was filed Monday in a Los Angeles probate court.

The documents were submitted by her companion and attorney Howard K. Stern, 38, who is also named as the will's executor. According to the papers, her total assets are worth $710,000.

The will, drawn up in April 2001, leaves all of Smith's assets to her son Daniel, who died on Sept. 10 from an accidental overdose in the Bahamas. Daniel, 20, was visiting his mother just days after she gave birth to daughter Dannielynn, now eight months.

While the original text of the will is outdated, the valuation of Smith's assets was added by Stern, written on May 7.

After a weeks-long custody battle in the Bahamas, DNA test results disclosed in court on April 10 proved that Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead, 34, is Dannielynn's father.

Smith died on Feb. 8 from an accidental overdose at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Separately, Birkhead filed a petition Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court formally requesting to be named as guardian of Dannielynn's estate.

"What this means -- if granted -- is that Stern as the executor will have to deal with Birkhead on any matters pertaining to Anna Nicole's estate," says Allan Cutrow, an L.A. probate attorney.

Smith's estate could be worth exponentially more because of her decade-long claim against the estimated $1.6 billion estate of her late husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II.

Adds Cutrow: "Birkhead and Stern appear to be cooperating in pursuit of Smith's claim against the Marshall estate -- that's where the principal money is."

A hearing was set for June 19 regarding both filings.

Reps for Stern were not immediately available for comment.