Dannielynn Officially Named Anna Nicole Smith's Sole Heir

I hemmed and hawed about writing this, because really, I think we should just leave this poor little girl alone.  But really, it was the most interesting of the celebrity legal news of late.  But I draw the line with pictures of her.

A petition to have Anna Nicole Smith's 18-month-old daughter Dannielynnn declared the sole heir to her estate was approved Tuesday by a Los Angeles judge. In court papers filed in Superior Court Oct. 18, 2007, Howard K. Stern, the executor of Smith's estate, sought to clarify Smith's intentions in her July 2001 will, drafted five years before Dannielynn Hope's September 2006 birth. (Smith died in February 2007.)

Lesson, learned, keep your wills up to date, people.

"We and Mr. Stern always believed that Anna Nicole never intended to disinherit her daughter,"' Stern's lawyer, Bruce S. Ross, said after Tuesday's hearing. "I'm pleased to say this chapter in the saga is closed." The toddler could conceivably inherit millions from the fortune of Smith's late husband, oil man J. Howard Marshall, whose estate is still tied up in litigation in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In addition to confirming Dannielynn as Anna Nicole's sole heir, Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff's ruling also establishes a trust on her behalf with Stern and Larry Birkhead as its co-trustees, Ross said.

Why is Howard Stern still hanging around this child?  Really, the only trustee should be, I don't know, HER FATHER?

Source

Comments

[Sils]

You know though, I... I have a little faith restored in Stern with his fighting to have her named the heir. I think it's good to have them both in charge. They hate each other, there's no way either of them will be able to get away with anything.

[Belicoso]

At the end of the day it is a moot point as to whether or not Dannielynn is declared an heir of Anna. The big fish that everyone here is after is a piece of the Marshall estate and that's something no heir of Anna's is ever going to collect. J.Howard Marshall had extensive estate planning documents in place (as would any billionaire) and in them he expressly excluded Anna. The media likes to report on this story as if Dannielynn could possibly be worth hundreds of millions of dollars by being Anna's heir, but the credible legal analysts that I have seen have all seemed to say the same thing, that there is little or no chance that Dannielynn or Larry or Howard will be found to be entitled to any piece of Anna's former husband's estate.

[jodifur]

Belicoso-

Are you saying Marshall's will specifically did not include Anna's children? Interesting, I had not read that.

[Alex]

“Why is Howard Stern still hanging around this child? Really, the only trustee should be, I don't know, HER FATHER?”

Because despite what you or Larry Birkhead may think it was Anna Nicole’s money and it was not only Anna Nicole’s wish but her direction that Stern control her money! Jackass! (Maybe that something you would have known if you bothered to read her will)

Anna Nicole Smith wanted Larry Bikhead to have nothing to do with child let alone her money. (Considering how much we’ve already seen Birkhead already pimp out that poor baby even before her second birthday is their still really much doubt why??) The judge took everything into consideration and did what’s best. Made the biofather a co-trustee and the person Smith WANTED controlling her money a co-trustee.

But its still probably a good thing Stern didn’t get Dannielynn. Who knows what he would have done!!..He probably would have taken her on a photo to her mother’s grave!!

[noodlemonkey]

I think what Belicoso is saying is that Anna was specifically excluded from Marhshall's will...

[jodifur]

Alex-this post was not about what Anna's will said, it was about what the judge did with Anna's will. And I don't agree with Stern being named trustee. I think the trustee should be her father, as it is with most minor children.